Worldwide Web VS The Internet

Let’s get this straight, the internet and the world-wide web (web) are actually not the same thing. Although you are using both as we speak, the difference is how one can exist physically and the other cannot. The web must rely on the internet to function since, by loose definition, the internet is considered to be a network of devices that use the world-wide web. So, technically, one could say that the web is a software running on the internet which gives us access to sites and other services, like writing and reading this blog.

The internet, not surprisingly, was founded by not one person, but multiple individuals who influenced the existence of it. Throughout the 1900s, pioneering scientists, programmers and engineers, all had to do with creation and addition of features, extensions, and structures that make-up the “information superhighway” we know as the internet (History.com). So, if you had “owned” the internet, you were able to connect with others as a network.

It was not until the web was invented by Tim Berners-Lee in 1990, when users of the internet could then access a web of information through websites and hyperlinks. So, the web compliments the internet.Berners Lee, in August of 1991, had also established the first ever website: http://info.cern.ch.

Image: Computer History Museum

Andrews, Evan. “Who Invented the Internet?” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 18 Dec. 2013, www.history.com/news/who-invented-the-internet.

Nix, Elizabeth. “The World's First Web Site.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 4 Aug. 2016, www.history.com/news/the-worlds-first-web-site.

Tiwari, Aditya. “What's The Difference Between The Internet And World Wide Web?” Fossbytes, 22 Aug. 2020, fossbytes.com/difference-between-the-internet-and-world-wide-web/.