Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee has founded the World Wide Web
Foundation to promote free and open access.
"Through research, technology development and the application of
the web for the benefit of under-served communities, the Foundation
seeks to enable all people to share knowledge, access services,
conduct commerce, participate in good governance, and communicate
in creative ways," says the Foundation's mission statement.
The Foundation will raise funds "through a multi-faceted
strategy", beginning with a £2.5m seed grant over five years from
the John S and James L Knight Foundation. This Foundation "promotes
journalism excellence worldwide".
"The Web is a tremendous platform for innovation, but we face a
number of challenges to making it more useful, in particular to
people in under-served communities," said Tim Berners-Lee, director
of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), and co-director of the Web
Science Research Initiative (WSRI).
"Through this new initiative, we hope to develop an
international eco-system that will help shape the future web. A
more inclusive web will benefit us all," said Berners-Lee.