Re: TAG Nominees: what say you?

On 8 December 2012 21:06, Marcos Caceres <w3c@marcosc.com> wrote:

> Hi Art, All,
> On 12/5/2012 7:19 AM, Arthur Barstow wrote:
> > On 11/12/12 12:24 PM, ext Robin Berjon wrote:
> > Among the subjects I would like to hear from the TAG nominees: why are
> you running, what should the TAG's priorities be (short-term 1H-2013 and
> longer term), what specific tasks do you commit to addressing.
>
> I've documented my motivations for running on my blog:
> http://marcosc.com/2012/12/w3c-tag-elections/
>
> I've included the from the blog entry below, but, because of the many
> links, it's best viewed on my blog.
>
> ====
> # W3C TAG elections
> I recently learned through reading Alex Russell’s blog (
> http://infrequently.org/2012/11/election-season/) that Google had
> nominated him as a candidate on the upcoming W3C Technical Architecture
> Group (http://www.w3.org/2001/tag/) elections. I thought this was great,
> as I more often then not find myself in violent agreement with Alex on how
> browsers should expose their guts to developers (amongst other things). As
> Alex put it:
> > I’m running to try to turn the TAG into an organization that has
> something to say about the important problems facing devs building apps
> today; particularly how new specs either address or exacerbate those
> challenges.
> I thought it would be great to finally have someone who cares about the
> challenges that Web developers face represented on the TAG. So it then came
> to me as a bit of a humbling surprise that I had also been nominated (by
> Nokia) and asked to run by Robin Berjon. Admittedly, I was hesitant (and I
> still am) as I don’t know much about the TAG.
>
> To us humble outsiders, the TAG has always been the Ivory Tower (
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivory_Tower) of the old guard of the Web:
> you know, where the guys that started it all pontificate about the nuances
> of URIs, HTTP Range 14 (don’t worry, I have no idea what the hell that is
> either!), and the mythical semantic web.
>
> Because of the somewhat obscure range of topics, the TAG’s discussions
> have been the butt of many jokes on the Web (e.g., the fake tag (
> http://faketag.org/)) and humorous pictures on W3C Memes (
> http://w3cmemes.tumblr.com/):
>
> http://w3cmemes.tumblr.com/post/34767842363/grumpy-old-tag-doesnt-see-the-point-of-annes-new
>
> http://w3cmemes.tumblr.com/post/34754018223/your-argument-is-invalidhttp://w3cmemes.tumblr.com/image/25601498223
> It has also become synonymous with architecture astronautism (
> http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000018.html). This is a
> shame, because, as Alex points out, it could be a force for the greater
> good, but the interactions with other working groups is generally been
> limited (and certainly does not appear to be focused on pursuing the issues
> relevant to Web developers who end up using the stuff coming out of the
> W3C).
> Given the negative perception of the TAG, I basically share Alex’s “goal
> of turning the TAG into an advocacy organization for the interests of
> webdevs.” If elected, I want to work with other “reformist-minded
> candidates” (namely, Anne van Kesteren (http://annevankesteren.nl/) and
> Yehuda Katz (http://yehudakatz.com/)) towards making that happen.
>
> # What and how?
> Some proactive things that could be done by the TAG to meet the goal above
> include:
> * Take the discussion to where developers are (Google+, Twitter, GitHub,
> etc.) – ask them what the TAG should focus on (or make the case to
> developers to show that there is value in the TAG).
> * Talk to developers and find out what their pressing issues are. Do this
> by attending actual developer conferences and similar forums. See if we can
> make the TAG something cool and respected again!
> * Instead of publishing findings at the W3C, publish findings in the
> popular developer press (e.g., A List Apart, Smashing magazine, .Net
> magazine, HTML5 Rocks, or similar) – i.e., where developers can actually
> read the findings, and in a common voice. Make TAG members available for
> interviews to media.
> * Make time available to talk to developers on a regular (e.g., bi-monthly
> Q&A sessions on Google+)
> * Help developer-based Community Groups (e.g., the RICG (
> http://responsiveimages.org/) and the Extensible Web CG (
> http://www.w3.org/community/nextweb/)) with navigating the process of
> adding things to the Web platform.
>

Marcos, I appreciate your critique and passion to make things better,
however I'm not sure I agree on all points.  Regarding the TAG helping
community groups, be aware that there are around 100, free to participate,
community groups in the W3C alone.  My experience in the read write CG, is
that the TAG has been generous in helping us design standards and
understand existing ones.  I've been fortunate enough to have several
interactions, both on list, and off list, and most of the members I've
reached out to, have been kind enough to offer guidance.


> * Work more closely with WebApps WG, System Apps, HTMLWG/WHATWG to make
> sure their API designs stay in sync and don’t cause developers unnecessary
> pain.
> * Advocate to W3C Working Groups for more clear specs that meet the needs
> to developers as well as implementers.
> If you have more/better ideas of what could be done to make the TAG more
> relevant to developers, please let me know in the comments.
>
> # How to vote
> Unfortunately, voting is W3C member only. But otherwise, you need your AC
> rep to nominate a candidate (instructions (
> http://marcosc.com/2012/12/w3c-tag-elections/%3Ca%20href=)).
>
> #What’s my pitch
> This is what I submitted to the W3C as my pitch to get votes:
> > Over the last 6 years, Marcos’ background in interaction design has
> brought a unique perspective to Web standards. Long before there was the
> “Native Apps vs Web Apps” debate, Marcos was leading the charge to
> standardise installable web applications at the W3C through the Widgets
> family of specifications. Until recently, Marcos worked as a software
> architect at Opera Software, where he led the team that created Opera
> Widgets and Extensions platforms. Aside from his work on installable web
> applications, Marcos has been involved in numerous efforts to bring device
> APIs to the Web. To the TAG, Marcos can bring hands-on experience dealing
> with the architectural challenges that come from designing, deploying, and
> running installable web apps – and how those apps can safely interact with
> device APIs. For more information about Marcos’ qualifications, please see
> Marcos at LinkedIn (http://www.linkedin.com/in/marcosc).
> The W3C has also published the list of other candidates (
> http://www.w3.org/2012/12/03-tag-nominations).
>
> Kind regards,
> Marcos
> --
> Marcos Caceres
>
>
>