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

I, too am from a small company and can add to the discussion that the
cost of the teleconferences (approx $30 a call) can sometimes be
prohibitive.  There is very little likelihood of me ever attending a
face-to-face meeting, unless it is in Australia, and I do feel that
sometimes I cannot contribute as much as I would like due to that fact.

-----Original Message-----
From: w3c-wai-gl-request@w3.org [mailto:w3c-wai-gl-request@w3.org] On
Behalf Of Yvette P. Hoitink
Sent: Friday, 30 April 2004 5:23 AM
To: w3c-wai-gl@w3.org
Subject: 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 Monday, 3 May 2004 11:32:27 UTC