Weaving the Web

Weaving the Web

Tim Berners-Lee is credited with co-creating the World Wide Web and still participates in the World Wide Web consortium to oversee WWW protocols and regulations. The World Wide Web (WWW) was designed to add more functionality to the already existing Internet. In his book Weaving the Web, Berners-Lee describes the relationship between the World Wide Web and the Internet. The Internet provides the underlying structure and infrastructure for the World Wide Web, but the latter is the user-friendly, interactive, and dynamic means of cross-computer communication. The basis for the success of the WWW is hypertext.

In the Forward to Weaving the Web, Michael Dertousos of MIT notes, "As technologists and entrepreneurs were launching or merging companies to exploit the Web, they seemed fixated on one question: 'How can I make the Web mine?' Meanwhile, Tim was asking, 'How can I make the Web yours?'" This comment lauds Tim Berners-Lee's attitude toward the Web, which continues to propel Web philosophy until this day. The propagation of free sites and the free interchange of ideas is testimony to Berners-Lee's foresight.

3. One telling quote in the book: "During the meeting several people commented on how surprised they were that Marx, who had been so vocal on the Internet, was so quiet in person." Most people who use the Web to chat or e-mail have experienced the difference between an individual's Web personality and their in-person demeanor. This sentence draws attention to how the Web has changed human relationships, human behavior, and human society.