The W3C was founded to develop common protocols to enhance the interoperability and lead the evolution of the World Wide Web.
Leading the World Wide Web's evolution means staying ahead of a significant wave of applications, services, and social changes. For W3C to effectively lead such dramatic growth -- at a time when a "Web Year" has shortened to a mere three months -- it must demonstrate exceptional agility, focus and diplomacy. To this end, the Consortium fulfills a unique combination of roles traditionally ascribed to quite different organizations.
Like its partner standards body, the Internet Engineering Task Force [IETF], W3C is committed to developing open, technically sound specifications backed by running sample code. Like other information technology consortia, W3C represents the power and authority of hundreds of developers, researchers, and users. Hosted by research organizations, the Consortium is able to leverage the most recent advances in information technology.
The W3C was formally launched in October 1994 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Laboratory for Computer Science [MIT LCS]. Moving beyond the Americas, the Consortium established a European presence in partnership with France's National Institute for Research in Computer Science and Control [INRIA] in April 1995. As the Web's influence continued to broaden internationally, the resulting growth in W3C Membership created the need for an Asian host. In August 1996, Keio University in Japan became the Consortium's third host institution.
The Consortium's real strength lies in the broad technical expertise of its Membership. W3C currently has more than 270 commercial and academic Members worldwide, including hardware and software vendors, telecommunications companies, content providers, corporate users, and government and academic entities.
W3C provides a vendor-neutral forum for its Members to address Web-related issues. Working together with its staff and the global Web community, the Consortium aims to produce free, interoperable specifications and sample code. Funding from Membership dues, public research funds, and external contracts underwrite these efforts.
The Consortium's Advisory Committee [AC] is comprised of one official representative from each Member organization who serves as the primary liaison between the organization and W3C. The Advisory Committee's role is to offer advice on the overall progress and direction of the Consortium.
W3C is led by Director Tim Berners-Lee, creator of the World Wide Web; and Chairman Jean-François Abramatic. With more than 30 years' combined expertise in a wide array of computer-related fields, including real-time communications, graphics, and text and image processing. Berners-Lee and Abramatic are well prepared to lead the Consortium's efforts in spearheading the global evolution of the Web.
The Consortium's technical staff includes full- and part-time employees, visiting engineers from Member organizations, consultants, and students from more than 13 countries worldwide. W3C staff works with the Advisory Committee, the press, and the broader Web community to promote W3C's agenda.
Specifications developed within the Consortium must be formally approved by the Membership. Consensus is reached after a specification has proceeded through the review stages of Working Draft, Proposed Recommendation, and Recommendation. As new issues arise from Members, resources are reallocated to new areas to ensure that W3C remains focused on topics most critical to the Web's interoperability and growth.
Leading the evolution of technology as dramatically in flux as the World Wide Web is a challenging task indeed. W3C is a unique organization, well adapted to today's fast-paced environment. Its mission is to realize the full potential of the Web: as an elegant machine-to-machine system, as a compelling human-to-computer interface, and as an efficient human-human communications medium. In order to achieve these goals, W3C's Team of experts works with its Members to advance the state of the art in each of the four Domains: User Interface, Technology & Society, Architecture, and the Web Accessibility Initiative. Each Domain is responsible for investigating and leading development in several Activity Areas which are critical to the Web's global evolution and interoperability.