A Short History of the Web

How it all began

A scientist named Sir Tim Berners-Lee had just started working at CERN as a software engineer. CERN is a large particle physics laboratory in Geneva, Switzerland, and scientists from all over the world went there to use the accelerators. However, Tim found that they had difficulty sharing information with each other. Berners-Lee was working on a project known as ‘Enquire’ and during the project, he experimented with hypertext.

Already, millions of computers were being connected together through the fast-developing internet and Berners-Lee realized that they could share information by exploiting an emerging technology called hypertext. Hypertext was the text that was displayed on devices that utilized something known as hyperlinks.

In March 1989, Tim laid out his vision for what would become the web in a document called “Information Management: A Proposal”. Believe it or not, Tim’s initial proposal was not immediately accepted. In fact, his boss at the time, Mike Sendell, noted the words “Vague but exciting” on the cover.

By the end of 1990, Tim had written 3 fundamental technologies that remain the foundation of today’s web:

Berners-Lee had also written the first Web page editor/browser — WorldWideWeb.app — and the first web server — httpd. By the end of 1990, the first web page was served. In 1991, people outside of CERN were invited to join this new web community.

As the web was growing, Tim realized that the true potential of this would only be unleashed if anyone, anywhere was able to use it without having to pay a certain fee or ask for permission.

Hence, in 1993, Berners-Lee and others announced that they had ensured that CERN would make the underlying code available on a royalty-free basis; this sparked a global wave of creativity, collaboration, and innovation.

The early web community had produced some revolutionary ideas that are now spreading far beyond the technology sector:

No permission is needed from a central authority to post anything on the web- there is no central controlling node, and so no single point of failure … and no “kill switch”! This also implies freedom from indiscriminate censorship and surveillance.

If I pay to connect to the internet with a certain quality of service, and you pay to connect with that or greater quality of service, then we can both communicate at the same level. This principle of equity is also known as Net Neutrality.

Instead of code being written and controlled by a small group of experts, it was developed in full view of everyone, encouraging maximum participation and experimentation.

For anyone to be able to publish anything on the web, all the computers involved have to speak the same languages to each other, no matter what different hardware people are using; where they live; or what cultural and political beliefs they have. In this way, the web breaks down silos while still allowing diversity to flourish.

For universal standards to work, everyone had to agree to use them. Tim and others achieved this consensus by giving everyone a say in creating the standards, through a transparent, participatory process at W3C.

Diverse fields such as information, politics, scientific research, education, and culture are using these ideas as a basis and coming up with new approaches for the world. We have only scratched the surface on how these principles can change society, believes Berners-Lee and hence, since 1994, he’s become the director of W3C, an international community committed to developing open web standards.

The web is an ever-evolving being and most of the history of the web is ahead of us. It has the potential as an agent of empowerment for everyone around the world. We must understand and improve its capabilities. New web technologies will help billions of people currently excluded from the Web community to join it.

You can take some of what has happened in the web’s past and make it relevant to your projects today. By doing this, you will be extending on the web's fundamental ethos and carrying it forward to the next generation.

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