Update on status of new standards task force proposal

Dear New Standards Task Force,

I presented the new standards task force proposal [0] last month  
during TPAC 2010 [1], both in the plenary session [2] and then in more  
detail with the Advisory Committee.

Support for the proposal continues to grow. I did get some feedback  
during TPAC that I will need to incorporate into a (condensed)  
revision. I am expecting to launch community groups as an experiment  
in the first months of 2011. Here are some of the priorities to  
getting there:

1) Community development lead. W3C is hiring a "Community Development  
Lead" part-time. We are making good progress on that, and that person  
will be instrumental in helping to carry out the todo list.

2) IPR policy. I expect to continue discussions with W3C's Patent and  
Standards Interest Group on the IPR policy [3]. I will also be looking  
for help from real lawyers to turn the document into legal language.

3) Infrastructure. I am meeting with lots of people to discuss initial  
infrastructure. Right now I am in brainstorming mode, gathering ideas  
and looking at software options. I welcome suggestions (of software  
and people to talk to). The infrastructure requirements as described  
in the proposal [4] are still fairly accurate, although my vision of  
what we will need is improving and I've not yet updated the proposal.

4) Initial community groups. We have begun promoting the program and  
people are expressing interest. If you have suggestions for work you  
think would make a good community group, let me know.

5) Business Groups. Community Groups are not revenue-bearing. As a  
result, we've created a layer on top of Community Groups that will  
offer some additional benefits to participants. W3C Members will not  
pay extra for those benefits; non-Members will (but far less than the  
cost of W3C Membership). Most people involved in the discussions  
believe that Community Groups and Business Groups will appeal to  
mostly different audiences. I'm working on the implementation of  
business groups as well.

My expectation, therefore, is to revise the proposal based on feedback  
we've received and what has been funded. Once we have legal language  
and a revised proposal, we will ask the Membership to support  
community groups as an experiment (say, for a year) at which point we  
would likely seek to make this a more formal part of the W3C Process.

I welcome your comments and questions.

  _ Ian

[0] http://www.w3.org/2010/07/community
[1] http://www.w3.org/2010/11/TPAC/PlenaryAgenda
[2] http://www.w3.org/2010/Talks/ij-ltgroups-20101103/
[3] http://www.w3.org/2010/09/newstdipr.html
[4] http://www.w3.org/2010/07/community#infrastructure

--
Ian Jacobs (ij@w3.org)    http://www.w3.org/People/Jacobs/
Tel:                                      +1 718 260 9447

Received on Thursday, 2 December 2010 20:12:58 UTC