Tim Berners-Lee Announces Web Science Initiative

ReadWriteWeb writes "MIT and the University of Southampton in Britain have announced an initiative called Web Science. Tim Berners-Lee is leading the program, which is essentially about formalizing a new kind of scientific discipline. The goal is to understand the deeper structure of the social Web and how people are using it. But as well as studying the Web, they also hope to shape the future of the Web. In the conference call this morning, Tim Berners-Lee spoke about how Web Science will help build 'a new Web, a better Web, building things on top of the Web infrastructure.' He said they'll be 'developing new ways of analyzing things and we'll be building systems which have completely new properties'. But he made a point of saying that because the Web is about people, social aspects will be a very important part of it."

Frankly...

[eno2001]

...I really don't like the web in it's current form. Even with all the Web 2.0 crap, it's still too slow, too restrictive from both a design and content angle and too mired in the original foundations of markup languages. What is needed is actually a new computing platform that is Internet-centric, but not bound by OS, or computer language limitations. Content design should be more of an intuitive and artistic/creative activity instead of mostly a technical one. Take Flash for example. Flash is not something that a kid can pick up and use to create content like they can with crayons and paper, or sitting down at a piano. Even though you can make some really nice looking things with Flash, it still highly restrictive in terms of point of entry for a non-technical person. And in all honesty the most creative and artistic people are not techincally inclined. Those who happen to be gifted with technical ability and true creativity are rare. And those who THINK they are creative or artistic but really aren't are all too common. However, I'm also a realist and know that the web is here to stay. This seems to have something to do with humans always going with the lowest quality products and services simply because of low cost. In this case the "low cost" is the familiarity of the web.

Re:Frankly...

[the eric conspiracy]

What is needed is actually a new computing platform that is Internet-centric, but not bound by OS, or computer language limitations.

That sounds like my brain.

And in all honesty the most creative and artistic people are not techincally inclined.

Phooey. The process of creation of art requires mastery of a craft. The most creative people in human history often mastered a very technical craft in order to create their works.

Which do you think is easier - a Flash animation, or this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Jet%C3%A9_-_Sta tue_by_Enzo_Plazzotta_-_Millbank_-_Westminster_-_L ondon_-_240404.jpg [wikipedia.org]

or:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Sistine.chapel. entire.500pix.jpg [wikipedia.org]