Re: [freew3:26] Re: Linguistic Semantic Web gTLDs & meetings in Geneva

> The W3C was not involved in the WGIG. ( http://www.wgig.org )

Not a lot of involment, true, but we managed to sent our input to WGIG in time: 
http://www.w3.org/2005/04/dd-wsig.html
(also present on the wgig site)

> To me, it seems ridiculous to discuss ( if not decide)
>  about the Internet and tbe Web
> without the W3C being involved.

The W3C, much like the IETF, is a provider of technologies, of specifications, 
not a policy making body, so our involvement is often limited to explaining what 
the tools _can_ do to help society (e.g. with filtering harmfull content, with 
accessibility for people with disabilities, with mobile access, etc) and not to 
force people to use them.

Take the analogy of cars and highways.

There are folks:
  - making the roads (telco).
  - selling gazoline and taking entrance toll (ISP)
  - making the cars (software vendors)
  - building service areas and highway restaurants (content providers)
  - explaining how to drive safely (gov)
  - making sure people drive that way (police)
  - making and placing road signs (ICANN, RIRs)

IETF and W3C's role is to tell everybody what 'unleaded 95' on a pump or 
'195/65R15T' on a tire mean.

Not even to produce gas or tires, just to tell people what they can expect if 
they see and use these conventions.

If you think about it, the large majority of users don't care (and don't know) 
what these codes really mean, but they are really happy to be able to drive 
across nations or even continents.

If someone comes around and pretend they are now making all the cars, or that 
they own the pavement, and therefore that the gas or the tire specifications are 
their own problems, well, they'll have to deal with the car owners, the gas 
vendors, plus the police and the gov probably (if the tires are too flat, or the 
gas too polluting :).


The other thing worth mentioning is that W3C is mostly going where its 
membership tells it to go.

And the W3C staff is there to balance interest among players, but if x new 
members from government agencies join the consortium, the resources we'll be 
hiring with the revenue generated will probably be a reflection of those new 
members wishes for progress on the Web, maybe more certification, more egov 
effort, who knows ? but chances are that it'd be different than if x new members 
from the content providers communities join.

For a recent pir chart of our membership, see: 
http://www.w3.org/2004/09/StatImages/categories.png

> Now, the W3C has become recently quite involved, as  you can see :
> http://www.intgovforum.org/
> Daniel Dardailler has done a magnificent job.
> 
> 
>>- We're not much in the light wrt UN/WSIS/IGF for 2 main reasons: the issues of 
>>open standards,
>>
> 
> it is hot, too hot to handle,
> as with  interoperability which is now in the Tunis texts
> thanks in part to my own efforts.
> Much more could have been achieved if there had been more
> people with technical knowledge and willing to fight.

The definition of Open Standards, the relation with Open Source, IPR, etc, is 
certainly the one policy related area where we feel the most at ease to give our 
input, since we've been doing just that for more than 10 years.

I'd started a draft of my own definition a while ago: 
http://www.w3.org/2005/09/dd-osd.html
I wish I had more time to participate in these discussions as well..

> 
> 
>>ipr, official recognition of non-gov blessed specification, etc, 
>>aren't very hot in these circles yet.
>> 
>>
> 
> Please check http://wsis-pct.org
> and all the fights of Free Software activists.

Sure, I will, but they probably should spend more time understanding the details 
of the W3C Patent Policy, probably the first of its kind to have succeeded in 
adopting RF terms as an institution, with support from both the industry and the 
open source community.



Daniel Dardailler
  W3C Associate Chair
  Director W3C Europe
  World Wide Web Consortium
  http://www.w3.org/People/danield

Received on Saturday, 6 May 2006 10:51:28 UTC