Tim Berners-Lee is a name unfamiliar to most. He is the inventor of perhaps one of the greatest innovations of our time that we use frequently and on a daily basis; the World Wide Web (Internet). When Tim Berners-Lee first visualized the concept of the World Wide Web, he had a pretty solid plan for how he wanted it to work. His vision for social change and individual creativity far exceeded his own expectations. Berners-Lee’s overall intention for the development of the Web was to advance technology, change the way people do business, interact, socialize, entertain themselves, and exchange ideas. In the time since the evolution of the web, Berners-Lee has remained close to his brainchild by continuing to facilitate the Web’s growth and development. In his book, “Weaving the Web”, Berners-Lee recounts the journey that got his idea from mere thought to become a reality.
Computer geniuses are sometimes referred to as computer geeks and “Weaving the Web” reads like that of a computer geek who is either incredibly humble about his contribution to society in the invention of the Web, or he is so intelligent that it is just another day in a job’s work for him. Berners-Lee was selected as one of “Time” magazine’s greatest minds of the twentieth century. That may be true but that certainly does not compute with readers given Berners-Lee’s lackluster storytelling appeal.
Use your promo and get a custom paper on
"“Weaving the Web” Summary".
When one first picks up the book and learns within the first few pages who Berners-Lee is, they expect big things from this book; sensational story-telling, bells and whistle analogies, just anything to match the realization the reader has when he makes the connection between the Web and Berners-Lee. Instead, readers find he does not convey that moment of epiphany when he first realized the Web would take on a life of its own and have far-reaching impacts for billions of users.
Berners-Lee gives no credit to the human condition as being smarter as it evolves. Instead, he surmises that we are just better connected which has given us possibilities like never before seen. He takes no credit for his invention but rather acknowledges the grassroots effort of many who have joined forces to make the Web what it is. For Berners-Lee, he believes this lends hope for the future of the Web becoming anything we want it to be. Time and history have already demonstrated that.
Berners-Lee makes it known that he has not profited from his invention, but rather has used his gifts to keep the Web free to users. This has been a perplexing notion that the mainstream media has not been able to wrap their heads around. It is the one thing he gets questioned more about in interviews than anything else. Perhaps that is it because when compared to the content of “Weaving the Web” this sole fact about Berners-Lee is the most intriguing. When one looks at every website that exists and has been used by the very readers who read his book, Berners-Lee has not made a dime off of any single one. That is about as incredible hard to fathom as the concept of the Web itself.
For techie readers this book will have the most appeal. Berners-Lee goes into great detail about the design of his product. He speaks of his development of Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), Universal Source Identifiers (USI), code, the interworking of the Web, and how it all came together to the enigma that it is today. “Weaving the Web” speaks of widespread apathy and indifference Berners-Lee received from colleagues that met much resistance. This nugget in the book is interesting but is old news. It has previously been reported and would seem that way to readers until they get Berners-Lee’s version of it which is anything short of unemotional. His depiction of it should at least make readers feel he was angry at his colleagues for their lack of support. Instead it motivated him to forge ahead with rolling out HTTP and inventing the Web with or without their support.
Berners-Lee has created the Web with the right intentions. Somewhere in his philanthropic efforts to create something for free has been taken for granted by users worldwide. If Berners-Lee’s greatest challenge at the moment is to keep the web open and free, he has failed to offer real solutions for doing so. The politics and power of our modern-day have become more of a driving force for the Web, creating one of the biggest struggles between individualism and corporatism of this century. Terms like net neutrality and federal monitoring of all Web activity does not and will not make it free. Overall, the response to the Web’s growth has not been a movement to ensure universal access to digital technology as Berners-Lee sees it, but rather, a campaign to regulate, curb and privatize the net and the Web.
“Weaving the Web” is aptly titled because what a Web Berners-Lee has weaved for users worldwide. It has become so entangled and intertwined that the Web is a complex portal that provides a window to the world for everything imaginable. It is without a doubt the greatest invention of our time. The technology surrounding the Web is continually changing and evolving. It is considered the most individualistic medium that exists. It is used by any and all, including corporate moguls who have successfully managed to permeate American culture from every open portal in the Web. Berners-Lee has managed to do what no one before him ever did. His selfless intention behind his invention is beyond heroic, but his attempt at putting it in literary format lacks inspiration and is nowhere near as much as the author or his great creation.
