Apparently, Brits don't know Al Gore invented the Web
How 25 years of internet changed daily lives worldwide
AS IT celebrates its 25th birthday this week we explore how the internet invention of a British genius has transformed the daily lives of us all...
We have a wealth of information at our fingertips at home, at work, on the move and in coffee shops [ALAMY]
The title of Professor Tim Berners- Lee’s paper was Information Management: A Proposal and few could have foreseen the incredible global impact that the proposal would have.
Berners-Lee’s brainchild was the World Wide Web – a system for publishing information over the internet. The world’s first ever website, created by Berners-Lee, didn’t go “live” until December 20, 1990.
Eight months later on August 6, 1991 the World Wide Web made its debut as a publicly available service on the internet.
Today about 2.5billion people use the web. It’s hard to imagine what life would be like without it.
You don’t even need a computer now to access it as you can do so via your smartphone too making it easier than ever to get online.
In 1998 less than 10 per cent of British homes had internet access but by 2013 the figure had risen to 83 per cent.
Recent figures show that 36million adults in Britain go online every day – 20million more than eight years ago.
Co-founder of lastminute.com Martha Lane Fox says: “The web has transformed the way we work, play and interact with each other.”
Here are a few of the ways that Berners-Lee’s amazing invention has revolutionised our lives.
GOING ON HOLIDAY
According to ABTA 49 per cent of Britons booked a holiday abroad online last year.
The world wide web has not only done away with having to visit a travel agent or order a holiday brochure before going away, it has also made it easier for us to find out information about the resort and our accommodation before we make our choice.
Nine out of ten of us research a holiday online before booking it and eight out of ten of us check currency rates online.
Not only can we read reviews about hotels on websites such as Trip Advisor but we can even go on virtual tours of the prospective accommodation.
Professor Tim Berners-Lee's brainchild was the World Wide Web [AP]
Recent figures show that 36million adults in Britain go online every day – 20million more than eight years ago
Thanks to the web we can chat to others and make friends with people from all over the world without stepping foot outside the front door.
Facebook, the social networking service, was founded in 2004 and now has an estimated 1.32billion users with more than a third of all Britons visiting the site every day.
The average number of Facebook friends a user has is 338.
SHOP TILL YOU LOG-OFF
The biggest retail story of the past 14 years has been the rise of online shopping. In 2000 British shoppers spent £800million online. Last year the total was £91billion.
In 2013 72 per cent of us bought goods and services online with a record amount of online sales being registered over Christmas.
This year online spending is predicted to increase to £107billion.
One sector that continues to expand is online food shopping with the market predicted to double in the next five years to £13billion.
In 2012 the UK had the highest rate of online shopping in the EU.
Head of retail at auditor KPMG David McCorquodale says: “Retail sales growth is being driven by the click of a mouse, rather than the ring of the tills.”
BANKING ON IT
The first online banking services began in the US in 1995. The Nationwide Building Society was the first UK online banking provider in May 1997 with the Royal Bank of Scotland starting their service a month later.
In 2001 only 6.2million adults in Britain banked online but the figure had jumped to 17million by 2007.
Today about 50 per cent of Britons carry out their financial transactions online with the figure rising to 76 per cent for adults aged between 25 and 34.
EXPRESSING YOURSELF
Within a few minutes anyone can set up their own free blog (weblog) to publish their opinions.
Photographers can post their work online while singers and musicians can upload videos of themselves on YouTube.
Twitter, an online social networking and blogging service, was launched in 2006 and now has 645,750,000 users with about 58million “tweets” or messages sent every day. That is about 9,100 per second.
Users can tweet about whatever they like so long as their message is not longer than 140 characters.
Online retailer Amazon’s warehouse in Peterborough [GETTY]Prior to the web we kept in written contact via the post, fax or telegram.
Now all we have to do is to send an email. There are now an estimated 3.1billion email users in the world.
Last year in Britain 75 per cent of us sent and received emails, up from 62 per cent in 2008. And unlike the cost of sending a letter, which continues to go up, email is free.
HAVING A FLUTTER
It’s the Cheltenham horse-racing festival this week and a record number of us are expected to place their bets on the meeting online.
The advent of internet betting means that it’s possible to bet on sporting events while they are in progress. The total online gambling population in the UK is estimated at 2.1million customers.
BUSINESS FROM HOME
The web has enabled everyone to buy and sell online whether it be books on eBay, the online shopping and auction site, or even houses.
Figures last year showed that eight million Britons run online businesses from home with the top five per cent of sellers on eBay recording an annual turnover of more than £18,000.
In the pre-web days looking for a job meant going to a job centre or leafing through advertisements in newspapers. Today one quarter of us look for work online.
The National Careers Service says: “The internet and online job hunting has transformed the way we look for jobs making our searches easier, quicker and often a lot wider.”
The web doesn’t mean that getting a job is any easier than it was in the past but 25 per cent of people surveyed recently said that it has helped them find new employment.
A WORLD OF INFORMATION
Watching an old film and want to find out if the actor appearing in it is still alive? Or perhaps you are watching a wildlife programme and want to learn more about the fattailed dwarf lemur.
In the past that would have meant consulting an encyclopaedia or visiting a library. Now all you have to do is to go online.
A world of information is now at our fingertips all thanks to Professor Tim Berners-Lee.
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