W3C Blog

Last year we introduced an annual headlights exercise to identify major new strategic directions for W3C. These are studies that involve W3C and its Members, and result in proposals for new work which we evaluate in July. We learned a great deal from doing it, and we are preparing to launch a stronger initiative this year, Headlights 2013.

What we Learned from Last Year's Findings

We learned many things from last year's exercise which has profoundly shaped our agenda this year. Our 11-12 February Workshop about e-books came from a growing realization that there is an opportunity for greater impact in the digital publishing industry. Our study of strategic developer relations led to the creation of webplatform.org a much stronger outreach to the developer community. Our exploration of how W3C is perceived by stakeholders led to a branding study which is currently underway.

We also learned what we could do better. A proper study takes more time. Last year we started at the end of March and reported to the Advisory Committee in May - this year we will start in mid-February and report to the AC in June. So we have two more months to get our work done.

We also learned that we need more participation from our stakeholders. This additional time will give more time for volunteers to participate in these studies.

Headlights 2013

In selecting topics for study this year, we tried to be very thoughtful, and look at our needs in three categories. Accordingly, the topics for this year are:

• Open Web Platform
  • Web Payments
  • HTML5 Performance
  • Closing the Gap with Native
  • Which Community Groups and Business Groups should transition to Working Groups
• Web Stewardship
• Brand and Communications
  • W3C Brand
  • W3C Anniversaries
  • Site Redesign
• Productivity
  • Group Analytics and Dashboards
  • Group Chair Training

To learn more about our proposals, please see the public Headlights 2013 wiki.