[OLPC library] Tim Berners-Lee

[Samuel Klein]

An excellent question.  I wrote to find out what in particular he has
in mind.   some form of organization-neutral content stamping has been
discussed and well-understood for over a decade now.  I like the
subtle asides about the needs of younger, more rural, non-english
audiences.  SJ

On Mon, Sep 15, 2008 at 12:01 AM, Chris Leonard
<cjlhomeaddress at gmail.com> wrote:
> It will be intersting to see how this develops and whether this web-site
> reputation rating service can be leveraged to OLPC's ends.
>
> cjl
>
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7613201.stm
>
>
> Warning sounded on web's future
> By Pallab Ghosh
> Science correspondent, BBC News
>
> The internet needs a way to help people separate rumour from real science,
> says the creator of the World Wide Web.
>
> Talking to BBC News Sir Tim Berners-Lee said he was increasingly worried
> about the way the web has been used to spread disinformation.
>
> Sir Tim was speaking in advance of an announcement about a Foundation he has
> helped create that will vet websites.
>
> The Foundation will certify sites that it has found to be trustworthy and a
> reliable source of information.
>
> Future proof
>
> Sir Tim talked to the BBC in the week in which Cern, where he did his
> pioneering work on the web, turned on the Large Hadron Collider for the
> first time.
>
> The use of the web to spread fears that flicking the switch on the LHC could
> create a Black Hole that could swallow up the Earth particularly concerned
> him, he said. In a similar vein was the spread of rumours that the MMR
> vaccine given to children in Britain was harmful.
>
> Sir Tim told BBC News that there needed to be new systems that would give
> websites a label for trustworthiness once they had been proved reliable
> sources.
>
> "On the web the thinking of cults can spread very rapidly and suddenly a
> cult which was 12 people who had some deep personal issues suddenly find a
> formula which is very believable," he said. "A sort of conspiracy theory of
> sorts and which you can imagine spreading to thousands of people and being
> deeply damaging."
>
> Sir Tim and colleagues at the World Wide Web consortium had looked at simple
> ways of branding websites - but concluded that a whole variety of different
> mechanisms was needed.
>
> "I'm not a fan of giving a website a simple number like an IQ rating because
> like people they can vary in all kinds of different ways," he said. "So I'd
> be interested in different organisations labelling websites in different
> ways".
>
> Sir Tim spoke to the BBC to publicise the launch of his World Wide Web
> Foundation which aims to improve the web's reputation for accurate
> information.
>
> Alongside this role it will aim to make it easier for people to get online.
> Currently only 20% of the world's population have access to the web
>
> "Has it been designed by the West for the West?" asked Sir Tim.
>
> "Has it been designed for the executive and the teenager in the modern city
> with a smart phone in their pocket? If you are in a rural community do you
> need a different kind of web with different kinds of facilities?"
>
> Creative medium
>
> The Web Foundation will also explore ways to make the web more mobile-phone
> friendly. That would increase its use in Africa and other poor parts of the
> world where there are few computers but plenty of handsets.
>
> The Foundation will also look at how the benefits of the web can be taken to
> those who cannot read or write.
>
> "We're talking about the evolution of the web," he said. "Perhaps by using
> gestures or pointing. When something is such a creative medium as the web,
> the limits to it are our imagination".
>
> The Foundation will also look at concerns that the web has become less
> democratic, and its use influenced too much by large corporations and vested
> interests.
>
> "I think that question is very important and may be settled in the next few
> years," said Sir Tim.
>
> "One of the things I always remain concerned about is that that medium
> remains neutral," he said.
>
> "It's not just where I go to decide where to buy my shoes which is the
> commercial incentive - it's where I go to decide who I'm going to trust to
> vote," he said.
>
> "It's where I go maybe to decide what sort of religion I'm going to belong
> to or not belong to; it's where I go to decide what is actual scientific
> truth - what I'm actually going to go along with and what is bunkum".
>
> Story from BBC NEWS
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