SXSW Day Two: Sir Tim Berners-Lee
It was an absolute pleasure to hear from Sir Tim Berners-Lee today. His passion for the web and depth of knowledge were staggering. In the introduction the point was made that he could have privatised the web for personal gain when he created it. He didn’t. He gave it to the world for free and I certainly owe him my career for that.
His challenge to the audience was to build platforms that can extend far beyond what we expect them to be. This was true of IP and TCP. It was also true of HTTP and the modern Web. TBL built a platform that others have used for good (and some bad). Platforms can be knowledge or ideas as well as technology.
For all the good content being absorbed at SXSW, the question remains what platform will you create for others to use?