[Profile picture of Ruben Verborgh]

Ruben Verborgh

Re-Decentralizing the Web, For Good This Time

Ruben Verborgh

Originally designed as a decentralized ecosystem, the Web has undergone a significant centralization in recent years. In order to regain control over our digital self, over the digital aspects of our lives, we need to understand how we arrived at this point and how we can get back on track. This chapter explains the history of decentralization in a Web context, and details Tim Berners-Lee’s role in the continued battle for a free and open Web. The challenges and solutions are not purely technical in nature, but rather fit into a larger socio-economic puzzle, to which all of us are invited to contribute. Let us take back the Web for good, and leverage its full potential as envisioned by its creator.

full text BibTeX other citation formats

Published in 2023 in Linking the World’s Information: Essays on Tim Berners-Lee’s Invention of the World Wide Web.

Keywords:

Read this chapter online

Cite this chapter in your work

Cite this chapter easily using its BibTeX entry: 

@incollection{verborgh_timbl_chapter_2023,
  title = {Re-Decentralizing the {Web,} For Good This Time},
  author = {Verborgh, Ruben},
  year = 2023,
  month = sep,
  booktitle = {Linking the World's Information: Essays on Tim Berners-Lee's Invention of the World Wide Web},
  editor = {Seneviratne, Oshani and Hendler, James},
  publisher = {ACM},
  pages = {215--230},
  url = {https://ruben.verborgh.org/articles/redecentralizing-the-web/},
  isbn = 9798400707940,
  doi = {10.1145/3591366.3591385},
}

Alternatively, pick a reference of your choice below:

ACM
Ruben Verborgh. 2023. Re-Decentralizing the Web, For Good This Time. In Linking the World’s Information: Essays on Tim Berners-Lee’s Invention of the World Wide Web, Oshani Seneviratne and James Hendler (eds.). ACM, 215–230.
APA
Verborgh, R. (2023). Re-Decentralizing the Web, For Good This Time. In O. Seneviratne & J. Hendler (Eds.), Linking the World’s Information: Essays on Tim Berners-Lee’s Invention of the World Wide Web (pp. 215–230). ACM.
IEEE
R. Verborgh, “Re-Decentralizing the Web, For Good This Time,” in Linking the World’s Information: Essays on Tim Berners-Lee’s Invention of the World Wide Web, O. Seneviratne and J. Hendler, Eds. ACM, 2023, pp. 215–230.
LNCS
Verborgh, R.: Re-Decentralizing the Web, For Good This Time. In: Seneviratne, O. and Hendler, J. (eds.) Linking the World’s Information: Essays on Tim Berners-Lee’s Invention of the World Wide Web. pp. 215–230. ACM (2023).
MLA
Verborgh, Ruben. “Re-Decentralizing the Web, For Good This Time.” Linking the World’s Information: Essays on Tim Berners-Lee’s Invention of the World Wide Web, edited by Oshani Seneviratne and James Hendler, ACM, 2023, pp. 215–30.

Discuss this chapter