The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has announced new measures to enable developers to get involved in the web standardization process.
The World Wide Web Consortium has announced a new agile track
for developers and businesses to create Web technology within W3C's
international community of experts.
The move is an effort to support the rapid evolution of Web
technology, W3C officiails said, Because innovation can come from
organizations as well as individuals, W3C has designed
W3C Community Groups to
promote diverse participation: Anyone may propose a group, and groups
start quickly as soon as there is a small measure of peer support.
Moreover, there are no fees to participate and active groups may work indefinitely. Lightweight
participation policies let
groups decide most aspects of how they work. The larger community
benefits from specifications available under royalty-free patent terms
and permissive copyright.
"Innovation and standardization build on each other," said Jeff
Jaffe, W3C CEO, in a statement. "The stable Web platform provided by
W3C has always encouraged innovation. As the pace of innovation
accelerates and more industries embrace W3C's Open Web Platform,
Community Groups will accelerate incorporation of innovative
technologies into the Web."
With the launch of Community Groups, W3C now offers a smooth path from innovation to
open standardization to
recognition as an ISO/IEC International Standard.
W3C's goals differ at each of these complementary stages, but they all
contribute to the organization's mission of developing interoperable
standards to ensure the long-term growth of the Web.
The W3C, like many standards bodies, has had a reputation for
slogging through specifications and taking a long time to get certain
ones approved. In the Web era, this is not possible, observers say.
Meanwhile, also on Aug. 16, the W3C announced the launch
of Business Groups, which provide W3C members and non-members a
vendor-neutral forum for the development of market-specific
technologies and the means to have an impact on the direction of Web
standards. W3C staff work with Business Groups to help them achieve
their goals and to provide connectivity among groups with shared
interests. For instance, a Business Group might compile
industry-specific requirements or use cases as input to a W3C Working
Group.
"W3C is now open for crowd-sourcing the development of Web
technology," said Harry Halpin, W3C's community development lead, in a
statement. "Through these groups, people can reach influential
companies, research groups,and government agencies. Developers can
propose ideas to the extensive W3C social network, and in a matter of
minutes start to build mindshare using W3C's collaborative tools or
their own. Creating a Community or Business Group doesn't mean giving
up an existing identity; it means having an easier time promoting
community-driven work for future standardization."
The first groups to launch reflect a varied set of interests. W3C announced eight Community Groups:
and one Business Group:
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