RSSThe Internet can still be a positive force, World Wide Web Foundation says
By Tim Conneally | Published November 16, 2009, 12:27 PM
Former Senior Vice President of AOL and political activist Mark Walsh makes a convincing argument that the Internet is broken. He believes that as soon as people started making money on the Internet, things changed for the worse.
"We really thought that the Internet, or the 'interactive services business' as we called it back then, was going to change the world," Walsh said in a recent TED talk. "And we thought it was important that that sense of community, that sense of transparency, that sense of empowerment was really a set of core principles that all of us believed in...it really was a perfect time. But then the money showed up, and things changed...The internet is broken because of that money."
Fortunately, not all of the powers from the dawn of the Internet think it's a lost cause.
Sir Tim Berners-Lee, widely regarded as the man who "invented the Internet," founded an international nonprofit group called the World Wide Web Foundation that officially launched global operations today. The Foundation's first projects focus on the very ideals Walsh believes were neglected when big money came into the Internet. Harnessing the Internet's power to create community, improve communication and empower individuals, the World Wide Web Foundation believes it can still be used as a force for positive change.
This week, the World Wide Web Foundation begins operations on two programs: The Web Alliance for Re-greening Africa (W4RA), and Empowering Youth in Inner Cities.
W4RA is a three-year project which will do work in Burkina Faso, Niger, and Mali. The objective there is connect farmers with one another, so that they may quickly and continuously share innovative cultivation techniques to rehabilitate degraded land. Local farmers figured out how to turn barren, drought-ravaged land into fertile fields using available resources and simple techniques. But for farmers to share their techniques with others, they previously had to be bussed long distances and engage in face-to-face discussions. The Foundation looks to employ a "digital bus" to let these farmers teach their methods to one another and hopefully speed up the "re-greening" of northwest Africa.
The second project will go to economically-challenged inner cities in different continents and teach the youth how to develop mobile and Web applications on both mobile and desktop platforms. While there may not be opportunities in the community in which they reside, this sort of program could give kids the ability to turn to the Web for education and employment.
"We don't think the problems of the world can be solved by simply throwing tech at them," World Wide Web Foundation CEO Steven Bratt told Betanews. "We are looking to bring forth a better Web, which will help people develop business, medicine, agriculture, and health care."
Uh, no one ever claimed that Berners-Lee invented the Internet. Everyone knows Al Gore did that!
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|Don't take his comment on face value. I caDon't take his comment on face value. I can clearly understand what he meant. Specially those that had access to the web back in the day.
What he is refering to was a line of thinking or filosofy that many shared when the net was in its infancy.
Back in those days there was no censorship, the major media still didn't have a hold on the internet so it was a good source for unbiased information, there was little governmental insight, basically there was little interest in this way of communication.
So when Walsh mentions the "money" issue it's just that the increasing economic interest on the internet makes the net less "free" and looses some of its hability to bridge people.
One example is that back in the day you really had ONE internet because really there were no laws governing it. Nowadays governments, companies and so on have started to put digital frontiers.
What I think Welsh means is that the web connected people but didn't necessarly make people communicate with people outside the usual bounds.
The Internet as a world wide communications system can put a guy in in Moscow talking with someone in Brazil.
But I bet this doesn't happen very ofter. The Internet connected people but We still need to break the geographical/cultural barrier.
And this was the real potential for the web. The more people comunicate the less different they look towards each other.
Yes this is a phylosofical message but it was on many people minds back in the day when all this was new. n clearly understand what he ment.
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|I would also agree that the Web MUST also be able to generate wealth for individuals. Money is not inherently evil - what some choose to do with it and how some choose to get it may be considered evil - but in the same breath you need to consider all the good that money can achieve.
Take for example Pierre Omidyar building a website for his wife so that she could trade pez dispencers in her free time. Well eBay now sits around 30billion market cap so if measured by money creation then it's certainly considered a success. It's ability to generate revenue allowed it to grow bigger and better which in turn empowered more people who are now able to make a living using that service. Even better, Pierre and Pam then used their wealth to found Omidyar Network which has made $169 million in grants to non-profits. It's also invested $138 million into for-profits who's businesses have positive social implications which are highly scalable. Those for-profit investments may provide return for ON which can then be invested back into more non-profits and social for-profits.
If you still can't warm up to the notion that it's a good thing for people to build big businesses using the Web, then imagine all of those living below the poverty line who make and sell whatever they can to get by and feed their families. Instead of having a local market and the occasional tourist, the Web opens up a potential market of 1.7 billion (and growing).
So money isn't evil, and money didn't break the Web. There will always be those that misuse it but it has done a great deal of good precisely because it gives people a way to generate wealth.
I hope that our work at the Web Foundation will enable many to do the same in countries around the world and especially in developing countires. The more money we raise, the more people will be empowered through the Web to do whatever makes most sense to them. And if what makes most sense is earning a living so they can feed their families then those who don't have to worry about such things shouldn't have a problem with that.
BTW a correction to the above article: Tim didn't invent the "Internet" and nobody claims he did, he invented the "Web", they are different but complementary.
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|he is a capitalistic hypocrite and nothing more. however, everyone should thank the founders of the pirate bay - they give us really the chance for the right use of the internet.
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|"The internet is broken because of that money"
I disagree wholeheartedly. Money is what turned the internet into a successful tool. Had money not been involved, I sincerely doubt the internet or even computers would be as widely used as they are today. The internet's monies (e-commerce, investments, etc.) are largely responsible (notice I didn't say solely responsible) for the success of computers worldwide which most definitely isn't a bad thing.
Sir Tim Berners-Lee seems to be more level-headed and makes much more sense in his outlook.
Is the internet broken? Absolutely. Is it broken because of money? Absolutely not.
The internet is a wonderful tool that has brought the best [and worst] to everyone. So what's broken? Literally the fact that it's so accommodating and nonrestrictive to everyone, which is both a good and bad thing. Cultures, societies and even people differ on a great many things and the internet has completely neglected and dismissed any sort of respect for these differences. The questions we should be asking now though shouldn't be dwelling on the past, but what we should be doing to shape the web of the future to open new horizons.
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