On 12th March 2019, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, creator of the world wide web, attended a celebration hosted at the Science Museum, London. Along with other leaders in science, technology and policy, he discussed how the web has changed our lives and what we can do to protect it. He told a 1,500 strong audience at the Science Museum that it was time for us all to get involved in the fight for the future of the web and ‘to think actively about the kind of web we want’. He was discussing the ‘ForTheWeb’ campaign that has been launched by The World Wide Web Foundation.
As he celebrated the global impact of the web in the 30 years since its birth, Sir Tim said urgent action was needed to prevent a dysfunctional future. To find the right solutions for the future of web, he said, we had to recognise the challenges such as ‘harm that is created by people just being nasty as well as fake information… used to manipulate you’.
Sir Tim spoke of the stark digital divide in terms of quality of access to the web and the way it exaggerates existing inequalities; on average, men are 25 per cent more likely than women to have access to the web and English is the language of more than half the content on the web despite accounting for only a small proportion of spoken word across the world.
Asked by interviewer, Samira Ahmed about his favourite unintended consequences of the web, Sir Tim replied: ‘A range of things. Sometimes, people say, without the web, we wouldn’t be alive or we wouldn’t be in love.’
But at the heart of Sir Tim’s birthday message was a call to action. The Web Foundation he founded is demanding that governments, companies and citizens come together to build a new Contract for the Web and protect the future of his remarkable yet contradictory invention. Earlier, host Rachel Riley welcomed a series of speakers onto the stage of the free, public event, including Google’s Matt Brittin, who announced £1 million funding for the Web Foundation.
Smith Centre Reception
Responding to Sir Tim’s words at a reception celebrating the opening of the museum’s new supporters centre, The Smith Centre, Science Museum Director Sir Ian Blatchford spoke of our museums’ role in this global endeavour.
Science Museum Group Fellowship for Sir Tim Berners-Lee
It was in recognition of the scale of Sir Tim’s achievement that Science Museum Group Chairman, Dame Mary Archer, invited Sir Tim to accept a Science Museum Fellowship, at the closing reception where Lady Rosemary Berners-Lee received a rousing response from guests including Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, Royal Society President Sir Venki Ramakrishnan, astronaut Helen Sharman and actor David Tennant for her suggestion that ‘one of the most important things we can do is to make the web more female’.
About the Science Museum Group
As the home of human ingenuity, the Science Museum’s world-class collection forms an enduring record of scientific, technological and medical achievements from across the globe. Welcoming over 3 million visitors a year, the Museum aims to make sense of the science that shapes our lives, inspiring visitors with iconic objects, award-winning exhibitions and incredible stories of scientific achievement.
More information can be found at sciencemuseum.org.uk