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Digital Planet: Can we make the web a better space?

Factual: Science & Nature

Hands holding an imaginary ball of light against a sunrise.

07/07/2020 GMT

Can we make the web a better space?

BBC World Service - Digital Planet, Can we make the web a better space?

A special programme on Web Science and why it matters

A special programme on Web Science. Could a better understanding of how the internet works allow us to improve it for humanity in the future?

What is Web Science, and why does it matter?   

The internet is the most complex machine built by humans but it so much more than just the engineering behind it.  The internet moves the data around, but the web is the space in which we humans have experiences, think of the web as a sort of super app. 

We're interested in the underlying technology, in that it facilitates the movement of data that makes the web possible. But from the human side, we're interested in our interaction with each other as made possible by the web, so how do we understand it in its totality rather than thinking about it as a collection of websites?  Did the inventors of the internet foresee how it could be used now – as a force of good and change but also as a way of spreading hate and misinformation?  By studying Web Science could the internet be made better for humanity in the future?  

Joining us from the WebSci 2020 Conference are: “Father of the Internet” Vint Cerf, Executive Director, Web Science Institute Wendy Hall, Director of the Ada Lovelace Institute in Cambridge Carly Kind and JP Rangaswami former Chief Data Officer and Head of Innovation of Deutsche Bank Chief Scientist at BT.

The programme is presented by Gareth Mitchell with expert commentary by Bill Thompson.

Studio Manager: Duncan Hannant
Producer: Ania Lichtarowicz

Main image credit: Getty Images

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