World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)

1. World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Blane Andade Jana Earnshaw Michael Kempton

2. Overview • The W3C – Who they are, their core beliefs, their long term goals, their members • The W3C – Who they influence, their business processes and recommendations • The relationship between W3C and open standards

3. World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) • The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is an international consortium where members and staff work together to develop many different web standards. • Their mission is to lead the World Wide Web to its full potential by developing protocols and guidelines that ensure long-term growth for the Web.

4. WC3: Founder • Tim Berners-Lee, W3C Director and inventor of the World Wide Web in 1984. • Served as W3C Director since 1994 when the organization was founded. • “W3C members work together to design web technologies that build upon its versatility, giving the world the power to enhance communication and commerce for anyone, anywhere, anytime, and using any device.” Tim Berners-Lee

5. W3C: Core Beliefs • “W3C believes that in order for the Web to reach its full potential, the most fundamental Web technologies must be compatible with one another and allow any hardware and software users to access the Web to work together.” (www.w3.org) • One of their main goals is to have “Web Interoperability”

6. W3C: Long Term Goals for the Web • Web for Everyone • Make the Web available regardless of hardware, software, language, culture, etc. • Web on Everything • Make Web access from any kind of device as simple and convenient as possible • Knowledge Base • Enable people to solve problems that would be otherwise too complex or tedious to solve • Trust and Confidence • Make accountability, security, confidence and confidentiality possible for all users

7. W3C: Members • W3C is comprised of more than 400 members including the world’s foremost technology companies such as Hewlett Packard, IBM, Nokia, Microsoft, AT&T, Intel, Oracle, and Xerox. • W3C allows its members to lead the web to its full potential by allowing them to take leadership roles, promote their image as innovators, and gain early insight to market trends.

8. W3C’s Influence • Most influential of all organizations in the development and maintenance of the World Wide Web • W3C has no legal authority to enforce its recommendations because membership is voluntary • Members often follow recommendations because it helps set standards for the Web which in turn benefits each member

9. W3C’s Influence • The W3C has made over 90 recommendations since its start in 1994. • W3C operations are administered by offices in Japan, France, and the United States. • As more corporations join, W3C’s recommendations will become the standard for the WWW and thus make it easier for both corporations and the public.

10. Business Processes • W3C’s work attempts to standardize the Web. • Each member contributes to the process with decisions being made through community consensus. • Each member has the same decision power no matter what size they are. • If a general consensus can’t be reached, decisions are made on a majority basis.

11. Business Processes • The W3C has an Advisory Board which was created to guide the organization on issues such as strategy, legal matters, and conflict resolution. • The board has no actual decision-making power. • The board also oversees the W3C Document which is available to the public. • 5 sections: • W3C Organization • W3C Activities and Groups, • How consensus governs work at W3C • W3C Recommendation Track • W3C Submission Process.

12. W3C and Open Standards • “W3C seeks to avoid market fragmentation and thus Web fragmentation by publishing open standards for Web languages and protocols.” (www.w3.org) • To achieve the goal of one Web, specifications for the Web's formats and protocols must be compatible with one another and allow any hardware and software used to access the Web to work together – thus W3C designs and promotes interoperable open formats and protocols to avoid market fragmentation.

13. About W3C • The W3C mission is to lead the World Wide Web to its full potential by developing protocols and guidelines that ensure the long-term growth of the Web • W3C's primary activity is to develop protocols and guidelines that ensure long-term growth for the Web. W3C's standards define key parts of what makes the World Wide Web work.

14. Open Standards Guidelines • Transparency • A public process with public access to all information • Relevance • Start based on due analysis and market needs for all • Openness • Anybody can participate: users and developers; industry and research; governments and public • Impartial and consensus based • Guaranteed fairness and equal weight for each participant • Availability • Free access to standard documents • Clear process for translations and IPR rules • Maintenance • Testing, Revisions

15. Sources • www.w3.org • http://images.google.com/images?q=world+wide+web+consortium&hl=en • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Wide_Web_Consortium • http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2004_Sept_8/ai_n6185566 • World Wide Web Consortium Issues Three Web Services Recommendations; Three-Part Solution Leads to Better Web Services Performance. Business Wire,Jan 25, 2005