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 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 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 > _______________________________________________ > Library mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/library > > _______________________________________________ Library mailing list [email protected] http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/library
