Tim Berners-Lee, W3C Director and inventor of the World Wide Web
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is an international consortium where Member organizations, a full-time staff, and the public work together to develop Web standards. W3C's mission is:
To lead the World Wide Web to its full potential by developing protocols and guidelines that ensure long-term growth for the Web.
W3C primarily pursues its mission through the creation of Web standards and guidelines. Since 1994, W3C has published more than 110 such standards, called W3C Recommendations. W3C also engages in education and outreach, develops software, and serves as an open forum for discussion about the Web. In order for the Web to reach its full potential, the most fundamental Web technologies must be compatible with one another and allow any hardware and software used to access the Web to work together. W3C refers to this goal as “Web interoperability.” By publishing open (non-proprietary) standards for Web languages and protocols, W3C seeks to avoid market fragmentation and thus Web fragmentation.
Tim Berners-Lee and others created W3C as an industry consortium dedicated to building consensus around Web technologies. Mr. Berners-Lee, who invented the World Wide Web in 1989 while working at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), has served as the W3C Director since W3C was founded, in 1994.
Organizations located all over the world and involved in many different fields join W3C to participate in a vendor-neutral forum for the creation of Web standards. W3C Members and a dedicated full-time staff of technical experts have earned W3C international recognition for its contributions to the Web. W3C Members (sample testimonials), staff, and Invited Experts work together to design technologies to ensure that the Web will continue to thrive in the future, accommodating the growing diversity of people, hardware, and software.
W3C's global initiatives also include nurturing liaisons with national, regional and international organizations around the globe. These contacts help W3C maintain a culture of global participation in the development of the World Wide Web. W3C coordinates particularly closely with other organizations that are developing standards for the Web or Internet in order to enable clear progress. The document Worldwide Participation in the World Wide Web Consortium summarizes W3C efforts in broading our international impact; see our international relations home for more information.
MIT/CSAIL
(USA)
ERCIM
(France)
Keio Univ.
(Japan)
W3C operations are supported by a combination of Member dues, research grants, and other sources of public and private funding, and the Supporters Program. W3C operations are jointly administered by the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) in the USA, the European Research Consortium for Informatics and Mathematics (ERCIM) headquartered in France and Keio University in Japan. W3C also has World Offices in many regions around the world. The W3C Offices work with their regional Web communities to promote W3C technologies in local languages, broaden W3C's geographical base, and encourage international participation in W3C Activities.
Translations of these pages are available in these languages: العربية, Bosanski, Deutsch, Ελληνικά, 한국어, Castellano, Polski, Српски. Many thanks to the W3C Offices for leading the translation of these pages, and for all the independent translators who are contributing to W3C. Note that at times there may be slight differences between the English version and a translated page. Translations of W3C standards and other documents are available on the Web.
In pursuit of its mission, W3C has these long-term goals for creating one World Wide Web.
The social value of the Web is that it enables human communication, commerce, and opportunities to share knowledge. One of W3C's primary goals is to make these benefits available to all people, whatever their hardware, software, network infrastructure, native language, culture, geographical location, or physical or mental ability.
W3C continues to expand its real investment in initiatives that directly support the expansion of Web technologies and their benefits into the developing world. Work in areas like Web accessibility, internationalization, device independence, and mobile Web are particularly important as we work toward a Web for Everyone.
In addition, through W3C Offices and other efforts to broaden participation, W3C pledges to make the Web available to more people around the world. The document Worldwide Participation in the World Wide Web Consortium summarizes efforts to increase global participation in W3C work and ensure that W3C results provide benefit to an even larger community.
Valid XHTML displayed on a mobile telephone
The number of different kinds of devices that can access the Web has grown immensely. Mobile phones, smart phones, personal digital assistants, interactive television systems, voice response systems, kiosks and even certain domestic appliances can all access the Web. The goal of W3C's Mobile Web Initiative, launched in 2005, is to make Web access from any kind of device as simple, easy and convenient as Web access from a desktop.
The Web is not merely an immense book where people can search, browse, and view information. It is also a vast database that, if designed carefully, can allow computers to do more useful work. By developing a Web that holds information for both human and machine processing, W3C aims to enable people to solve problems that would otherwise be too tedious or complex to solve.
