Proposal for a new W3C CG: "Web We Can Afford"

Dear All,

I'm sending this email to let you know that I submitted a proposal for a  
new CG entitled "Web We Can Afford".

For those who'd like to join it, please register your support here:  
https://www.w3.org/community/groups/proposed/ !

Feedback would be appreciated,

All the best,
Alexandre Monnin

Here is the description of the group:

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.