Re: Formal Recorded Complaint

On Thu, 2007-07-26 at 14:30 -0700, John Foliot wrote:
> Mr. Bratt, Mr. Berners-Lee, Ms. Brewer, Mr. Connolly,
> 
> I am writing today regarding an issue that both shocks and profoundly
> disappoints me.  While I understand that to a large extent there is little
> that can be done at this point, I personally feel that the issue I am
> referring to should be brought directly to your attention, as it indirectly
> affects the reputation and public position of the W3C.
[...]

John, your complaint is acknowledged.

Yes, accessibility is essential part of our charter...
  http://www.w3.org/2007/03/HTML-WG-charter.html#coordination
... but figuring out how to achieve it is hard work.

Organizing the W3C HTML WG as primarily a large mailing list is
somewhat risky; typically, W3C Working Groups establish mutual
trust and respect in face-to-face meetings and teleconferences
which results in more sensitivity than we are seeing in
the HTML WG mailing list and nearby forums such as IRC.
(The particular discussion you cite is in a WHATWG forum,
not a W3C forum, but I think that matters only a little.)

On the other hand, HTML is a technology that is used, more
or less directly, by millions of people, and it does seem
worthwhile to try to directly engage a large number of them
in the design discussions, and email is one of the most fair
mechanisms available for that purpose.

It's not entirely clear to me which technical topic, if any,
prompted the unfortunate exchange that you're complaining about,
but perhaps it is related to the disputed design principle(s)
of "Visible Metadata vs. Metadata Anywhere"
 http://esw.w3.org/topic/HTML/ProposedDesignPrinciples

We do supplement the email discussion with teleconferences
and face to face meetings. We're not likely to meet
face-to-face until the November W3C Technical Plenary meeting
week, but I expect design principles will be on the agenda of
our next teleconference (supplemented with IRC)
this Thursday, 2 Aug, at 1700Z. I think that's not a convenient
time for some of the concerned parties; Chris Wilson is
looking into a time that's convenient for Seattle/OZ/Asia.
I talk with Al Gilman about coordination between the HTML WG
and the WAI PF WG from time to time; we're open to other
possible times and places to talk and clear the air.

-- 
Dan Connolly, W3C http://www.w3.org/People/Connolly/

Received on Monday, 30 July 2007 17:24:03 UTC