Ultimately, for the Web to be a useful medium for social transactions, people must be able to trust other parties who have earned their trust. While technology cannot guarantee trust, it should enable secure transactions with trusted parties, be they people, organizations, or services. One of the long-term goals of W3C is thus to promote technologies that enable a more collaborative environment, a Web where accountability, security, confidence, and confidentiality are all possible, and where people participate according to their individual privacy requirements and preferences.
To achieve the goal of one Web, specifications for the Web's formats and protocols must be compatible with one another and allow (any) hardware and software used to access the Web to work together. W3C designs and promotes interoperable open (non-proprietary) formats and protocols to avoid the market fragmentation of the past.
Since 1994, W3C has produced more than ninety Web standards, called "W3C Recommendations." A W3C Recommendation is the equivalent of a Web standard, indicating that this W3C-developed specification is stable, contributes to Web interoperability, and has been reviewed by the W3C Membership, who favor its adoption by the industry. The W3C translations page lists the technical reports that have been translated into languages other than English and explains how to contribute a translation to W3C.
The Web is an application built on top of the Internet
This illustration (larger version, description) shows one view of Web infrastructure, the focus of most work at W3C. The foundation of URIs, HTTP, XML, and RDF supports pursuits in five areas. Themes of accessibility, internationalization, device independence, mobile access and quality assurance pervade W3C technologies.
W3C is transforming the architecture of the initial Web (essentially HTML, URIs, and HTTP) into the architecture of tomorrow's Web.
W3C's technologies will help make the future Web a robust, scalable, and adaptive infrastructure for a world of information. To understand how W3C pursues this mission, it is useful to understand the driving design principles of the Web. For a detailed discussion of Web design principles, please see W3C's Architecture of the World Wide Web, Volume I.
The World Wide Web Consortium achieves its mission by bringing diverse stake-holders together, under a clear and effective consensus-based process to develop high-quality standards based on contributions from the Membership, Team, Offices, and public.
The W3C Members ensure the strength and direction of the Consortium through investment and active participation in W3C Activities. See also how to join W3C. W3C has over 400 Member organizations from more than 40 countries (Figure 1), with a broad range of interests (Figure 2). In 2005, W3C instituted a number of changes to its fee structure to encourage participation from organizations in developing countries.
Figure 1: W3C Membership distribution by country (larger version, SVG version, text description)
W3C Members include vendors of technology products and services, content providers, corporate users, research laboratories, standards bodies, and governments, all of whom work to reach consensus on a direction for the Web.
Figure 2: W3C Membership distribution by commercial sector (larger version, SVG version, text description)
W3C Communications Team working with Advisory Board representative
The W3C Team (Team photo) includes more than sixty researchers and engineers from around the world who lead the technical Activities at W3C and manage the operations of the Consortium. Most of the Team works physically at the three host institutions: MIT/CSAIL in the United States, ERCIM headquarters in France, and Keio University in Japan. See the Contact page for W3C Hosts.
Led by the Director (Tim Berners-Lee), the Chief Executive Officer (Steve Bratt), and a Management Team, the W3C staff:
The mission of the W3C Offices is to work with regional communities to promote adoption of W3C Recommendations among developers, application builders, and standards setters, and to encourage inclusion of stakeholder organizations in the creation of future recommendations by joining W3C. You can contact the Offices in these regions: Australia, Benelux, Brazil, China, Finland, Germany and Austria, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Israel, Italy, Korea, Morocco, Southern Africa, Spain, Sweden, and United Kingdom and Ireland.
Because of the growing importance of the Web to so many people in so many aspects of their lives, it is critical that W3C engage the broader public as part of the development of the core Web standards and that W3C be accountable to this public audience. W3C enables public participation and promotes public accountabilitly in a number of ways. We encourage the public to:
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 community consensus; an introduction to the W3C Process gives a sense of how we accomplish our work. All stakeholders can have a voice in the development of W3C standards, including Members large and small, as well as the public. W3C processes promote fairness, responsiveness, and progress: all facets of the W3C mission.
