Listen to and read the article.   THE COMPUTER THAT BEGAN IT ALL At the Science Museum in London photographers try to get pictures of an old-fashioned black computer and keyboard. It doesn’t look particularly special. But this computer was the machine that was used by British computer scientist Sir Tim Berners-Lee to create the World Wide Web back in 1989. In the beginning, there was no big plan to change the world. The only idea was to improve communication between the thousands of scientists working for CERN (the European Organization for Nuclear Research). Sir Tim was a 34-year-old physics graduate working as a software engineer at CERN in Switzerland in 1989. He saw the need for ‘a universal linked information system’, a way of using networks of computers to talk to each other. To do this, he created the first ever web browser. This web browser became the World Wide Web. Sir Tim thought of this name in 1990. Before that, probably not very seriously, he had considered the name The Information Mine, or T.I.M. for short. In 1993, CERN allowed the technology to be freely used by all. And, within a few years, millions of people worldwide were using it. Now there are more than 600 million websites worldwide and the web has changed things forever. People are able to access information and share things in a way which was not possible before. It has provided a new dimension of communication. And it’s enormous. Billions of people are online every day. Hundreds of millions of messages and pictures are sent and billions of dollars are spent every day by online shoppers. Today, Sir Tim believes we need to defend the principles that have made the Web successful, and to continue expanding the possibilities of the Web. The main principle is that the Web should continue to be free for everybody to use and participate in. Sir Tim is optimistic about its future. He still believes that if you’ve got a bright idea for the Web, you can make it happen. You don’t have to ask anyone. You should just do it. But the Web is not perfect.

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