Re: Forming a W3C Solid Work Group

Great, thanks!


On Wed, 22 Mar 2023 at 18:59, Pierre-Antoine Champin <pierre-antoine@w3.org>
wrote:

> 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 Drafts which 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/, 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
>>
>>