Technology & Society Book Group

For our inaugural gathering, we will be discussing "This is for Everyone: The Unfinished Story of the World Wide Web" by Tim Berners-Lee, father of the the Web. I'll send out a summary of the book and some potential discussion-starter questions a week before we meet. We will have a very casual, welcoming conversation open to all levels of interest and experience. Hope to see you there.

-dls-

This Month's Book:
This Is for Everyone: The Unfinished Story of the World Wide Web is a 2025 memoir by Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, co-written with Stephen Witt, detailing the web's creation, evolution, and his vision for its future, including his concerns about current issues like privacy and misinformation, and his proposals for a more human-centric web, such as his Solid project. The book covers his life, the technical development of the web, and his ongoing fight to keep it open and accessible, offering a personal history and a guide for future decisions.
Key aspects of the book:

• A personal history:
  It recounts Berners-Lee's life, from his childhood to his time at CERN, where he developed the web by adding hyperlinks to the internet.
• The web's evolution:
  It covers major developments like e-commerce, search engines, social media, and the shift to mobile, while also addressing the challenges that have emerged, such as threats to truth and privacy.
• A call to action:
  Berners-Lee offers his perspective on how to fix the internet, advocating for government incentives, regulation, and a redesign to give individuals control over their data through projects like Solid.
• Genre:
  It's a blend of autobiography, history, and a manifesto for the future of the web, written with candor and humor.