Archive: September, 2008

Jeremy Schoemaker is reporting the Best of the Web directory is in discussions with AOL to purchase the Open Directory Project (DMOZ.org).

Long neglected by its erstwhile owner AOL, the Open Directory Project was at one time one of the formost directories on the Web. Listings from DMOZ still form the backbone of the influential Google Directory.

If the news is true, there might be renewed value in the ol’ Open Directory. The folks at Best of the Web are excellent webmasters and know a lot about the search marketing industry.

Stories covering the history of the Open Directory Project:
Trouble at the ODP – May 26, 2005
The Life and Near Death of DMOZ – Dec 21, 2006

The inventor of the World Wide Web, Sir Tim Berners-Lee yesterday announced the formation of the World Wide Web Foundation, an organization dedicated to keeping the Web free and open and to extending the benefits of the Web to greater numbers of people.

The founding of The Web Foundation is an interesting and important step in the evolution of the Internet but it marks frustration felt by many of the people who started and fostered the dominant culture of sharing on the Internet. The ways the Web has unfolded puts it far from the idealistic aspirations of its founders.

One of the problems Berners-Lee sees with the Web as it exists today is a dangerous lack of credibility. Another is a continuing lack of access to nearly 4/5 of the world’s population. While the Web Foundation might not be able to make information on the Web more credible or build communications infrastructure in the developing world, it can have a lot of clout regarding Web standards and the philosophies they develop from.