The computer used by Tim Berners-Lee to invent the internet goes on display in London to mark the web's 25th anniversary. Ciara Sutton looks at the opportunities it's created.
TRANSCRIPT
REPORTER: It's not much to look at but this computer changed the world. It was used by Tim Berners-Lee to invent the World Wide Web and has been loaned to the London Science Museum. It's 25 years since the British scientist submitted his first proposal at CERN, the European Organisation for Nuclear Research. And he set up the Web Foundation shortly afterwards. Rick Haythornethwaite is now its Chairman.
RICK HAYTHORNTHWAITE, CHAIR OF THE WEB FOUNDATION: "If you take stock, as I hope everyone does today, you realise what an extraordinary force for good it has been, the extent to which it has changed the world, allowed billions of people to create, communicate collaborate, change economies, spread democracy, I don't think even Tim thought as he sat at that computer 25 years ago that the impact could have been so profound."
REPORTER: Martha Fox-Lane advises the British government on all things digital. She co-founded lastminute.com and says issues of privacy, freedom of speech and free web access are just some of the challenges ahead.
BRITISH BUSINESSWOMAN MARTHA LANE-FOX, CO-FOUNDER OF LASTMINUTE.COM AND UK DIGITAL CHAMPION: "I believe that the next 25 years is going to be exciting and I often wish that I'd been born a bit later. I think people will look back on this time as the start of an adventure and we really have no idea how it will play out, but I also believe we shouldn't sleep walk into it."
REPORTER: Creating a high performing web suitable for any device and system is the next stage. Three out of five people around the globe still don't have web access.
RICK HAYTHORNTHWAITE, CHAIR OF THE WEB FOUNDATION: "There are a lot of challenges facing the web today and really this is the moment that we have got to remember what it was that bought us here and defend those principles vehemently."
REPORTER: Berners-Lee was honoured by the Queen for his pioneering work back in 2009. He now oversees web development but isn't making any predictions about where it will be in another 25 years.
GRAMMAR
Note that we say "25-year-old internet" and not "25-years-old internet". When numbers are used in a compound adjective, they are singular not plural. Here are some more examples:
- a two-week vacation
- a ten-ton lorry
- a three-day weekend
- a six-month-old baby
- a four-wheel-drive car
- a ten-pound note
- a five-star hotel
- a two-man crew
