Leading the Web to Its Full Potential
				    "lightning talk" at TPAC 2008
				          William Loughborough

I entered MIT in 1942 and while working in the cafeteria sometimes encountered Norbert Wiener, inventor of "cybernetics" and, in a sense, computing as we understand it. Once after I had cleared away his dishes he asked "did I already eat?" Now I sometimes wonder about the same thing!

Doug Engelbart invented what became the mouse and the "paperless office". 

Mostly now I work on Web Accessibility.

In 1996 Ward Cunningham "admitted that he had thought about patenting the Wiki concept when he first created it"

Tim Berners-Lee has said "some want to own the roots of the ontology tree and charge for the fruit...those who contributed to building the Web in its first decade made the business decision that they, and the entire world, would benefit most by contributing...without royalty payments."

A common thread among these pioneers is that they essentially donated their work to the "Creative Commons"

Each of you is as much a "singularity" as are all of the above. You can do these things without the necessity of asking for acclaim, permission, OR forgiveness.

Bob Dylan sang "you don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows...don't follow leaders/watch the parking meters" 

You don't have to follow leaders to do the good acts that are part of our nature and you don't need a weatherman to direct you. Helping the Web reach its full potential depends on your contributions to society. 

How? 

Invest yourself in setting up simple information handling systems for "People First" organizations and Independent Living Centers in your communities. Show old folks how to do the basic tasks of the Web like email, searching, and editing Wikipedia entries. They will become "Web gurus" in a short time.

I know many of you already do this sort of thing, but on the whole we need to do much more of it.

You can be like the unnamed order of monks who work without notice as dishwashers in slums to better others' lot.

A metaphor for the Web is more telephone than printing press. In 1911 AT&T employees embarked on a project called "Telephone Pioneers" that still serves society. Now called telecompioneers.org it has almost a million members.

Urge your employers to join the TelecommPioneers effort so that they and you can get this going faster/further.