World Wide Web
April
30th may seem like just another day, but if you use the web, which you
certainly do if you’re reading this, then today is an important
anniversary. 20 years ago, the CERN institute created the World Wide
Web. Originally, this new invention was a way to spread knowledge and
information among universities and research centers. It used the
Internet, a newly created distributed network which, up to that point,
had been mostly used for text only purposes. But with the web, a whole
new world opened up, and it did not take long before what was originally
a very dry and static medium turned into the dynamic landscape we know
today.
To
celebrate this event, CERN is putting back up the original web pages
that launched the World Wide Web at their original web addresses. These
pages are obviously out of date, but they show what it was like back
then, and what the goals of the creators of the web, including Sir Tim
Berners-Lee wanted to showcase to the world. This original statement and
accompanying documents are now available to be seen once again at their
original location.
It
is worth noting that no one from the original team has any idea what
they were doing would change the world the way the web did. Back then,
other protocols existed to exchange information, such as Gopher and
Wais. But it was the web’s use of standards, the fact that it was free
and open, and the usefulness of web pages, that made it so popular. It
is a reminder that no inventor truly knows how popular their invention
might become one day.
