May
6
Providence Marathon
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Had an fair run today at the Providence Cox Sport Marathon in Rhode Island. This incarnation of the 26.2 miler has become a popular post-Boston Marathon event. I should not have been surprised at the large number Boston registrants — in addition to hope-to-be qualifiers — who were in Providence today. I ran Boston three weeks ago as a training run for Providence (it is a loooong story). But this year’s Patriots Day run was one of the hottest on record … temps in the upper 80′s. Over 2,000 runners did not start the Boston Marathon, and almost no runner ran the time they’d hoped for. So, Providence was a viable, nearby option for a better experience.
Mar
18
Web Index Previewed at TED 2012
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The theme of this year’s TED conference was “Full Spectrum” — “the rich use of multiple technologies, formats and approaches for the most powerful possible impact on an audience”. Certainly the World Wide Web has greatly expanded the spectrum of people with access to a broad spectrum of information in a broad spectrum of ways. I proposed a talk entitled, “Measuring the Web’s World Wide Impact”, and was fortunate to one of a couple dozen of talks selected from 250 or so candidates for a talk during the TED-U sessions at TED2012. Speaking on 28 February, I had 7 mins to explain the Web Foundation’s scheme for the Web Index.
Mar
29
One Web
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The Web is young. We do not fully comprehend how this complex and expanding Web of “humanity connected by technology” really works. But what we do know, is that the Web works best when the underlying technologies are globally agreed, free and open.
The Web Foundation, working with the Web Science Trust and the World Wide Web Consortium, is working toward One Web for all people. We work to advance our understanding of the Web, explore next-generation technologies, and develop open standards to make the Web an increasingly powerful tool for all people, around the world.
Mar
11
Destructive Earthquake and Tsunami in Japan: Web Resources Aid Rescue and Recovery Efforts
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{http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eqinthenews/2011/usc0001xgp/#details United States Geological Survey.}
People and communities in Japan have been devastated by what will likely be classified as one of the 5 largest earthquakes in recorded human history. The impact of the resulting tsunami may prove even more devastating. The Sendai earthquake (preliminary magnitude 8.9) struck off the east coast of Honshu, Japan on the boundary between the Pacific and North America plates at 2:46 p.m. local time today, and waves of water generated by that event continued to sweep across the Pacific ocean and coastal towns (see video below) in the subsequent hours.
As is increasingly the case, Web resources are being put into action to find loved ones, map damage, chart emergency facilities, spread news and rally humanitarian aid. Directories of Web services are being compiled by CNET, Network for Good, MSNBC, The Chronicle of Philanthropy and others. The Ushahidi platform and OpenStreetMap have once again been placed into action to allow citizens to report and track resources, missing persons, and dangerous situations. Google launched its Person Finder within 2.5 hours of the main shock.
Feb
18
Clinton, Berners-Lee, Huffington and Many More Explore a Future Web that is Open, Just and Creative
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Omar Wasow, Ben Jealous, Robin Chase, Yvette Alberdingk Thijm, Tim Berners-Lee
This past Wednesday (16 February), the Ford Foundation sponsored “Wired for Change“, a gathering of leaders from foundations, civil society, technology and media to discuss the societal value of the Web*, threats to the Web, and what might be done to expand the value of a free and open Web in the future. Web Foundation founder and Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee, WF Chair and Knight Foundation CEO Alberto Ibargüen and I were fortunate enough to be invited to participate in the conversation.
Jan
19
Pre-keynote discussion
Take 6,500 people, age 22 plus or minus 4, and with a great passion for information technology. Mix these folks with 10,000 computing devices, random mass chanting, oodles of applications, 10 simultaneous sessions, flashy vendor booths, 5,000 tents, all within a large warehouse-like structure? Add to this a massive thunderstorm and temporary power outage. It’s called “Campus Party” – Brazil 2011. A fantastic event.
Dec
2
New Year, New Projects: mLab, Kenya
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The last few months have been quite busy for us … and in very positive ways. We are happy to announce that grants agreements have recently been concluded with the European Union, the Rockefeller Foundation, the Hewlett Foundation, and the World Bank. These grants will fund new projects that support the strategic vision of the Web Foundation. Over the next couple of weeks, we will introduce each of these new projects in detail.
Today, we briefly introduce the mLab East Africa Initiative, funded by the World Bank / Infodev. Stephane Boyera briefly mentioned this a few weeks ago in another post, when he went to Kenya for the first face-to-face meeting.
Nov
21
Long Live the Web: Scientific American Article by Tim Berners-Lee
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Dec 2010
The Web’s inventor and Web Foundation Director, Tim Berners-Lee, pens a must-read article – “Long Live the Web“ — in the December issue of Scientific American magazine. As the header says, “The Web is critical not merely to the digital revolution but to our continued prosperity—and even our liberty. Like democracy itself, it needs defending“.
Sep
24
On Monday 20 September in New York City, Web Foundation representatives (including former UK Prime Minister and Web Foundation Director Gordon Brown and Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee), met with members of the Broadband Commission (including Rwanda’s President Kagame and ITU’s Secretary General Touré) and other knowledgeable people (see participants list below) to exchange principles and plans on how to accelerate the benefits of the Internet and Web for those who need it most.
The occasion was prompted by the presentation of the Broadband Commission’s report “The Future Built on Broadband” to the United Nations Secretary General. The report asserts the contribution that universal access to rapid Internet communications could make to addressing the UN’s Millennium Development Goals (MDG) and other social and economic imperatives, and outlines actions needed to achieve universal broadband access. Among other things, the Web Foundation sought to connect with the Commission, and explore what could be done in the near term to leverage existing infrastructure for public good, while building for a broadband future.
Sep
19
Berners-Lee: Web Access for All
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Web inventor and Web Foundation founder Tim Berners-Lee spoke last week at the Nokia World conference in London (see Nokia post, BBC article, among many others). As usually, he made a number of interesting points: