(1) A commmon misconception
The Internet and the Web are commonly mistaken for the same thing.
The words seem interchangable, however, the Internet refers to the networking infrastructure that connects millions of computers, telehpones (VOIP) and servers around the world, whereas the Web is the collection of web files, photos and videos which users can access over the Internet.
The Web represents one part of the Internet.
(2) Total number
As of January 2018 there were 1,805,260,010 (1.8 billion) websites live!
(3) When it started
Sir Tim Berners-Lee, a British scientist while working at CERN, invented the World Wide Web in 1989. He created a way to allow information to be shared between scientists and universities from all over the world.
Following on from that…
(4) The first ever website
The first ever website to go ‘live’ was http://info.cern.ch back on Tuesday 6th August, 1991. The website is still up and running to this day.
It originally had instructions on how to access other people’s documents and how to set up your own server.
(5) Environmentally damaging
The Web has a devastating impact on the environment. It is largely powered by huge data-centres (with thousands of servers in each) located around the world that need massive quantities of electricity 24/7/365.
Currently IT accounts for about 10% of the world’s electricity usage.
- That last fact is one where we come in to help!