Breakout session, Bristol, UK
In February 2004, W3C adopted a Patent Policy to enable continued innovation and widespread adoption of Web standards developed by the World Wide Web Consortium. The W3C Patent Policy is designed to:
For additional information about the W3C Patent Policy, please refer to the Overview and Summary of W3C Patent Policy, discussion of the Business Benefits of the W3C Patent Policy, Patent Policy FAQ, and Patent Policy Fact Sheet (which has statistics about the policy in practice).
The W3C Advisory Board (AB) was created in March 1998 to provide guidance to the Team on issues of strategy, management, legal matters, process, and conflict resolution. The Advisory Board, which is elected by the Advisory Committee, is not a board of directors and has no decision-making authority within W3C; its role is strictly advisory.
The Advisory Board manages the evolution of the W3C Process Document. The Process Document governs W3C's operations and describes the processes W3C follows in pursuit of its mission. It is a public document divided into sections that cover the W3C organization, W3C Activities and groups, how consensus governs W3C work, the W3C Recommendation Track, and the W3C Submission Process.
The W3C Technical Architecture Group (TAG) was created in July 2001 to provide stewardship of the Web architecture. The TAG elucidates cross-technology Web architecture principles, and helps to resolve Web architectural issues that arise within and outside of W3C. Like other W3C Working Groups, the TAG uses the W3C Recommendation Track to build consensus around its documents. In 2004, the TAG published Architecture of the World Wide Web, Volume I.
“ W3C Members work together to design Web technologies that build upon its universality, giving the world the power to enhance communication and commerce for anyone, anywhere, anytime and using any device.”
—Tim Berners-Lee, W3C Director and inventor of the World Wide Web
Organizations join W3C to work and exchange ideas with more than 400 Members, including the world's foremost technology companies. The value and impact of membership in that network are further increased by the world-class expertise of the full-time W3C technical Team, which contributes to and coordinates W3C's Activities.
W3C Members take a leadership role in the future of the Web, promote their image as an innovator participating in a standards body international in mission and impact, and gain early insight into market trends (thus reducing the risk of missing them).
Membership contact information is available if you are interested in becoming a W3C Member or if you have questions about the process for joining (see also the Member Agreement). Through the benefits of W3C Membership , organizations have a variety of ways to leverage and promote their participation in W3C Activities. Please note that W3C does not have a class of Membership tailored to or priced for individuals. Individuals and organizations can also help support W3C operations through financial contributions and donations of goods. Please see the W3C Supporters Program for more information.
W3C Membership is available to all organizations. If your organization is investing significant resources into Web technologies — either by developing Web-based products, using Web technologies as an enabling medium for your work, conducting research on the Web, and/or developing products based on W3C specifications — then your organization should be a W3C Member. Adoption of W3C standards and reliance of global commerce and information exchange upon these standards continue to grow. Those who participate in our work have a unique opportunity to shape W3C standards and to leverage them to create new markets, expand existing markets, and participate directly in the revolution that continues to change the way the world works. See also how to join W3C.
XML Protocol Working Group at Mont St. Michel, France
In addition to the testimonials below (drawn from W3C press release announcements), we encourage you to consult the list of Member testimonials that appear on the W3C home page.
“ HP has been a strong supporter of the W3C for the past decade. We are firmly committed to the goal of building robust platforms based on open standards and are pleased to be a founding supporter of this Mobile Web Initiative. We believe the MWI will accelerate the development of rich media content services and will be a catalyst for the next generation of engaging communications experiences. MWI will cause the creation and adoption of a merged set of technologies for today's fixed and mobile content systems and delivery platforms. This is an essential step in the evolution of the World Wide Web. We expect to see a rapid innovation cycle based on MWI contributions to the convergence of fixed and mobile domains.”
—Evan Smouse, Director of Strategic Technology, HP, from W3C Launches "Mobile Web Initiative" press release, May 2005
“ The publication of Architecture of the World Wide Web is an important step forward for the industry. This architecture document sets out the principles that will facilitate continued success of the Web as the premier platform for information-sharing and distributed applications. Consistent with IBM's ongoing commitment to open standards for the Web, we are pleased to contribute to the work of the Technical Architecture Group. We congratulate the W3C on their ongoing stewardship of the fundamental Web standards, and particularly on this important publication.
