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:
Web as a basic human right:
- Tim noted that the Web connects people and information. These connections make it more likely that people will provide, seek out and collaboratively create solutions. The Web can serve as a vehicle for solutions to some of the developing world’s biggest problems.
Basic Web access is a real value:
- Low-bandwidth, bandwidth-frugal applications, and simple devices may be a great place to start for people in any country with limited means. Even simple access to the Web can accelerate change within a village or a country.
Local content, local languages, sensitive to literacy
- If Web content does not improve a person’s life, if the content is not in a language they read, or if their reading skills are not great, the Internet and the Web are of little use. The Web Foundation is working to stimulate the generation of locally-valuable content that can can be created and consumed by the diversity of people who populate the planet.
What are your priorities for making the Web more available, useful and usable for more people?
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