| Chapter 1: | The World Wide Web: A General Introduction |
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Global Internet Statistics estimates that, by the end of 2004, there were 940 million people online (Global Reach, 2004). According to Internet World Stats, by March 2007, more than 1,114 million people worldwide had access to the Internet, about 17% of the world population (Internet World Stats, 2007). Asia had the largest Internet population (399 million people), which made up 36% of the global access universe. North America accounted for 21% of the global Internet population, while Europe accounted for 28%. North America, however, had the largest Internet penetration: 70% of its population is online.
The Research Web Characterization Project of OCLC stated that although the public Web exhibited “a remarkable pattern of growth in its short history,” the growth has reached a plateau (O’Neill, Lavoie, & Bennett, 2003, § VI, ¶ 1). Between 1998 and 2002, the annual rate of growth of the public Web, measured by the number of public Web sites, has slowed steadily; in 2002, there was even a slight shrinkage in size. There was little evidence to show that the public Web was going global, as the dominant content originated in the United States. Little, if any, progress was made to effectively describe Web-accessible resources through the use of standard metadata. Researchers of the study suggested that the public Web “may have reached a watershed in its maturation process” and is yet to “reach its full potential” (O’Neill et al., 2003, § VI, ¶ 4).
Environmental Factors Contributing to the Growth of the Web
It needs to be pointed out that a proper environment is required to bring the Web into mass popularity. First, extensive access to the Internet is needed for this network application to be popular (Abbate, 1999).