RE: "You call that a standard?" and Charter

Joe Clark wrote:

> I note that the Charter advanced today by Wendy--
> 
> <http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/w3c-wai-gl/2004AprJun/0194.html>
> <http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/w3c-wai-gl/2004AprJun/0194.>
> 
> -- is of no improvement whatsoever on the specific issue of 
> democratizing this group. I'm aware that other W3C groups 
> work the same way. The issue is that the W3C is effectively 
> controlled by corporate *and institutional* interests who can 
> afford to jet to Cannes and Tokyo for meetings. The Web 
> Accessibility Initiative deals with a different clientele-- 
> arguably the most-disadvantaged clientele on the entire Web-- 
> and requires a different approach.
> [snip]

Hello Joe and list,

Respectfully, I disagree with you. The WCAG working group is open to anyone
willing to donate time, it's not just a matter of money. I am an example of
that myself. My company, Heritas, is tiny. I run it together with my
fiancee. We cannot afford to fly me around the world (donations welcome!),
but out of our interest in web accessibility I decided to join WCAG anyway.

Even if I cannot afford to join every face-to-face meeting, I still feel a
valued member of WCAG, which I think is reflected in my PiGS status. I have
to admit it brings a smile to my face when I look at the PiGS list and see
Heritas listed between the big names such as Microsoft, IBM and Adobe. 

The bottom line of my viewpoint: you can make a difference in the WCAG if
you want to, even if you can only donate time and effort. In my opinion,
that makes it a democratic process. I just wished more people from smaller
companies would take the effort...

Yvette Hoitink
Heritas, Enschede, the Netherlands
E-mail: y.p.hoitink@heritas.nl
WWW: http://www.heritas.nl

Received on Thursday, 29 April 2004 15:23:00 UTC