Tim Berners-Lee , considered by many to be the inventor of the World Wide Web and the founder of MIT's World Wide Web consortium, spoke about the history and future of the Internet at USC Annenberg on Nov. 29 as part of the Annenberg Network Networks Theory Seminar. But while he talked often about the technical challenges and opportunities of the Internet, he made it clear that cyber space is more about people than machines.

“It’s not a Web of computers,” Berners-Lee said. “It’s a Web of people.” 

He said the Internet is about connecting users interested in all subjects: computer science, policy and law, economics, social science, philosophy and everything else one can imagine. The technical aspect of the Internet is vital, but it’s the users who generate the ideas and creative process that drive the changes. 

“One of the things we have to remember is that this is still just the beginning,” Berners-Lee said. “The technical community needs to have feedback by users, maybe those who are frustrated with the way things are.” 

USC Annenberg Dean Ernest J. Wilson III said he hopes the School will be more and more engaged with the work Berners-Lee is doing. 

“He is in the short-term, with a handful of colleagues, the inventor of the World Wide Web as we know today,” Dean Wilson said. 

Berners-Lee said it is the creative side of the Web that excites him, and that many of the ideas spurn new ideas to make possible spectacular results. He used the newly popular Web site wikipedia.org as an example. 

“Who could predict that the creation of wikis could produce wikipedia?” he asked. “Suppose someone said, ‘please edit this, be nice in your posts, and we will create an encyclopedia.’ Would anyone see that as being possible?” 

Said Berners-Lee: “Right now, we’re in a position where there is a whole lot more to come.”