Re: Overall structure of the W3C

On Fri, 01 Aug 2014 05:02:21 +0200, Nottingham, Mark <mnotting@akamai.com>  
wrote:

> On <https://www.w3.org/wiki/AB/2014-2015_Priorities>, the first bullet  
> in "Overall structure of the W3C" is:
>
>> 1. Is the Consortium's current heavy weight structure that was created  
>> in 1994 still needed now?
>
>
> and Chaals comments: "We don't use the process we had in 1995 or even in  
> 2005. This question is rhetorically sound but irrelevant."
>
> I have to disagree here; this is THE question that the AB should be  
> addressing. If there's a problem with how the question is phrased,  
> that's easy enough to fix:

Yes. That was the problem, and I agree that the AB's big permanent task is  
to look at whether the W3C is appropriately organised...

> 1. Is the Consortium's current structure appropriate to the tasks at  
> hand and the resources available? Specifically:
>     a. Is the multiple-Host model helpful to the goals of the W3C, or a  
> hinderance? Are there alternatives?

My member view is that it is far too focused on the US, with a nod to  
Europe, meaning the multi-site model is not solving th problem is was  
meant to solve.

>     b. Is the Team's size and makeup appropriate to our current  
> workload, considering our limited resources?

Good question. This is something that I think belongs in the scope of the  
AC, rather than a public group.

>     c. Is the Membership model effective in furthering the goals of the  
> W3C? What other options are there?

IMHO, I think it is important. Although it is not entirely representative  
(and to a certain extent shadows the US-heavy focus), having stakeholders  
actually holding a financial stake is on balance a Good Thing™ in the  
effort to ensure that W3C is moving in sensible directions.

But alternatives may be interesting, and are worth looking at.

cheers

> As a Member, I'd especially like to understand what the multi-Host model  
> brings to the table; we don't hear much about it, nor the activities of  
> the "Steering Committee" (see  
> <http://www.w3.org/Consortium/Agreement/Appendix1-2013.html> section  
> 3g), which "sets overall policy and provides strategic guidance and  
> review of the Consortium's activities."
>
> Cheers,
>
>
> --
> Mark Nottingham    mnot@akamai.com    https://www.mnot.net/
>
>
>
>
>


-- 
Charles McCathie Nevile - web standards - CTO Office, Yandex
chaals@yandex-team.ru         Find more at http://yandex.com

Received on Friday, 1 August 2014 10:28:06 UTC