—Karla Norsworthy, Vice President, Software Standards, IBM, from World Wide Web Consortium Issues "Architecture of the World Wide Web, Volume One" as a W3C Recommendation press release, December 2004
“ Nokia welcomes the advancement of Mobile SVG to W3C Recommendation. We believe that Mobile SVG will play a significant role in future mobile multimedia applications. Nokia has demonstrated its commitment to W3C open standards by taking the responsibility of the editorship for the new specification, and has strongly driven the adoption in 3GPP standards of the Mobile SVG profile for Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) and Packet Switched Streaming (PSS). Nokia believes that the availability of a open and mobile-friendly standard for the creation of vector graphics content will play a central role in creating a dynamic and rich market for applications that fully exploit the capabilities of these exciting technologies.”
—Janne Juhola, Senior Technology Manager, Multimedia - Nokia Mobile Phones, Nokia, Inc., from SVG 1.1/Mobile SVG press release January 2003
“ AOL has always regarded consumer privacy as one of our most important values. In addition to supporting robust self-regulatory initiatives and industry best practices, we strongly support technologies like P3P that empower consumers to personalize their online experience and make informed choices about their privacy. We commend W3C for the work it has done on this important issue, and we look forward to continuing to work with W3C and other interested organizations on ways to enhance and implement the P3P standard and other similar technologies.”
—Tatiana Gau, Senior Vice President, Integrity Assurance, America Online Inc., from P3P 1.0 press release April 2002
“ XML Schema is a significant milestone in the evolution and maturity of XML, and a key enabler of Web services and peer-to-peer computing. Interoperability in a world populated by millions of PCs, smart devices and Web services is only possible when based on rigorously defined data formats and protocols. The opportunities created by XML for businesses and consumers are greatly enhanced by this release of XML Schema. The adoption of XML and XML Schema throughout Microsoft's products and services is at the heart of our .NET vision for Web services.”
—Bill Gates, Chairman and Chief Software Architect, Microsoft Corporation, from XML Schema press release May 2001
“ Panasonic is very pleased that the "Modularization of XHTML" specification has been approved as a W3C Recommendation. "Modularization of XHTML" provides us a formal/systematic means for subsetting and extending XHTML. "Modularization" is a very important technique for applying Web technologies to digital home appliances, such as digital TV sets or mobile phones because sometimes there are resource limitations or device specific features on such devices; and "Modularization" allows us to have an specification which best fits to each platform in a systematic way. As one of the leading companies for digital home appliances, Panasonic highly expects that "Modularization of XHTML" will become the foundation for a wide variety of Web appliances.”
—Yasunori Tanaka, General Manager, Core Software Development Center, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., from Modularization of XHTML press release April 2001
“ Congratulations to the World Wide Web Consortium and its Members for helping to make the Web more accessible for people with disabilities. The Web is having a dramatic impact on the way we work, learn, live and communicate with each other, and it is essential that this new medium be accessible to everyone. People with disabilities should be full participants in the Information Society. I am proud of the role that the White House has played in serving as a catalyst for the Web Accessibility Initiative. The U.S. Government intends to work closely with the World Wide Web Consortium to ensure that government information and services are accessible, and I want to challenge all Web developers to design Web sites that are accessible to everyone.”
—Al Gore, Vice President, USA, from Web Content Accessibility Guidelines press release May 1999
In 1989, Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web (see the original proposal). He coined the term "World Wide Web," wrote the first World Wide Web server, "httpd," and the first client program (a browser and editor), "WorldWideWeb," in October 1990. He wrote the first version of the "HyperText Markup Language" (HTML), the document formatting language with the capability for hypertext links that became the primary publishing format for the Web. His initial specifications for URIs, HTTP, and HTML were refined and discussed in larger circles as Web technology spread.
W3C10 panel recounts important early Web and W3C events
A graduate of Oxford University, England, Tim Berners-Lee has served as Director of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) since its inception. More information on Tim Berners-Lee is available; see also the Tim Berners-Lee's FAQ.
In October 1994, Tim Berners-Lee founded the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Laboratory for Computer Science [MIT/LCS] in collaboration with CERN, where the Web originated (see information on the original CERN Server), with support from DARPA and the European Commission. For further information on the joint initiative and the contributions of CERN, INRIA, and MIT, please see the statement on the joint World Wide Web Initiative.
