The Importance of the World Wide Web

The Importance of the World Wide Web

Ever since the Industrial Revolution from 1760 to 1840, which is considered a major turning point in history because of the numerous advancements that were made during this time period, there have been many technological inventions made that have contributed a lot into shaping the human race into what it is today. However, if there is one invention which can be named that truly made a difference in the world, it would be the invention of the World Wide Web.

The World Wide Web, or more commonly known as the Web, is an information space wherein web resources are stored and are identified by their own unique URIs, or uniform resource identifiers. The most common form of URI, one which everyone is familiar with, is the URL, also known as uniform resource locator. The World Wide Web is interlinked through hypertext links and can be accessed through using the internet. A British computer scientist by the name of Tim Berners-Lee is the inventor of the World Wide Web. He was an employee of the European Organization for Nuclear Research, which is a European research organization that operates the largest particle physics laboratory in the world. He submitted a proposal for what would then be known as the forerunner of the World Wide Web on March 12, 1989. In the year 1990, Berners-Lee along with a Belgian computer scientist Robert Cailliau proposed to use hypertext "to link and access information of various kinds as a web of nodes in which the user can browse at will".  The pair submitted a polished proposal on November 12, 1990. Berners-Lee completed the first ever website in December of 1990. He first reported about the project to the newsgroup alt.hypertext on August 7, 1991.

So many things would not exist without the invention of the World Wide Web. One such thing is the consistent availability of free and constantly updated information from all over the world, all through a single click. Without the World Wide Web, no one would immediately know the happenings from across the world, or even just from the next city. The availability of information helps the entire world seem smaller. The World Wide Web also facilitates contact, communication, and data exchange between users from all over the world. This results to the formation of personal relationships between people who may not even be in close proximity from each other. The entire world becomes closer day by day because of the World Wide Web. 

However, the technology does come with its own disadvantages. While public information is one of the World Wide Web's advantages, there is always a danger of private information being leaked onto it. This includes names, addresses, and other possibly incriminating information such as photos or videos being spread for the entire world to see. It is also difficult for one to filter information they receive for it is a very large database. One could possibly receive unwanted information while looking for other information. There is no guarantee of finding what is required, and there is no control over the quality of the already available information.

Overall, the World Wide Web is a very useful invention. It has various advantages but at the same time, it also has various disadvantages. It is therefore up to the user to be responsible and decide whether they will benefit from the World Wide Web or not by staying safe while browsing it.

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References:

1. History of the web. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://webfoundation.org/about/vision/history-of-the-web/