Imagine if you have the power to create something that can change the world. What will you create? What difference will it make? Be creative.
One man thought of creating a world where everything is open and connected. One man thought of creating the web. So let’s talk about this man. Tim Berners-Lee. The creator of the world wide web.
Sir Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web. He leads the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), overseeing the Web’s standards and development. Sir Tim is a Director of the World Wide Web Foundation and is a member of the UK’s Transparency Board. He is also the author of Weaving the Web.
Having been ranked joint first in The Telegraph’s list of ‘100 greatest living geniuses’ he has received numerous awards throughout his career including the Japan Prize, the Prince of Asturias Foundation Prize, the Millennium Technology Prize and Germany’s Die Quadriga award. In 2004 he was knighted by H.M. Queen Elizabeth and in 2007 he was awarded the Order of Merit.
Source: Tim Berners-Lee Down Under Tour
Last night, I had the privilege to attend Sir Tim Berners-Lee seminar at Wilson Hall, University of Melbourne. There was a particular artwork shown on the wall of the hall which shows a man’s search for knowledge (or at least that was my interpretation of it!) And we were definitely there to seek the knowledge and pick the brain of the man who, in my eyes, has done so so so much in this finite life.
He created the world wide web, buddy!
He talked about many things. He talked about his passions. He told stories about the people who changed and challenged the web. He talked about many things. But hardly about himself.
And I quite like that.
In a time when countless of people tend to promote themselves on the big stage, Tim preferred to just talk about his passion and the wonderful web. And we could tell, he truly believes in his passion. He might not have been the most eloquent speaker but he spoke with conviction. Stuttering at times, he spoke quickly and abruptly. Yes, it could be a little difficult to understand his speech if you did not concentrate a hundred percent. But he spoke earnestly and passionately.
And I like that.
He obviously loves the web. He loves the “little project” that he has created. He is proud of it. But he is not proud. What a man. I mean, he has been involved in the creation and the continuous progression of the world wide web and yet he is humble about it all.
I like that.
When asked if he could go back in time and change the HTML and HTTP standard, what would he change, he answered with passion also. It was something along this line:
If I was starting from scratch, HTTP and HTML would be in the same format, same parser for the network, no double slash in URL, you could choose where you could put the server, so on (There were many more, it sounded as if he wanted to change the whole lot! But he spoke so fast, it was hard to type them all up.)
But those were all done for a reason. To get people on board. To bring in people together.
He had ideas. He knew what he wanted. But he also understood the reason why the web is the way it is now. He understands the freakin’ web. After all, he created it.
I don’t know about you, but I definitely had the whole fan girl thing going on. The creator of the world wide web stood on stage – and I was there at that very moment. It was special. And I am glad I have my dearest husband to share the moment with me, albeit dozing off during the whole thing (he is not the type that likes lectures, neither does he care about the web or technology.)
One thing that struck me the most was Tim’s final few words before he concluded his speech and challenged us to think about the future of the web:
What it takes is to imagine what the computer/internet can do for you that it can’t right now.
Sir Tim Berners-Lee asked us to imagine the future of the web. We can improve and change the web. We can envision the future of the web; it is in our hands. Tim believes in that. In that moment, it was as if there was an imaginary baton being passed on to us.
How do you imagine the future of the web? What changes would you make?