Inventor of the Web to deliver public lecture in Wellington

Inventor of the Web to deliver public lecture in Wellington

InternetNZ (Internet New Zealand Inc) is pleased to announce that later this month the inventor of the World Wide Web – Sir Tim Berners-Lee – will visit Wellington to deliver a public lecture exploring the benefits of an open and uncaptureable Internet.

Proudly hosted by InternetNZ as part of Berner-Lee’s ‘TBL Down Under Tour’ (http://tbldownunder.org), the lecture will take place at Soundings Theatre, Te Papa at 5.30pm on Wednesday 30 January.

Registrations for the public lecture can be made at http://openinternetlecture.eventbrite.co.nz. Spaces are strictly limited and will be allocated on a first-come first-served basis.

Sir Tim Berners-Lee’s lecture will focus on the social, economic and innovation opportunities of the Internet. Through the story of his invention of the World Wide Web, he will explain why the Internet needs openness to deliver these opportunities. The lecture will deliver a powerful message: the value of the Open Internet and why it matters for New Zealand and the world.

The Government Chief Information Officer, Colin MacDonald, is a sponsor of the visit which will include meetings with senior government Ministers and officials including those working on the government’s aim for New Zealanders to complete their transactions with the Government easily in a digital environment. Berners-Lee will also be honoured with a traditional formal powhiri as part of this extremely important visit to New Zealand.

Berners-Lee is a globally-recognised and esteemed member of the Internet community, having invented the World Wide Web – an internet-based hypermedia initiative for global information sharing – while at CERN, the European Particle Physics Laboratory.

He is the Director of the World Wide Web Consortium, a Web standards organisation founded in 1994 which develops interoperable technologies to lead the Web to its full potential, and is a Director of the World Wide Web Foundation, launched in 2009 to coordinate efforts to further the potential of the Web to benefit humanity.

InternetNZ Community and Collaboration Lead Ellen Strickland says Berners-Lee’s contribution to the development of the Internet has been far-reaching, describing him as a pivotal figure in sparking the Internet revolution.

“The World Wide Web is a key Internet application and one of the most important inventions in the history of human communications. Since its development in 1990 the Web has grown exponentially and is now an inextricable part of most peoples lives,” she says.

“Sir Tim continues to champion the development of the Web, focusing on making data more open and accessible and working to counter threats to the openness of the Internet.

“InternetNZ encourages all those with an interest in the Web and the open Internet to attend this rare public lecture and hear from Berners-Lee in-person.”

Media interested in securing a media pass for the public lecture are asked to email office@internetnz.net.nz.
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