W3C10 Time Line Graphic
(other formats and description)
In April 1995, INRIA (Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et Automatique) became the first European W3C host, followed by Keio University of Japan (Shonan Fujisawa Campus) in Asia in 1996. In 2003, ERCIM (European Research Consortium in Informatics and Mathematics) took over the role of European W3C Host from INRIA.
In December 2004 (in Boston, USA), in June 2005 (in Sophia-Antipolis, France), and in December 2006 (in Tokyo, Japan) W3C celebrated its tenth anniversary with symposia about the history and future of the Web and W3C.
More historical (but unmaintained) information about the World Wide Web is available from the W3C Web site.
Below you will find some of W3C's most important achievements. Obviously, this type of list is subjective and does not represent every aspect of W3C work. For a complete view of W3C work, please consult the list of W3C Activities and the index of W3C's technical reports.
October 1996First W3C Recommendation published is Portable Network Graphics (PNG) 1.0. In the mid-'90s, more industrial and academic users were discovering the Web and its graphics capabilities. W3C developed Portable Network Graphics (PNG) to provide a cross-platform alternative to the graphics formats most prevalent at that time, some of which had raised some patent licensing concerns.
December 1996Separating content from structure, CSS Level 1 is published. Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) is a simple mechanism for adding style (e.g. fonts, colors, spacing) to Web documents. CSS Level 2 (1998) included further and more sophisticated features.
February 1997Web Accessibility Initiative launched. W3C's Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) guidelines for Web content, user agents, and authoring tools would become very popular among the Web community. WAI, in coordination with organizations around the world, pursues accessibility of the Web through four primary areas of work: technology, tools, education and outreach, and research and development.
December 1997HTML 4.0 adds tables, scripting, style sheets, internationalization, and accessibility features to Web publishing. Whereas HTML 3.2 had been published to capture the then current state of support for HTML on the Web, HTML 4.0 added new features to enable authors to create significantly richer Web content. These features included the ability to specify style sheets, create tables, and make pages more dynamic through scripting (see also W3C's work on the Document Object Model, or DOM). HTML 4.0 also included important features to promote more internationalized content and content more accessible to some users with disabilities.
February 1998XML 1.0 promotes interoperability and domain-specific markup. Soon to become the lingua franca of the Web, XML would serve as the basis for dozens of standards ranging from digital signatures (XML-Sig) and Web forms (XForms), to privacy technologies (P3P).
August 2000Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) 1.0 enriches Web graphics. A language to describe two-dimensional graphics and graphical applications in XML, SVG will serve as the foundation for new-generation mobile applications (SVG Mobile Profiles).
May 2001XML Schema provides an essential piece for XML to reach its full potential. This important specification delivers on the true promise of XML by providing a standard way to create XML vocabularies that permit mixing and a way to build more versatile and powerful commercial applications.
January 2002W3C launches Web Services Activity. Subsuming the XML Protocol Activity and extending its scope, Web services provide a standard means of interoperating between different software applications, running on a variety of platforms and/or frameworks.
May 2003W3C adopts royalty-free Patent Policy. The W3C Patent Policy governs the handling of patents in the process of producing Web standards, and explicitly encourages the development of open standards.
February 2004RDF and OWL make a strong foundation for Semantic Web applications. RDF and OWL are Semantic Web standards that provide a framework for asset management, enterprise integration and the sharing and reuse of data on the Web. Respectively, they deliver structured descriptions and Web-based ontologies.
March 2004W3C gives voice to the Web with VoiceXML 2.0. Voice interaction can escape the physical limitations of keypads and displays as mobile devices become even smaller. The goal of VoiceXML 2.0 is to bring the advantages of Web-based development and content delivery to interactive voice response applications.
December 2004W3C describes principles of Web architecture. W3C's Technical Architecture Group (TAG) publishes "Architecture of the World Wide Web," a description of the principles that make the Web we know work, and work well. This condensed assessment of fifteen years of observations about the Web authored by many of those who designed the core Web standards is a valuable foundation on which to design future Web standards.
