Web We Can Afford Community Group Proposed

The Web We Can Afford Community Group has been proposed:

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Most scientists now seem to agree that we've entered a new epoch dubbed
the "Anthropocene", where the environmental consequences of human
development have a tremendous impact on Earth's equilibrium. Those
effects are already set in motion and will have far-reaching
consequences in the coming years despite all the measures we could take
to mitigate them (considering we simply do not fail to take action).
While trying to avoid some of the consequences of the Anthropocene is an
issue that is well-worth striving for, another task would be to
reconsider the design of things at the time of the Anthropocene and that
includes the Web. For instance, a 2008 study by the University of
Dresden stated that if no measure was taken, the energy needed to power
the infrastructure of the Web in 2030 would be tantamount to the energy
consumed by humanity in 2008.
The agendas of the stakeholders who are trying to set the Web forward in
motion are mainly focused on adding new technological layers to the
existing ones. Yet, the logic behind these developments remains that of
tapping into unlimited resources, not limited ones. Lots of endeavors
are currently focused on reshaping the Web into a "Web we want", a
redecentralized open Web fit for an enlightened digital age. Those who
advocate such an agenda and those who oppose it generally both share a
common assumption: that enlightened or not, the future will be even more
digital than the present. Yet, life at the time of the Anthropocene, at
least in the coming decades, might not remain as pervasively digital as
it is today. Other efforts that see the ongoing battle for the
decentralization of the Web as an opportunity to “downscale” it (in
particular in Africa) seem to be aware of that. Maybe it's time to take
into account other perspectives on the future and concretely act towards
building a sustain-able (Tony Fry) Web. In other words, a Web We Can
Afford.
This group would like to reconcile the development of the Web and an
awareness to the environmental issues by appealing to Web architects and
designers, eco-designers, activists, philosophers, social scientists,
etc., so as to make the issue a public one to begin with, before
devising a set of guidelines as a first step towards concrete action.


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You are invited to support the creation of this group:
  http://www.w3.org/community/groups/proposed#wwca

Once the group has a total of five supporters, it will be launched and
people can join to begin work. Once launched, the group will no longer
be listed as "proposed"; it will appear in the list of current groups:
  http://www.w3.org/community/groups/

In order to support the group, you will need a W3C account. To request one:
  http://www.w3.org/accounts/request

If you believe that there is an issue with this group that requires
the attention of the W3C staff, please send us email on
site-comments@w3.org.

Thank you,
W3C Community Development Team

Received on Thursday, 21 January 2016 12:49:23 UTC