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Month: March 2019

The state of the World Wide Web – 30 years on

Today marks the 30th anniversary (more or less) of Sir Tim Berners-Lee’s unveiling of his proposal for the World Wide Web. Hard to believe that something so pivotal to every facet of our life now is so young. As people like me are so fond of saying, it seems like just yesterday we first heard about this amazing new “thing.” Then we went ahead with our lives, not realizing the revolution that was coming.

The BBC published an interview with Berners-Lee today. The Web’s creator admits that there are serious problems with what the Web has become. While it was originally “a force for good,” things have changed a lot and he’s not sure about the future anymore.

Tim Berners-Lee: ‘Stop web’s downward plunge to dysfunctional future’ – BBC

But while there’s plenty of doom and gloom to go around, Wired magazine has a story with Berners-Lee that is more hopeful

30 Years On, Reports of the Web’s Death Are Exaggerated. – Wired

No matter what happens, the creation of the Web remains one of the  pivotal moments of modern history and it has been a treat to be around to help shape what it’s become, for better or worse. I remain optimistic and grateful for founders and visionaries like Sir Tim Berners-Lee.

Whatever happened to Google Books?

I’m old enough to remember when Google Books was a big thing. It looked like something that was going to change the world. But like most things, the reality turned out to be something different. It got caught up in lawsuits and negotiations and eventually, kind of disappeared…at least it seemed that way.

But it hasn’t gone away entirely. Today, I just happened to come across a really good article by Scott Rosenberg, which was published in the BackChannel blog in Wired back in 2017.

I’m pointing to it here because it turns out it’s still an interesting story and Rosenberg does a good job of filling in a lot of details. If you’re a bit of a book nerd, or just dream of being one, this story will appeal to you.

How Google Book Search Got Lost
Google’s first “moonshot” project ended up way more mundane than anyone expected. (4/11/17)

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