Editor's draft proposed new W3C Process Document
Most W3C work revolves around the standardization of Web technologies. To
accomplish this work, W3C follows processes that promote the development of
high-quality standards based on the consensus of the Membership, Team, and public.
W3C processes promote fairness, responsiveness, and progress: all facets of the
W3C mission. This document describes the processes W3C follows in pursuit of
its mission.
Here is a general overview of how W3C standardizes a Web technology. In many
cases, the goal of this work is a W3C
Recommendation, the W3C equivalent of a Web standard.
- People generate interest in a particular topic (e.g., Web services). For
instance, Members express interest in the form of Member Submissions, and the Team monitors work inside and outside of W3C for
signs of interest. Also, W3C is likely to organize a Workshop to bring people together to discuss topics
that interest the W3C community. This was the case, for example, with Web
services.
- When there is enough interest in a topic (e.g., after a successful Workshop
and/or discussion on an Advisory
Committee mailing list), the Director announces the development of a proposal for a new
Activity or Working Group
charter, depending on the breadth of the topic of interest. An Activity Proposal describes the scope,
duration, and other characteristics of the intended work, and includes the
charters of one or more Working Groups,
Interest Groups, and possibly Coordination Groups to carry out the work.
W3C Members review each Activity
Proposal and the associated Working Group charters. When there is support
within W3C for investing resources in the topic of interest, the Director
approves the new Activity and groups get down to work. For the Web Services
Activity, the initial Activity Proposal called for one Working Group to work on
Web Services Architecture and one to work on a language for Web Services
Description. The Activity Proposal also incorporated an existing Working Group
(from another Activity) working on XML Protocols.
- There are three types of Working Group participants: Member representatives, Invited Experts, and Team representatives. Team representatives both
contribute to the technical work and help ensure the group's proper integration
with the rest of W3C. The Working Group
charter sets expectations about each group's deliverables (e.g., technical reports, test suites, and tutorials).
- Working Groups generally create specifications and guidelines that undergo
cycles of revision and review as they advance to
W3C Recommendation status. The W3C process for producing these technical
reports includes significant review by the Members and public, and requirements
that the Working Group be able to show implementation and interoperability
experience. At the end of the process, the Advisory Committee reviews the
mature technical report, and if there is support, W3C publishes it as a
Recommendation.
The Process Document promotes the goals of quality and fairness in technical
decisions by encouraging consensus,
requiring reviews (by both Members and public) as part of the technical report development process, and through an appeal process for the Advisory Committee.
The other sections of the Process Document:
- set forth policies for participation
in W3C groups,
- establish two permanent groups within W3C: the Technical Architecture Group (TAG), to help resolve
Consortium-wide technical issues; and the Advisory Board (AB), to help resolve Consortium-wide
non-technical issues, and to manage the evolution of the W3C process, and
- describe other interactions between the Members (as represented by the W3C Advisory Committee), the Team, and the general
public.