The web at 30

The web at 30

One of the world's most important inventions was 'born' in March 1989 and celebrated its 30th birthday in 2019. Read the article to find out what it is.

Do the preparation task first. Then read the article and do the exercises.

Preparation

Thirty years ago, this website and any other websites were impossible to imagine. Some people had computers in their homes, but they didn't use them for much. Maybe they just used them to play games or type letters to print out and send by post. But, in 1989, a British computer scientist called Tim Berners-Lee changed everything and one of the modern world's greatest inventions was born: the World Wide Web.

The World Wide Web vs. the internet

Now, let's make sure you're not confused about something. We're not talking about the beginning of the internet itself. Most people use the words internet and web as if they're the same thing. But, in fact, the internet is much older than the web, and they're two different things. The internet was developed in the early 1970s by Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn. It is basically a huge network made up of smaller networks of computers that deliver packets of information to other computers. When this information is in the form of webpages, that's the World Wide Web.

The idea that started it all

So, in 1989, when Tim Berners-Lee was working at CERN (the European Organisation for Nuclear Research) in Switzerland, the internet already existed. But it was nothing like it is now because there were no webpages. Hard to imagine, isn't it? Email also already existed (Queen Elizabeth II famously sent an email in 1976) and so did the idea of domain names, for example britishcouncil.org. Another tool that already existed was hypertext to jump from one document to another. But, without the web, none of it was as useful as it is now. 

Berners-Lee got very frustrated at CERN because all the scientists had different kinds of computers. You could connect the computers with cables, but they couldn't 'speak' to each other. If you wanted information, you had to know exactly which computer that information was on and sit down in front of it and log in. Berners-Lee wrote a report that suggested a way of putting the internet, domain names and hypertext together into one system. This 'imaginary information system which everyone can read' was later called the World Wide Web (and that's why website addresses start with 'www'). At the time, his idea was so abstract that his boss called it 'vague but exciting'. Two years later, in 1991, the world's first website was built at CERN: http://info.cern.ch (the site you can see now is a copy made in 1992).

The web today

Today, thirty years later, that idea is still exciting. The web is just part of the internet, but it is the part that connects us to the rest of the world. The telephone meant that one person could connect with one other person. Television meant that one person's ideas could reach millions of people in their homes. But, with the web, everyone who has internet access is connected and anyone can contribute to the information on it.

Digital divide

The idea behind the web is to connect people and help them understand each other. But not everyone in the world has internet access – only 55 per cent of people, according to internetworldstats.com. Half the world's population lives in Asia, but only half of Asian people have the internet. In North America, 95 per cent of people have internet access and so do 85 per cent of Europeans. North America and Europe make up only 15 per cent of the world's population, but together they make up 25 per cent of the world's internet users. Compare this with Africa, which makes up 17 per cent of the world's population, but only 36 per cent of its people have internet access. 

The digital divide isn't only geographical. If we compare men's and women's access to the internet, World Wide Web Foundation research shows that women are less likely to use the internet in many poor urban communities – 37 per cent of women versus 59 per cent of men surveyed were internet users. 

If you're reading this, you're part of the half of the world that has access to this powerful tool. Perhaps our job for the next thirty years is to make the web available to the other half of the world and to help people use it to their best advantage.

Sources:

This article is part of Anyone//Anywhere: the web at 30, a year-long programme of projects and partnerships looking at the impact of the World Wide Web on our lives. Find out more here: https://www.britishcouncil.org/anyone-anywhere

Discussion

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Submitted by olhamats on Thu, 01/09/2022 - 07:44

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Imagine your life without the internet. How would your day be different?

1) First of all, I think word would have slower development of science because knowledge would spread with another speed.
2) Connected to previous thought, a lot of today's occupations would not exist.
3) I would definitely use more often my phone for calls. Also I would spend more time for physical activity and it is a huge advantage.

I think our live would be more slower in general and it would have positive effect on psychological health of population. For instance, anxiety is product of too fast changes in our life and word in general.

