The VC-ACDC Decision

Greater clarity has been requested regarding the chairs' decision on adopting VC-ACDC as a work item [1].

As a reminder, the process used by the VCWG to adopt work items:

  1.  The work item must be socialized on the mailing list for at least a week of discussion.
  2.  It must be within the scope of the charter.
  3.  It must be supported by at least 3 VCWG participants from different organizations.
  4.  If the above requirements have been met, adoption as a work item only requires rough consensus (as decided by the chairs).

For the VC-ACDC work item, the first three requirements were met.

The WG first heard a proposal to adopt VC-ACDC during the call held on 2023-08-03 [2].
During that meeting, there was not consensus to adopt the work item.

The chairs allowed a second proposal to be made to adopt VC-ACDC during the call held on 2023-15-03 [3].
During that meeting, it was not clear to the chairs that rough consensus was reached.

The chairs' part then was to determine what support was indicated by the WG for the proposed work item, and to decide if that support indicated a rough consensus to adopt. W3C Process [3] states that "If questions or disagreements arise, the final determination of consensus remains with the chair."

In addition to numerous other considerations, we followed the same steps for determining rough consensus that we have for every work item adoption proposal.
We closely examined the number of members who indicated support and compared that to the number who did not indicate support.
The chairs saw roughly equal numbers in strong and weak support of adopting VC-ACDC versus those not in support of and in opposition to adopting VC-ACDC.
From that and other factors, the chairs determined that rough consensus to adopt VC-ACDC was not achieved.

Regarding the impact of this decision on the resolutions arrived at during our face-to-face meetings in Miami, it is true that decisions of the WG can be reopened when presented with new information.
This may include additional technical information, comments by email from participants who were unable to attend a scheduled meeting, comments by email from meeting attendees who chose not to speak out during a meeting (e.g., so they could confer later with colleagues or for cultural reasons) [4].
There has been no such new information presented, so the resolutions in Miami will not be reopened.

Finally, the chairs will not tolerate any violations of the Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct [5].
Treat everyone with respect. Misunderstandings and disagreements happen.
When conflicts arise, we are expected to resolve them maintaining that courtesy, respect, and dignity, even when emotions are heightened.


Kristina Yasuda and Brent Zundel
VCWG Chairs

[1] https://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-vc-wg/2023Mar/0051.html
[2] https://www.w3.org/2017/vc/WG/Meetings/Minutes/2023-03-08-vcwg#section1-2
[3] https://www.w3.org/2017/vc/WG/Meetings/Minutes/2023-03-15-vcwg#section2
[4] https://www.w3.org/2021/Process-20211102/#Consensus
[5] https://www.w3.org/2021/Process-20211102/#WGChairReopen
[6] https://www.w3.org/Consortium/cepc/