Web Science Trust facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Web Science Trust

Founded	2006 (2006)
Type	Private company limited by guarantee
Location	University of Southampton, U.K. / London, U.K. (registered office)
Key people	JP Rangaswami, chair of the board Wendy Hall, managing director
Website	www.webscience.org

The Web Science Trust (WST) is a charity based in the United Kingdom. Its main goal is to help develop and spread Web science around the world. Web science is a field that studies the World Wide Web in a deep way. It looks at both the technical parts and how people use it.

The Trust started in 2006. It was a joint project between MIT (a famous university in the USA) and the University of Southampton in the UK. They wanted to better understand how the Web works. They also wanted to study how it affects society. The Trust helps connect different research groups globally. These groups are called "WSTNet Laboratories." They all focus on Web science.

The organization was first called the Web Science Research Initiative (WSRI). This was announced at MIT in November 2006. In 2009, its name changed to the Web Science Trust. Tim Berners-Lee, who invented the World Wide Web, first led this program. Now, a Board of Trustees manages it. They work to get money from governments and private groups. This money helps support their many activities.

The Web Science Trust also helps universities create courses. These courses train new generations of "Web Scientists." These scientists learn about the Web from many angles. Web science is similar to Information Science. However, Web science focuses more directly on the Web itself. The Trust also organizes an annual conference. This event brings together experts from many fields. They discuss both the social and computer parts of the Web.

The Web Science Trust is interested in many topics. These include:

• Social networks: How people connect online.
• Social machines: How people and computers work together.
• Collaboration: How people cooperate using the Web.
• Understanding online communities: How groups form and interact online.
• Analyzing human interactions in social media: How people behave on platforms like Instagram or TikTok.
• Web observatories: Tools that watch and study how the Web changes.
• Improving privacy and trust on the Web: Making sure people feel safe online.

Key People at the Web Science Trust

The Web Science Trust has many important people. They help guide its work.

Directors and Trustees

These people help lead the organization:

• Wendy Hall (She is the managing director)
• Nigel Shadbolt
• James Hendler
• Noshir Contractor
• JP Rangaswami (He is the chairman)
• George Metakides
• Steffen Staab
• Anni Rowland-Campbell
• Bill Thompson

Fellows

These are special members who have made big contributions:

• Tim Berners-Lee (He is also a Founding Director)
• Sir John Taylor

Patron

A patron is someone who supports the organization:

• Rennie Fritchie, Baroness Fritchie

Web Science Conferences

The Web Science Trust helps organize important conferences. These events bring together experts. They share new ideas and research about the Web.

The very first Web Science conference was called WebSci09: Society on Line. It took place in Greece in March 2009. Over 300 people attended. They came from many different areas. These included computer science, social science, law, economics, and psychology. Since then, the conference has happened every year. In July 2020, the conference was held completely online. This was because of travel rules during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Web Science Conferences

Conference	Date	Place	Keynote speakers	Registrants
Web Science 2024	21-24 May 2024	Stuttgart-Vaihingen, Germany	Eszter Hargittai, Jie Tang, Dirk Hovy, Hannes Werthner
Web Science 2023	April 30-May 1, 2023	Austin, Texas, USA	Bob Metcalfe, Dhiraj Murthy, David Rand
Web Science 2022	26-29 June 2022	Barcelona, Spain (Hybrid conference)	Leila Zia, M.C. Schraefel
Web Science 2021	21-25 June 2021	Southampton, UK (Virtual conference)	Deen Freelon, Martha Lane Fox
Web Science 2020	7-10 July 2020	Southampton, UK (Virtual conference)	Jim Hendler, Gina Neff
Web Science 2019	June 30 - July 3, 2019	Boston, USA	Fabien Gandon, Sandra González-Bailón
Web Science 2018	27-30 May 2018	Netherlands, Amsterdam	Tim Berners-Lee, John Domingue
Web Science 2017	26–28 June 2017	Troy, NY, USA	Steffen Staab, Jen Golbeck
Web Science 2016	22–25 May 2016	Hannover, Germany	Daniel Miller, Andrew Tomkins, Daniel Olmedilla, Ricardo Baeza-Yates, Jure Leskovec, Helen Margetts
Web Science 2015	28 June–1 July 2015	Oxford, UK	Markus Strohmaier, Mia Consalvo, Rachel Gibson
Web Science 2014	23–25 June 2014	Bloomington, Indiana, USA	Wendy Hall, J.P. Rangaswami, Laura DeNardis, Daniel Tunkelang
Web Science 2013	2–4 May 2013	Paris, France	Vint Cerf, Cory Doctorow
Web Science 2012	22–24 June 2012	Evanston, Illinois, USA	Luis von Ahn, Sinan Aral, danah boyd, Jon Kleinberg, Sonia Livingstone, Siva Vaidyanathan	200
Web Science 2011	14–17 June 2011	Koblenz, Germany	Barry Wellman, Jaime Teevan	190
Web Science 2010	26–27 April 2010	Raleigh, North Carolina, USA	Sir Tim Berners-Lee, Jennifer Chayes, Melissa R. Gilbert
Web Science 2009	18–20 March 2009	Athens, Greece	Noshir Contractor, Nigel Shadbolt, Jacques Bus, Sir Tim Berners-Lee	300+

More to Explore

You might also find these topics interesting:

• List of I-Schools
• World Wide Web
• Webometrics
• Web Engineering

Other Websites to Visit

• Press release
• Audio: Web Science: A Conversation with the Inventor of the Web