Submitted by mariuss9 on Sun, 03/07/2022 - 10:54

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Internet is a powerful tool but at the same time we need to be aware of its dangers. We can easily get a virus and see our passwords stolen from hackers. If we are not capable of using internet we may get scammed by people pretending to be our online friends.

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Submitted by danisep on Mon, 01/03/2021 - 17:46

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My life without the internet would be like. Blockbuster would be spread around the world, we would rent DVD's and Blueray like before music on Discman or memories cards and the information on books. The internet brings information and entertainment easier for everyone I hope that with the new idea to install internet satellites around the world all the world could be connected on the internet.

Submitted by PALLAVRPATIL202 on Fri, 12/02/2021 - 09:24

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Today, I am lucky to be in part of audience who has got access to internet and through achieves my educational and professional goal. When I started my career it was time, where hotmail was word we could hear everywhere. I have been part of this era from its development till advanced movement like AR, and VR. Definitely with the internet access, during Covid Pandemic IT people able to continued to work from home flawlessly. Pandemic didn't affected IT sector and others whos main source of work is internet enabled computers.

Submitted by Min Htet Kaung on Wed, 22/07/2020 - 16:21

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10 years ago, in our country, internet hasn't been used so widely as today yet. Not everyone has a mobile phone. So if we want to use internet, we have to go to internet cafe. We didn't have good awareness of how to use the internet and didn't clearly understand the difference between facebook and internet. At this time, we relied on television, newspaper and magazine to get new information and to relax. From positive point of view, we read more newspapers and magazines and did physical sports more. Now we used to spend our leisure time by seeing mobile phone screen.In some youths, the habit of reading novels and other books full of knowledge become disappeared. On the other end, it has good advantages by using it correctly. We can communicate to everyone all over the world and even now, we can study english via google.
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Submitted by OlaIELTS on Tue, 09/06/2020 - 00:13

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It's would be bored. Thanks to the inventors.

Submitted by parisaach on Sat, 14/09/2019 - 08:18

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It is so difficult to live without the internet today, it is even difficult to imagine living whithout the internet. When I was a child we didn't use internet, but now evern little children know how to use internet, some of them download apps and games in their parent's phone. or check their Instagram. Nowadays the Internet strongly impact our life. We use it in our phone, tablets, computers even our home furnitures, every day from the early morning to late at night. The internet is one part of our daily life, our business, etc People use the internet every where and every time. I check my phone every morning to see what new photos my friends posted on Intsagram, and to read messages my friends and family sent on Whatsapp or Telegram. Then I use the internet to play an online game which is named Harry Potter: Wizards unite. Sometimes I buy things from online stores and I might order food or take a taxi online. I'm not a business woman but I have some friends who have online business. Some people try to live without internet , but If we remove internet from our life our life is not perfect any more.Today people even read news online . It means if you live without the internet your lifestyle will be back to 30 years ago.
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Submitted by CHINMOY_53 on Wed, 27/03/2019 - 15:27

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A very informative article to commemorate 30 years of www service and on this I remember with much adoration the great scientist Tim Berners-Lee , who made possible the discovery of fastest growing strongest communication system of the world, enriching people all over the world with informations just by a "click".The world is present in our room through famous websites like google, yahoo, bing, youtube and of course wikipedia. We are fortunate enough.Sitting within the four walls of our room we see the world with wonder(www).
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Submitted by Kostya B on Tue, 26/03/2019 - 19:54

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I think to live without internet now it would be a hard thing because there a lot of different informantion, largest financial systems of the world working by support of the internet. The life without internet is possible but for how long time? It is a significant question. In conclusion it is worth to say that over time the internet will infiltrate in life of people more and more.

Submitted by ADELE on Mon, 25/03/2019 - 12:48

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I cannot imagine living without the internet. Without suppose the end of the learning English on line and interact, the end of looking for a job an others. Internet nowadays is the best way to reach and share information. Normally no one can live without it