Re: Forming a W3C Solid Work Group

Hi Michiel,

On 06/03/2023 14:46, Michiel de Jong wrote:
> Great step forward, Tim!
>
> Sorry for the late reply
ditto :)
> but just to add our support for this upgrade:
>
> The Ponder Source Foundation whole-heartedly supports the move from CG 
> to WG to carry forward the Solid specifications, and like the Inrupt 
> team 
> <https://www.inrupt.com/blog/solid-w3c-working-group-will-advance-solid-specifications>, 
> we too look forward to continuing our work with other talented 
> individuals from both academic and industry backgrounds!
>
> Who else is joining? I don't see us in the list 
> <https://www.w3.org/groups/wg/>yet,
no we are not, because the WG is not created yet.

What we have at the moment is a draft charter proposal :

https://github.com/solid/solid-wg-charter

that we plan to send to W3C as soon as pending PRs are solved;

- an advanced notice to the members
- some horizontal reviews (does the charter proposal meet W3C criteria 
for accessibility, internationalization, security, privacy...)
- then a vote of the members

> what is the timeline
They are several moving parts, but we are still a couple of months away 
(at least) from the kick-off of the WG.
> for this switch?
Note that the intention is not a "switch". The WG scope will be narrower 
than the CG's, so both will work in parallel (and in collaboration).
>
> And how will this affect our various panels, chairs, creators and 
> editors, will they automatically be "migrated" from the CG to the WG?

The way I see it, each panel of the CG will have to decide if its scope 
overlaps with the WG to a point that they should "migrate", or to 
continue to operate under the CG.

The W3C does not have any formal process for this kind of migration, 
because CGs usually don't have such a structured process themselves. So 
we will have to figure that out ;)

   pa

>
> There was one confusing paragraph in the Inrupt blogpost about it:
> > At the same time, Inrupt believes the work of the W3C /*Community*/ 
> Group to promote and implement Solid technology remains as important 
> as ever.
>
> Was that a typo? What will we be now, a Community Group or a Working 
> Group?
>
> Some more clarification would be greatly appreciated!
>
>
> Cheers,
> Michiel de Jong
> Director
> Ponder Source Foundation
>
> On Thu, 3 Nov 2022 at 14:24, Tim Berners-Lee <timbl@w3.org> wrote:
>
>     Solid is  a movement, growing every day with exciting new
>     deployments going live around the world. It is the vital piece of
>     the third layer of the web, something that was missing in 1989 but
>     that we now have.
>
>
>     The work of the Solid project has to date been done officially by
>     a W3C Solid Community Group.
>     <https://www.w3.org/community/solid/>  Within this structure of
>     the community group, we have made a substructure of panels, which
>     operated quite like parts of W3C working groups, and we have made
>     our own form of Editors Draftswhich are quite like W3C’s normal
>     Working Drafts. Now we made a lot of progress, the time is
>     probably overdue to create a W3C Working Group
>     <https://www.w3.org/groups/>- a more substantial entity and a more
>     powerful tool - to do this work.
>
>
>     When we began work on the Solid project, it was a grassroots
>     movement incubated and supported by MIT. Over time, a developer
>     and research community formed around the Solid project. So many
>     exemplary, diligent, and generous community members rallied around
>     the project that, in 2018 we decided to take the official step of
>     forming a W3C Community Group
>     <https://www.w3.org/community/solid/>. The Solid Community Group
>     has enabled the Solid community at large to socialize its ideas
>     for the Web within the W3C. The impact of their efforts has
>     increased awareness of the project as well as increased the
>     diversity and number of contributors.
>
>
>     The main product of this has been the Solid Protocol spec
>     <https://solidproject.org/TR/protocol>, along with its test
>     suites.  Version 0.9 of the protocol was released last December.
>     At the time of this writing, there are 6 server-side
>     implementations of this protocol that interoperate and are
>     actively maintained.  So it is in a good place, but it needs work
>     to increase the quality of the spec, increase test coverage,  and
>     resolve final issues.  It needs the work of prioritizing and
>     working though the issues before version 1.0 is declared, and
>     after to future versions and/or levels.
>
>
>     Four years later, the Solid project continues to make significant
>     progress. Solid is being adopted by governments, enterprises, and
>     developers all around the world. It is being used for mission
>     critical applications and to manage highly sensitive data. As we
>     enter this formative period in the life of the Solid project, it
>     is paramount that we redouble our efforts on the Solid
>     specification in order for the standard to mature and grow
>     sustainably.
>
>
>     With that in mind, I believe that we are now at a stage where
>     moving the work  from the W3C Community Group to a W3C Working
>     Group is appropriate and necessary.   To do that, the Community
>     Group typically draws up a charter for the proposed WG.
>
>     Some of  the benefits include the specs being available in
>     w3.org/TR/ <https://www.w3.org/TR/>rather than just
>     solidproject.org/TR/ <https://solidproject.org/TR/>, review by a
>     wider community, including for example the TAG
>     <https://www.w3.org/2001/tag/>,  and the W3C Royalty Free patent
>     policy
>     <https://www.w3.org/Consortium/Patent-Policy-20200915/>applying
>     more directly.
>
>
>     This milestone symbolizes the next step in the evolution of the
>     Solid project and is appropriate given the continual increase in
>     adoption of the Solid Protocol and growth of the ecosystem around it.
>
>
>     Solid is more than just a protocol, a concept, or a technology. It
>     is a movement that allows collaboration, communication and
>     commerce to evolve toward the original intent of the web. Solid is
>     the course correction we need, a critical next step to enjoy a
>     better web for all. Finalizing the Solid standards will help to
>     make these goals a reality across the globe.
>
>
>     KUTGW
>
>
>     Tim Berners-Lee
>
>