Internet Service Provider iiNet has announced it will host World Wide Web inventor, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, for a series of free public events in Australia and New Zealand over his 10 day TBL Down Under Tour, starting January 30.

The legendary Sir Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web in 1990, after his ran the first successful communication between a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) client and server via the Internet.

The events are scheduled for Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, the Gold Coast and Wellington. While the first round of event registrations are sold out, internet-lovers can still get their hands on tickets through iiNet’s Facebook page.

iiNet has also arranged for Simon Hackett, Internode founder and an instrumental figure in introducing the Internet to Australia, to participate in an interview with Sir Tim during his Canberra visit, with a video of the exclusive sit-down to be aired on iiNet’s Freezone.

iiNet is inviting people to submit any burning questions they would like to ask the Web's inventor during this discussion, which will also look at subjects such as Internet censorship; copyright protection; the Semantic Web and predictions for how the Internet will evolve in future.

Simon said Sir Tim Berners-Lee is a towering figure on the global Internet landscape. “It’s not just that he invented the World Wide Web, which makes the Internet so easy to use, but that he made this idea freely available, a decision which has led to its ubiquity,” he said. 

To suggest questions for Sir Tim, visit http://blog.iinet.net.au/world-wide-web-inventor-sir-tim-bernerslee/.  Details of the date that Sir Tim’s Freezone interview will be available on-line will be released shortly.

The event line-up:

Wellington: Wednesday, 30th January: 5:30pm – 7:30pm

  • Public lecture at Te Papa

Canberra: Friday, 1st February, 9.00-10am

  • Linux.conf.au keynote lecture at Llewellyn Hall, Australian National University

Gold Coast: Saturday, 2nd February, 5.00 - 7.00pm

  • Public lecture at the Griffith University

Melbourne: Monday, 4th February, 5.00 - 7.30pm

  • Public lecture at the University of Melbourne

Sydney: Tuesday, 5th February, 6.00 - 8.00pm

  • Public lecture at the Sydney Town Hall