The World Wide Web was launched on April 30, 1993 by its creator, CERN computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee. Its creation stemmed from his proposal four years earlier in 1989 for "an idea of linked information systems." However, it was in 1993 when Berners-Lee released the source code for the first ever web browser and editor. He developed the code on a NeXT computer. The World Wide Web was originally created to connect CERN's information system (which was based in system) to other systems such as MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and Stanford University's systems. Initially, the World Wide Web was closed off to the public and only used by institutions. However, the WWW soon became opened to the general public to use.
The invention of the World Wide Web has its pros and cons. Some positives that can be associated with the WWW include that it was the first royalty-free, easy-to-use browser. Similarly to nowadays, there was not any cost for the consumer to conduct searches and it was easily accessible. Another pro was that it revolutionized information sharing and human connection. Prior to the invention of the World Wide Web, people shared information and connected with each other by talking on the phone, writing letters to each other, or conversing in-person. Following the introduction of the World Wide Web, there are countless ways to information share and communicate with others. Just a few examples are email, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Snapchat. Leading into the next pro, most of these are also examples of the World Wide Web being a global source of information. People from all around the world have contributed to the Web's expansion, which was a goal from the start in connecting CERN's Swiss-based system with those in the United States of America. Finally, another big pro of the World Wide Web was its low cost of the initial connection. Due to not many people using the WWW, not many systems were connected to the server which meant a low cost to have a connection with these systems.
Despite the many pros, the World Wide Web had and still has plenty of cons. One of these negative aspects was the difficulty to filter and prioritize information. A great contributor to this flaw was the lack of control over the quality of available information. In the early days of the WWW, there was no fact-checking websites like nowadays. Another con was the slow search time, which makes sense as the technology was brand new. Additionally, early systems were overloaded due to the large number of users. Finally, the WWW required an effective information search strategy in order to get the best results. The invention of the World Wide Web was revolutionary and had many advantages, but it also came with its downsides.
Links:
World Wide Web (WWW) launches in the public domain - HISTORY
A short history of the Web | CERN (home.cern)
World Wide Web: Invention, History and Uses (jagranjosh.com)
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