Re: Open and Transparent W3C Community Group Proposed

On 08/08/2014 02:04 , David Singer wrote:
> Mind you, I’d prefer we work grounded in real problems.  Can someone
> point at an instance where someone or something suffered as a result
> of a lack of openness or transparency?  Without actual cases to
> ameliorate, I am fearful this could spend a lot of effort to little
> effect.  “I tried to find X but could not.”  “I tried to communicate
> Y but could not.” and so on.  Anyone have specific instances?

Well, we still publish our documents under closed licenses for instance. 
That forces us to remain stuck in antiquated collaboration models.

A lot of people are raising concerns with the way the W3C runs itself, 
as part of the renewed interest in the organisation over the past few 
years. I don't necessarily agree with all of those concerns, but I'm 
happy that people have it: it means we're alive. Nevertheless, the AB 
remains to a large extent opaque in its operations. It's hard to reform 
when you can't see the dynamics at play. It also gives an unfair 
advantage to old hacks (such as yours truly) who know exactly who to 
bribe for information over newcomers who want the organisation to head 
in a given direction.

This is notably important given the several requests to improve the 
Process, and the AB's involvement in that.

None of this is the end of the world. But they are genuine issues of 
openness and transparency. This CG opens a venue in which outsiders can 
petition on similar topics.

-- 
Robin Berjon - http://berjon.com/ - @robinberjon

Received on Friday, 8 August 2014 11:17:49 UTC