Sir Tim Berners-Lee Announces Launch of the “Solid” Decentralized Web Platform

From an Open Letter by Post by Sir Tim Berner-Lee:

I’ve always believed the web is for everyone. That’s why I and others fight fiercely to protect it. The changes we’ve managed to bring have created a better and more connected world. But for all the good we’ve achieved, the web has evolved into an engine of inequity and division; swayed by powerful forces who use it for their own agendas.
Today, I believe we’ve reached a critical tipping point, and that powerful change for the better is possible – and necessary.
This is why I have, over recent years, been working with a few people at MIT and elsewhere to develop Solid, an open-source project to restore the power and agency of individuals on the web.
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Solid is a platform, built using the existing web. It gives every user a choice about where data is stored, which specific people and groups can access select elements, and which apps you use. It allows you, your family and colleagues, to link and share data with anyone. It allows people to look at the same data with different apps at the same time.
Solid unleashes incredible opportunities for creativity, problem-solving and commerce. It will empower individuals, developers and businesses with entirely new ways to conceive, build and find innovative, trusted and beneficial applications and services. I see multiple market possibilities, including Solid apps and Solid data storage.

TBL goes on to say:

So I have taken a sabbatical from MIT, reduced my day-to-day involvement with the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and founded a company called inrupt where I will be guiding the next stage of the web in a very direct way. Inrupt will be the infrastructure allowing Solid to flourish. Its mission is to provide commercial energy and an ecosystem to help protect the integrity and quality of the new web built on Solid.

Read the Complete Blog Post (approx. 1000 words)
Resources
Inrupt Homeage

• Inrupt Leadership
• Inrupt on Twitter (@inrupt_inc)

Solid Homepage
How Solid Works in in Layman’s Terms
Solid’s Introduction to Linked Data
Media Coverage
The Guardian: Decentralisation: The Next Big Step For The World Wide Web (September 8, 2018)

Vanity Fair: “Tim Berners-Lee, the Man Who Created the World Wide Web, Has Some Regrets (and His Work to Re-Decentralize the WWW) (July 2018)

TBL on “Building the First Web—Lessons for a Decentralized World” at 2018 Decentralized Web Summit

TBL Delivers Keynote at 2016 Decentralized Web Summit

More Decentralized Web and P2P Web Materials

CNI Podcast: Herbert Van de Sompel on the Decentralized Web

The Internet Archive, Code for Science and Society, and California Digital Library Announce Pilot to Demonstrate Use of Decentralized Technology For Data Management and Preservation (June 2018)

Videos and Other Materials from the 2018 Decentralized Web Summit

Beaker Browser and Dat Protocol Project

Filed under: Data Files, Digital Collections, Interactive Tools, Libraries, Management and Leadership, News, Podcasts, Preservation