LIBERTAS - In the Name of Liberty

Since the early days of the World Wide Web, I realized the potential of unlimited communication and access of information to change our world, create true democracy, provide access to education, and empower the powerless. Combined with the concerns of journalism and a free press, the power of the internet has the potential to hold accountable those in power and help us choose who best to lead us into our complex future. Much of my study has been concentrated in the area defined below as "Web Science" because of the obvious potentials, and so have my efforts to inform you, my reader. Computer Science became communication technology, and publishing became multi-media. My Journalism became blogging and what your are reading is part of that evolution.

According to Tim Burners Lee - a former CERN scientist credited with the invention of the World Wide Web, the future of the web should be founded upon the:

basic social values of trustworthiness, privacy, and respect for social boundaries that are so critical for connecting people.

These underlying values, along with the original ethics of the web: open-source, free access, net-neutrality, etc. form the basis for a new world, where a person's potential is limited only by their character, the quality their talent, and willingness to work to achieve their dreams.

To ensure that future, Lee has founded the World Wide Web Foundation to fund web science.

Web Science has as a goal that the Web should serve humanity.

* to advance One Web that is free and open,
* to expand the Web's capability and robustness,
* and to extend the Web's benefits to all people on the planet.

"To do so we would need collaboration among researchers from a variety of disciplines (including computer science, economics, mathematics, and psychology) whose perspectives would shed new light on the Web as a system. In 2006, I helped to set up the Web Science Research Initiative (WSRI) to facilitate and produce the fundamental scientific advances necessary to inform the future design and use of the World Wide Web." - Lee