1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:10,660 The World Wide Web, where you're likely watching this video, 2 00:00:10,660 --> 00:00:13,259 is used by millions of people every day 3 00:00:13,259 --> 00:00:15,060 for everything from checking the weather, 4 00:00:15,060 --> 00:00:17,100 ordering food, and chatting with friends, 5 00:00:17,100 --> 00:00:21,059 to raising funds, sharing news, or starting revolutions. 6 00:00:21,059 --> 00:00:24,420 We use it from our computers, our phones, even our cars. 7 00:00:24,420 --> 00:00:27,179 It's just there, all around us, all the time. 8 00:00:27,179 --> 00:00:28,899 But what is it exactly? 9 00:00:28,899 --> 00:00:32,100 Well, first of all, the World Wide Web is not the Internet, 10 00:00:32,100 --> 00:00:35,179 even though the terms are often used interchangeably. 11 00:00:35,179 --> 00:00:37,780 The Internet is simply the way computers connect to each other 12 00:00:37,780 --> 00:00:39,880 in order to share information. 13 00:00:39,880 --> 00:00:41,380 When the Internet first emerged, 14 00:00:41,380 --> 00:00:44,420 computers actually made direct calls to each other. 15 00:00:44,420 --> 00:00:46,520 Today, networks are all around us, 16 00:00:46,520 --> 00:00:49,079 so computers can communicate seamlessly. 17 00:00:49,079 --> 00:00:51,920 The communication enabled through the Internet has many uses, 18 00:00:51,920 --> 00:00:55,179 such as email, file transfer, and conferencing. 19 00:00:55,179 --> 00:00:58,780 But the most common use is accessing the World Wide Web. 20 00:00:58,780 --> 00:01:01,100 Think of the Web as a bunch of skyscrapers, 21 00:01:01,100 --> 00:01:02,719 each representing a web server, 22 00:01:03,219 --> 00:01:05,000 a computer always connected to the internet, 23 00:01:05,200 --> 00:01:08,239 specifically designed to store information and share it. 24 00:01:08,760 --> 00:01:09,920 When someone starts a website, 25 00:01:10,340 --> 00:01:12,540 they are renting a room in this skyscraper, 26 00:01:13,180 --> 00:01:15,939 filling it with information and linking that information together 27 00:01:15,939 --> 00:01:18,280 in an organized way for others to access. 28 00:01:19,000 --> 00:01:21,799 The people who own these skyscrapers and rent space in them 29 00:01:21,799 --> 00:01:22,920 are called web hosts, 30 00:01:23,239 --> 00:01:24,859 but anyone can set up a web server 31 00:01:24,859 --> 00:01:26,760 with the right equipment and a bit of know-how. 32 00:01:27,439 --> 00:01:29,079 There is another part to having a website 33 00:01:29,079 --> 00:01:31,280 without which we would be lost in the city 34 00:01:31,280 --> 00:01:33,379 with no way of finding what we need. 35 00:01:33,379 --> 00:01:36,980 This is the website address, which consists of domain names. 36 00:01:36,980 --> 00:01:38,579 Just like with a real-life address, 37 00:01:38,579 --> 00:01:41,579 a website address lets you get where you want to go. 38 00:01:41,579 --> 00:01:44,680 The information stored in the websites is in web languages, 39 00:01:44,680 --> 00:01:46,980 such as HTML and JavaScript. 40 00:01:46,980 --> 00:01:48,980 When we find the website we're looking for, 41 00:01:48,980 --> 00:01:52,079 our web browser is able to take all the code on the site 42 00:01:52,079 --> 00:01:55,280 and turn it into words, graphics, and videos. 43 00:01:55,280 --> 00:01:57,680 We don't need to know any special computer languages 44 00:01:57,680 --> 00:02:01,579 because the web browser creates a graphic interface for us. 45 00:02:01,579 --> 00:02:05,420 So in a lot of ways, the World Wide Web is a big virtual city 46 00:02:05,420 --> 00:02:08,000 where we communicate with each other in web languages, 47 00:02:08,000 --> 00:02:10,879 with browsers acting as our translators. 48 00:02:10,879 --> 00:02:14,360 And just like no one owns a city, no one owns the web. 49 00:02:14,360 --> 00:02:15,780 It belongs to all of us. 50 00:02:15,780 --> 00:02:17,960 Anyone can move in and set up shop. 51 00:02:17,960 --> 00:02:21,199 We might have to pay an internet service provider to gain access, 52 00:02:21,199 --> 00:02:23,460 a hosting company to rent web space, 53 00:02:23,460 --> 00:02:25,900 or a registrar to reserve our web address, 54 00:02:25,900 --> 00:02:30,379 Like utility companies in a city, these companies provide crucial services, 55 00:02:30,379 --> 00:02:33,139 but in the end, not even they own the web. 56 00:02:33,139 --> 00:02:36,939 But what really makes the web so special lies in its very name. 57 00:02:36,939 --> 00:02:41,379 Prior to the web, we used to consume most information in a linear fashion. 58 00:02:41,379 --> 00:02:43,199 In a book or newspaper article, 59 00:02:43,199 --> 00:02:46,699 each sentence was read from beginning to end, page by page, 60 00:02:46,699 --> 00:02:49,419 in a straight line until you reached the end. 61 00:02:49,419 --> 00:02:51,840 But that isn't how our brains actually work. 62 00:02:51,840 --> 00:02:55,340 Each of our thoughts is linked to other thoughts, memories, and emotions 63 00:02:55,340 --> 00:02:58,139 in a loose, interconnected network, like a web. 64 00:02:58,879 --> 00:03:01,340 Tim Berners-Lee, the father of the World Wide Web, 65 00:03:01,759 --> 00:03:04,360 understood that we needed a way to organize information 66 00:03:04,360 --> 00:03:06,439 that mirrored this natural arrangement. 67 00:03:06,979 --> 00:03:09,360 And the web accomplishes this through hyperlinks. 68 00:03:09,900 --> 00:03:11,819 By linking several pages within a website 69 00:03:11,819 --> 00:03:14,120 or even redirecting you to other websites 70 00:03:14,120 --> 00:03:17,919 to expand on information or ideas immediately as you encounter them, 71 00:03:18,300 --> 00:03:22,180 hyperlinks allow the web to operate along the same lines as our thought patterns. 72 00:03:23,020 --> 00:03:24,740 The web is so much a part of our lives 73 00:03:24,740 --> 00:03:26,659 because in content and structure, 74 00:03:27,000 --> 00:03:30,699 it reflects both the wider society and our individual minds. 75 00:03:31,479 --> 00:03:33,879 And it connects those minds across all boundaries, 76 00:03:34,300 --> 00:03:37,719 not only ethnicity, gender, and age, but even time and space.