World Wide Web Foundation » Stories

Mobile Entrepreneurs

Stéphane Boyera — Mon, 31 May 2010 08:12:01 +0000

The Web Foundation is establishing its first mobile training lab for entrepreneurs.

Vodafone is providing the Web Foundation with $1 million over 3 years to pilot mobile training laboratories in Africa, with the aim of helping individual entrepreneurs to learn relevant technology and business skills to start new mobile services. The first laboratory will be launched in Ghana during 2010. Our objective is to create dynamic mobile Web and voice ecosystems that will enable entrepreneurs to launch their own sustainable businesses, as well as enable all segments of the population to have access to new and innovative services that are useful and usable.

Regreening in Africa

Steve Bratt — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 13:46:46 +0000

The Web Foundation starts work on the Web-alliance for Regreening in Africa (W4RA) during the first week of February, with Steve Bratt and Stephane Boyera doing field investigations and planning with our partners in Burkina Faso.

Leveraging the Web, mobile phones, community radio and local expertise, W4RA will expand the collection and sharing of knowledge on how to grow trees and crops in the desert using local ideas and tools. A handful of innovative farmers possess this knowledge now. The Web Foundation train local experts to spread this knowledge to thousands of farmers across the Sahel and beyond. Farmers, families, communities and the environment will benefit.

Visits in Africa

Steve Bratt — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 14:00:27 +0000

The Web Foundation’s visits to Africa focus on learning how the information technologies are being used, to understand the barriers and opportunities for Web usage, and to connect with people, projects and organizations active in the region.

Tim Berners-Lee and Daniel Dardailler of the Web Foundation visited Ghana in September 2009. Tim, Daniel, Stephane Boyera and Rosemary Leith recently completed a trip through Egypt, Kenya and Uganda, talking with Prime Ministers, Web developers and users.

Empowering Youth

Stéphane Boyera — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 10:06:35 +0000

Only a quarter of the world today is able to use the Web, and benefit from its power. Among the other three quarters of the population, most live on less than few dollars a day, are fighting for their basic needs, and have poor access to life-critical services.

The Web Foundation and Center for Digital Inclusion will work together to train young people living in impoverished sections of major cities in Latin America, the Middle East and elsewhere how to develop Web applications that work on simple mobile phones, and how to use the power of the Web to improve their lives.

One Web

Steve Bratt — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 07:45:52 +0000

The Web is young. We do not fully comprehend how this complex and expanding Web of “humanity connected by technology” really works. But what we do know, is that the Web works best when the underlying technologies are globally agreed, free and open.

The Web Foundation, working with the Web Science Trust and the World Wide Web Consortium, is working toward One Web for all people. We work to advance our understanding of the Web, explore next-generation technologies, and develop open standards to make the Web an increasingly powerful tool for all people, around the world.

Advance the Web. Empower People.

Steve Bratt — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 15:40:59 +0000

We envision a Web that empowers all people, including billions excluded today, by providing new opportunities for creativity, collaboration, teaching, learning, enterprise and a better life. To reach this goal, the Web Foundation will put the power of the Web into the hands of people around the world through effective, high-impact programs.

The Foundation works to remove barriers to creating and consuming Web content, accelerate growth of the Web, understand how the Web works, advance Web technology, and ensure a free and open Web that empowers people to bring about social and economic change.

Web Science

Steve Bratt — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 06:45:23 +0000

The Web is young. We do not fully comprehend how this complex and expanding Web of “humanity connected by technology” really works. This is a risk to the creative, yet responsible, evolution of the Web.

Working with the Web Science Trust (WST), the Web Foundation aims to improve understanding of the Web’s complex nature, and to explore next-generation technologies that could ultimately make the Web even more capable and valuable.