In recent months, a number of computing experts have argued that it is high time to formulate a "science of the Web" — an interdisciplinary study that would help make sense of the Web's lightning-fast evolution and its scientific underpinnings (The Chronicle, August 14). Now it appears those researchers are getting their wish.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Southampton, in England, have announced plans to devise a coherent research strategy for Web science, according to Scientific American. The institutions' Web Science Research Initiative will be headed by a couple of heavy hitters — Timothy J. Berners-Lee, known as the inventor of the Web, and Wendy Hall, director of Southampton's School of Electronics and Computer Science.
Creating a science of the Web won't happen overnight, according to Ms. Hall. "We're setting this up so it will exist for a long time," she said of the project. "We want to answer the question: What is this amazing thing that is evolving?" –Brock Read