February 2005Character Model brings unified approach to using characters on the Web. W3C's Internationalization Core Working Group publishes "Character Model for the World Wide Web 1.0: Fundamentals" with a goal of making it easier for all people to use the World Wide Web, regardless of their language, script, writing system, and cultural conventions, in accordance with the W3C mission of universal access. Building on the Universal Character Set (defined jointly by the Unicode Standard and ISO/IEC 10646), the Character Model provides authors of specifications, software developers, and content developers with a common reference for interoperable text manipulation on the World Wide Web.
May 2005Mobile Web Initiative launched to facilitate mobile Web access. W3C launched the Mobile Web Initiative (MWI) with the mission of making Web access from a mobile device as simple as Web access from a desktop device. MWI sponsors and participants develop authoring guidelines, checklists and best practices, as well as a database of descriptions that can be used by content authors to adapt their content to the strengths and capabilities of a particular device.
November 2005 W3C Launches Group Linking Medical Industry with Semantic Web. W3C launched an Interest Group to connect medical industry verticals with Semantic Web experts in an effort to improve collaboration, research and development, and innovation adoption in the health care and life science industries. The first of its kind for W3C, the Semantic Web for Health Care and Life Sciences Interest Group (HCLSIG) deploys standardized Semantic Web specifications into specific services defined by a user community.
W3C continues to expand the reach of the Web to:
Many developers rely on the Web as a platform-independent application environment. Familiar Web applications include Web mail, reservation systems, online shopping and auction sites, games, and multimedia applications. Recent W3C Recommendations such as XForms will soon begin to influence the usability of such applications. New W3C work in areas such as compound documents targets further improvements in content diversity and overall usability. For more information on developing platform-independent Web applications, please refer to the work of the W3C Compounds Document Formats Activity.
“ W3C is where the future of the Web is made. Our Members work together to design and standardize Web technologies that build on its universality, giving the power to communicate, exchange information, and to write effective, dynamic applications—for anyone, anywhere, anytime, using any device.”
—Tim Berners-Lee, W3C Director and inventor of the World Wide Web
W3C is developing standards that support multiple, simultaneous modes of Web interaction: through eyes, ears, voice, and touch. In addition to the familiar keyboard, mouse, stylus, and audio/visual output, new interaction modes are becoming more and more commonplace. Indeed, so common that people may not even realize that they are interacting with a Web application such as a reservation system that is telephone-enabled.
Call center applications are just the beginning. W3C is enabling diversity of interaction so that people can choose the solution that best suits their needs in any given environment. W3C is carrying out this work in the W3C Multimodal Interaction Activity, the Voice Browser Activity, and the Device Independence Activity. These new technologies will improve access to the Web through mobile devices such as telephones and handheld organizers, but also other systems such as automotive telematics, home entertainment systems, and other multimodal applications.
W3C's Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) continues to promote implementation of existing accessibility guidelines in advanced authoring tools, together with improved evaluation tools. Increased implementation of accessibility guidelines for authoring tools, browsers, and media players, combined with personalized accessibility profiles, and use of metadata and proxy services to support accessibility, will enable people with disabilities to more readily create and interact with Web content. This progress will enable more automated support for development and repair of accessible Web sites. In this way, accessible Web design will become "business as usual."
W3C's vision of the Web is one of a truly integrated environment that allows for the expression of cultural nuances and language differences across distributed systems and geographies. W3C's Internationalization Activity has started work on guidelines that explain to developers how to ensure that their XML formats support internationalization and efficient localization. Other internationalization work will focus on common locale identifiers and negotiation for the World Wide Web and Web services in particular.
One of W3C's goals is to design technology that will work independent of a particular hardware platform. Increasingly, people are seeking access from a range of devices that extend beyond the familiar desktop computer, including mobile telephones, kiosks in airports, kitchen appliances, and automobiles. Access from these devices (whether by human or machine) should be as simple, easy and convenient as Web access from a home computer. W3C is designing technologies (including those cited in the previous section, but also Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG), XForms, Synchronized Multimedia (SMIL), and more) that will lower obstacles to authoring for, and browsing with, devices having a broad range of input and output capabilities. In the handheld device world, as part of the Mobile Web Initiative, W3C is building a database of device descriptions and developing best practices for the creation of mobile-friendly Web sites.
