Re: Proposal to get out of the techniques business on WCAG.NEXT

Jason,
There seems to be a disconnect at we are at once saying that we need more people to work on techniques and that the right people are the ones in WCAG now.  I don’t agree that the only people that can work on techniques are on the WCAG WG – we get lots of thoughtful comments and suggestions from people not on the group, and that includes people in EO.  I think that one of the most valuable experiences for working on techniques is working on techniques, and the easiest way to get that experience is to start.

I don’t think that techniques is something that just gets chucked over to wall to EO.  There may in fact be people who are on WCAG and are interested in developing extensions or 2.x or 3.0 updates, but who are also willing to work with another group (I’ll keep saying EO, just as an example).  It may be that people who work on WCAG during the development of the standard are needed, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that the techniques work needs to stay in WCAG – the WCAG members could move!

Or not.  None of this is planned, or any more than a thought exercise at this point.  I haven’t talked with Josh or Michael about this, and I’m not sure what is the best way to proceed myself.  I have spent some time thinking about how WCAG can do its work best, and have talked with some others about different ideas, and that is what I’m continuing here.

Thanks,
AWK