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An idiot journalist once introduced Tim Berners-Lee as the “Inventor of the Internet.” He was quickly and firmly corrected by the man himself, who pointed out that the he invented the World Wide Web, not the Internet. (The Internet refers to technology that allows one computer to communicate with another within a network. When we refer to "the Internet", we really mean "the Web", which is the most widely used, standardized means of accessing and connecting those networks.) After a bit of a rocky start, my interview with Sir Berners-Lee and Karen Bartleson, president of the IEEE Standards Association, progressed--in large part--smoothly.
Aside from articulating the first framework of the Web, Berners-Lee is also responsible for creating its three vital building blocks—HTML, HTTP and URLs. Since founding the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) in 1994, he's served as director of that organization, which determines the definitive specifications for languages and technologies used on the Web. As developers introduce new means of presenting, storing and sending information across the Internet, W3C keeps up by developing and publishing the official guidelines that govern each new technology. The official rules of HTML5, for example--the latest version of HTML that allows for more versatile, media-heavy webpages—are defined by W3C.
Because the organization is made up of industry stakeholders like Twitter, IBM and Microsoft who help determine the guidelines, companies are under significant pressure to adhere to W3C's specs. As Berners-Lee explains in the above video, the Web industry would descend into chaos without such a governing body, with competing companies and countries promoting their own proprietary languages and protocols to the detriment of consumers. Bartleson’s IEEE Standards Association is the W3C’s counterpart in the electronics industry.
