W3C Blog

Almost one year ago, we launched Community and Business Groups. We wanted to make it easier for people to bring their ideas to W3C. And they have. In May of this year we issued a press release as participation rose above 1200. Today there are more than 1600 people from at least 46 countries participating in more than 90 Community and Business Groups. The community's response to the program has been thrilling.

And the groups are getting work done. Here are just a few examples:

• the Core Mobile Web Platform Community Group, with more than 250 participants today, seeks to accelerate the adoption of the Mobile Web as a compelling platform for the development of modern mobile web applications. They are working on a mobile profile, building a test suite, and held a face-to-face meeting in June. They are also providing feedback on the specifications of other W3C Working Groups.
• the Responsive Images Community Group, with nearly 150 participants, developed a proposal to enable authors to provide different sources for images at different sizes not based on resolution or network speed, but based on the judgment of the designer for what is the best image source at a particular breakpoint. They have submitted their proposal to the HTML Working Group for consideration as part of a future version of HTML.
• the JSON for Linking Data Community Group, with more than 40 participants is bridging the worlds of JSON and linked data. The group published several specifications and is transferring them to the RDF Working Group.

The program has met many of our goals for promoting innovation and inclusion. We are planning improvements to the program based on our experience so far. We've opened an online survey and invite participants to take a moment and share their thoughts.

Thanks for making the first year of Community and Business Groups lively, and a success."