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Berners-Lee Launches New W3 Foundation
robertsonadams tips us to the initiation of the World Wide Web Foundation with $5M of seed funding from the Knight Foundation. From the announcement: "Sir Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web, unveils the World Wide Web Foundation. It aims to advance One Web that is free and open, to expand its capability and robustness, and to extend its benefits to all people on the planet." The new foundation's site should have video up soon of Berners-Lee's speech at the kickoff event. The foundation hopes to raise $50M–$100M and will issue grants in Web science, technology and practice, and Web for society. Initial plans will be disclosed early next year.
It's aim is to improve the web not recreate it. :)
Hopefully the WWWF will take a rather more balanced view than that expressed in the parent post. I have some faith that it will: Berners-Lee has always struck me as both a smart guy and someone who genuinely wants to do the right thing. It is interesting that considering issues such as privacy and security is explicitly mentioned in the WWWF concept paper (available on their web site), but that Berners-Lee also told the BBC he was concerned about the need to separate rumour from reliable information on the web. Whether or not on-line anonymity should be possible is pretty fundamental to these issues.
If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.
The 2022 date is effectively meaningless. That is when every single minute edge case in the specification has been proven to be worked out, and implemented in an exactly identical manner by at least two browsers. (Hint: at present there isn't a single W3C specification which has reached this point.)
What matters to all of us is when we can start using features from HTML 5. This is roughly from Last Call, which is hoped to be reached next year.
See also these posts by Anne van Kesteren: Re: 2022 and Meaning of "recommendation".
From http://www.webfoundation.org/programs/
The Foundation will launch with three projects:
Web Science and Research, Web Technology and Practice, and Web for Society.
The output of the projects will be:
- Studies
- Basic research
- Thought leadership
- Curricula
- Conferences, workshops, etc.
- Support for organizations developing Web standards
- Support for organizations using the web to solve social problems
- Training materials, guidelines, etc.
"We receive as friendly that which agrees with, we resist with dislike that which opposes us" - Faraday
The news is that this dude says he did the www, not Al Gore.
If by "This Dude" you mean Tim Berners-Lee, then it's not at all news.
Al Gore built the internet (in that he's responsible for legislation encouraging it being built), while Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web.
Should anyone be unfamiliar with that distinction, it is discussed to some satisfaction at http://webopedia.internet.com/DidYouKnow/Internet/2002/Web_vs_Internet.asp and a quick google search for, say, "internet vs. www" should give you more information.
Also, Al Gore's legislation encouraging the internet into existence happened around 1988, while TBL did his web-thing in 1991. The years are pulled out of http://www.firstmonday.org/ISSUES/issue5_10/wiggins/ which is not my ass.