Named one of the greatest minds of the 20th century by Time, Tim Berners-Lee is responsible for one of that century's most important advancements: the world wide web. Now, this low-profile genius-who never personally profitted from his invention -offers a compelling protrait of his invention. He reveals the Web's origins and the creation of the now ubiquitous http and www acronyms and shares his views on such critical issues as censorship, privacy, the increasing power of softeware companies , and the need to find the ideal balance between commercial and social forces. He offers insights into the true nature of the Web, showing readers how to use it to its fullest advantage. And he presents his own plan for the Web's future, calling for the active support and participation of programmers, computer manufacturers, and social organizations to manage and maintain this valuable resource so that it can remain a powerful force for social change and an outlet for individual creativity.
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He may be the most self-effacing genius of the computer age, and his egalitarian mind is evident in the names he rejected for his invention: "I thought of Mine of Information, or MOI, but moi in French means 'me,' and that was too egocentric.... The Information Mine (TIM) was even more egocentric!" Also, a mine is a passive repository; the Web is something that grows inexorably from everyone's contributions. Berners-Lee fully credits the colorful characters who helped him get the bobsled of progress going--one colleague times his haircuts to match the solstices--but he's stubbornly independent-minded. His quest is to make the Web "a place where the whim of a human being and the reasoning of a machine coexist in an ideal, powerful mixture."
Hard-core tech types may wish Berners-Lee had gone into deeper detail about the road ahead: the "boon and threat" of XML, free vs. commercial software, VRML 3-D imaging, and such. But he wants everyone in on the debate, so he wrote a brisk book that virtually anyone can understand. --Tim Appelo --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Publishers Weekly
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Berners-Lee talks in depth about the social implications of technology, and indeed the World Wide Web is a social beast as much as it is a technological one. He does separate, however, the duties of bodies like the W3C whose sole purpose is to facilitate and strengthen the standards and protocols that are providing new richness and robustness to the web. This is clearly highlighted in his discussion of PICS, which allows for creation of rules that can facilitate filtering of objectionable material on the web. Berners-Lee makes the clear distinction between those who create the PICS technology, and those who decide how it will be implemented.
It is evident from this book that Berners-Lee is far from finished in his duties. While not as radical as the initial concept of the World-Wide Web must have been in its time, his discussion of security, privacy, and collaboration and how they can and should be implemented on the web should be read by anyone who wants to be a player in Cyberspace. Berners-Lee does not hold a monopoly on great ideas for the web, but he clearly has a grasp on the balance and understanding of both the technology as well as its place in society that others would be well served to strive for.
Berners-Lee writes in plain english, allowing non-programmers to share in his vision and goals for a universal (or should that be uniform?) way to share information across the internet. Especially interesting is the history of the browser market itself, without all the 'browser-war' hype.
Best of all, this book does not read like a technical specification -- but is full of warmth and humor as we see Berners-Lee bring his brainchild to light.
I read "Where Wizards Stay Up Late: the Origins of the Internet" by Katie Hafner and Matthew Lyon, and desperately wished someone would do similar justice to the history of the web. Not only has someone now done just that, but that someone happens to be the inventor of the web! What more could you ask for?
"When I first began tinkering with a software program that even gave rise to the idea of the World Wide Web, I named it Enquire, short for Enquire Within upon Everything, a musty old book of Victorian advice I noticed as a child in my parents' house outside" Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
hypertext community, global hypertext, inference languages, hypertext system Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
World Wide Web, Marc Andreessen, United States, Advisory Committee, Dale Dougherty, European Commission, Michael Dertouzos, Mike Sendall, Pei Wei, San Antonio, San Francisco, America Online, Ben Segal, Dave Raggett, Internet Explorer, Mosaic Communications, Cyber Patrol, David Williams, Doug Engelbart, Hypertext Markup Language, Ted Nelson, Tom Bruce, University of Minnesota New!
Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
- Weaving the Web Hb by Tim Berners-Lee in Front Matter (1), and Front Matter (2)
- Getting It! (Harlequin Temptation) by Rhonda Nelson in Back Matter
- Information Society by William J. Martin on page 88
- The Global Information Society by William J. Martin on page 88
- Literary Machines on page 5
- The Future of Ideas: The Fate of the Commons in a Connected World by Lawrence Lessig on 4 pages
- Will & Vision: How Latecomers Grow to Dominate Markets by Gerard J. Tellis in Back Matter (1), Back Matter (2), and Back Matter (3)
- Unit Operations: An Approach to Videogame Criticism by Ian Bogost in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- Digital Aboriginal: The Direction of Business Now: Instinctive, Nomadic, and Ever-Changing by Mikela Tarlow in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- JSP: A Beginner's Guide by Gary Bollinger on page 1, and page 6
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