Key figures in the development of the internet are meeting in Brisbane, Australia for their annual international conference on the World Wide Web.

The five-day meeting brings together industry and academic representatives in an attempt to create workable standards for the future development of the Web.

A visit to nearby Springfield - a pioneering user of the internet

Delegates are discussing the future use of the Web in education, electronic commerce and the home, as well as debating issues such as privacy, copyright and competing standards.

The first of these biannual conferences took place in Switzerland only four years ago. Then, some 380 people gathered and discussion concentrated on its value for scientific research and education.

The Seventh International WWW Conference in Brisbane is expected to attract thousands.

This year concerns will be voiced about competing standards, moves by governments to control the flow of information and the increasing commercialisation of the Web.

Tim Berners-Lee: Key web figure

In a keynote speech, Tim Berners Lee, one of the key inventors of the Web, warned about the possible threat to privacy that the Internet poses:

"I am very concerned about the privacy aspects of the use of the Web at the moment," he said.

"We should always be aware as information tools become more powerful, then we have to be extra careful about how they are used."

Better indexing vital

He nonetheless remained optimistic, saying the Web would become a much more creative and usable tool over the next few years.

He pointed out the pressing need to improve the handling of the huge and expanding amount of information on the Internet.

Conservative estimates say there are now 320 million pages of information available, but even the best search engines can only catalogue a fraction of these.

One innovation at the conference this year will be an attempt to create the world's biggest cybercafe.

There are 150 Internet terminals at the conference - on Thursday 850 more will be added to try to set a record.

Centre of gravity shifting

North America remains by far the largest user of the Internet, but holding the conference in Australia recognises the Net's increasing significance in Asia.

Australia, with an estimated 178 internet users per 1,000 population, is just behind the US which has 203 per 1,000.

New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan are all in the top 15.
 

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