Why is the web called the web?

This question has to be addressed eventually considering how my blog is titled “Words Caught in the Web.” We all know that the internet and the web are similar. So why not just use the word internet all together? It’s relatively easy to see why the internet is called the internet. The prefix of internet, inter- means in between or among. The net from internet simply means network. So internet means the communication or connection between various networks, but what about the word ‘web’? What’s the relationship between the word web and the internet?

When we see or think of the word ‘web.’ We think of the internet or spider webs. Spider webs are composed of several straight segments of threads and are connected throughout with a more circular thread. To further help you imagine the illustration; I provided a picture of a spider web with, as a bonus, a live spider in the middle. I certainly hope there’s no one with arachnophobia in the audience.

 

The spider web shows a resemblance to the notion of connectivity in one of the readings I made in class called “Growing up Tethered.” Parents give cell phones to their kids because the parents will be able to reach or ‘connect’ to their children at anytime they want. The children want a cell phone because they can connect to their friends. So in a way, we’re all like the threads of a spider web, connected through electronic communications.

With this depiction of a spider web in mind, it can be easier to see how the web is related to the internet. Many people, like this fellow blogger, think that the web is called so because the web, like how the spider web is connected threads, connects numerous links and websites. Well, they are correct. In fact, one of the original reasons for the development of the internet and the World Wide Web was for diverse researchers all over the globe to web their researches together. Hence, the term ‘web’ is used.