We look forward to the continued creativity of the Web community and to novel ways to add to and read from the Web. W3C has begun discussions about the "Ubiquitous Web," in which new Web applications requiring coordination among multiple devices will enable increasingly sophisticated Web experiences. Scenarios envisioned include connecting a camera phone to a nearby printer, using a cell phone to give a business presentation with a wireless projector, and viewing and listening to your electronic mail at the same time.
As the Web grows into a even richer storehouse of human knowledge, we need ever more powerful tools to search and interpret the tremendous amount of available data; this applies to intranets as well as the global Web. Two models have emerged to help manage this data on a global scale: the Semantic Web and Web services.
The Semantic Web provides a common framework that allows data to be shared and reused across application, enterprise, and community boundaries. It is an extension of the current Web in which information is given well-defined meaning, better enabling computers and people to work in cooperation. The Semantic Web is data-centric.
Web services provide a standard means of interoperating between different software applications, running on a variety of platforms and/or frameworks. Web services are message-centric.
Both models are important to networked and distributed systems, so W3C is working to ensure their proper integration, both together and with the existing Web infrastructure. For instance, Web services benefit from the ability to share common vocabularies, unambiguous names, and a common data model, all of which are readily expressed with Semantic Web technologies.
The Web has transformed the way we communicate with each other. In doing so, it has also modified the nature of our social relationships. People now "meet on the Web" and carry out commercial and personal relationships, in some cases without ever meeting in person. W3C recognizes the importance of designing technologies that foster trust and confidence and thus enable increasingly complex interactions among parties around the globe.
What does it mean for a technology to foster trust? W3C's Platform for Privacy Preferences (P3P) was an important first step in building confidence by enabling people to become more aware about how they choose to share or not share information about themselves over the Web. Based on this experience with P3P, W3C is proceeding to tackle questions raised by service providers about how to implement privacy practices associated with those services. Organizations want to keep their promises. W3C is therefore exploring how privacy metadata can be used to help manage user data in a trustworthy fashion on the server side.
Traditionally, one way of establishing trust is to show some trusted form of identification, such as a driving license or a passport. Analogous authentication protocols are not yet widely available on the Web. Furthermore, today's approaches to online authentication often focus on authenticating the user and neglect the importance of mutual authentication. W3C is exploring ways to provide users and service providers more confidence in their transactions and easier identity management. The traditional public key infrastructure will also need to be augmented to accommodate the richness of different ways of life on the Web.
The Semantic Web will also play a role in trustworthy transactions. Semantic Web technologies enable people to write software that, on our behalf, can find and analyze information that will help build trust.
International press coverage of W3C Tenth Anniversary Celebration
The W3C Communications Team is your first point of contact for information on Web standards and the technologies under development at the W3C. We are available to answer your questions and connect you with W3C's technical experts.
Send all requests to w3t-pr@w3.org.
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Due to the volume of requests, the W3C Communications Team reviews all requests for interviews with Tim Berners-Lee once a week, usually on Mondays. Thus, response times for these requests may be up to a week. Due to the number of requests, we cannot guarantee a reply to every one.
Mr. Berners-Lee then selects the interviews he is most interested in pursuing, and which his schedule will permit. In your request, include your name, your publication, the purpose and format of the interview, the language in which it will be published, your deadline, and your contact information.
We also suggest that you read the Tim Berners-Lee FAQ, which may answer some of your questions.
W3C Staff and Working Group Chairs are among the world's experts in Web technologies and their impacts. We will help put you in touch with these experts to answer questions on Web technologies, Web standards, and the way W3C does its work.
The W3C Communications Team will try to respond to your requests within two business days. In some cases, we may require more time in order to identify and arrange interviews with staff in other time zones. Due to the number of requests, we cannot guarantee a reply to every one.
W3C has photos of its staff available to accompany appropriate articles. Should you wish to use a photo of a member of our staff, including Tim Berners-Lee, please complete our photo request form. You do not need an account to complete the form, but an email address is required.
If you have questions, please contact the following representatives:
Also available in PDF: a French press kit ("Définir les standards du Web d'aujourd'hui et de demain", March 2006) and a Japanese press kit.
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