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WAI Coordination Group Charter
(WAI CG)

This charter is written in accordance with section 4.2.2 of the W3C Process Document.

1. Mission
2. Scope
3. Deliverables
4. Dependencies
5. Duration
6. Success
7. Communication
8. Confidentiality
9. Voting
10. Participation

Note. Although this charter is available publicly, some of the links in this document refer to resources that require W3C Member access.

1. Mission

The mission of the WAI Coordination Group (WAI CG) is to coordinate among all WAI groups, and between WAI groups and other W3C groups as needed.

The WAI CG facilitates the work of all Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) groups within the WAI Technical Activity and the WAI International Program Office Activity. The WAI CG is part of the WAI International Program Office.

The WAI CG was originally chartered in August, 1998. It is renewing its charter in order to continue coordination of WAI groups.

2. Scope

The scope of WAI CG work includes:

• providing guidance on W3C process and practice, and identifying areas where clarification is needed
• creation and termination of WAI groups
• management of interactions and technical dependencies among various WAI groups, and occasionally convening coordination meetings between two or more WAI groups to assist with resolution of a specific technical dependency
• management of interactions between WAI groups and other W3C activities
• management of interactions between WAI groups and organizations outside of W3C
• coordination of WAI group logistics including face to face meetings
• coordination of deliverables schedules and production expectations for group deliverables (specifications, hardcopy distribution, announcements etc)
• coordination on press releases on WAI deliverables, and mention of accessibility issues in other W3C press releases where relevant
• assisting with resolution of group process issues, including escalation of technical and/or process issues, and raising process questions
• deciding what issues & messages to escalate to the WAI Interest Group for broader WAI review

The WAI CG coordinates these issues for the following WAI groups, and for any other groups that may be created in the WAI domain:

1. Protocols & Formats Review Working Group (PFWG) (PFWG Member page)
2. Web Content Accessibility Guidelines Working Group (WCAG WG)
3. User Agent Accessibility Guidelines Working Group (UAWG)
4. Authoring Tools Accessibility Guidelines Working Group (AUWG)
5. Evaluation & Repair Tools Working Group (ERT WG)
6. Education & Outreach Working Group (EOWG)
7. Research & Development Interest Group (RDIG)
8. WAI Interest Group (WAI IG)

3. Deliverables

WAI CG deliverables include:

• minutes of meetings
• planning page for face-to-face meetings

4. Dependencies

Other WAI groups are expected to get approval from the WAI CG before making a decision that could affect another WAI group. The WAI CG should therefore try to answer promptly to any request that might block the advance of another WAI group's deliverables.

The WAI CG has a dependency with the Hypertext CG (HTCG) in ensuring effective management of dependencies between any WAI group and groups included under the HTCG.

5. Duration

The WAI CG is scheduled to last for 24 months, from November 2000 through October 2002, with the intent to re-charter for another 24 months as appropriate.

6. Success

Criteria for success of the WAI CG include:

• effective coordination among WAI groups (e.g. appropriate progress on deliverables; effective resolution of technical and logistical dependencies)
• effective coordination between WAI groups and other W3C groups (e.g. resolution of dependencies without unnecessary escalation)

7. Communication

7.1 Communication within the group

• w3c-wai-cg@w3.org list
• WAI-CG home page (WAI CG Member-only page)
• bi-weekly teleconferences
• annual or semi-annual face-to-face meetings as needed

7.2 Communication with W3C

• coordination through WAI W3C team contacts and with other WAI working groups and interest groups
• communication to W3C Member organizations through W3C Newsletter and Newswire

7.3 Communication with the public

• Not relevant.

8. Confidentiality

• WAI CG mailing list and WAI CG Member-only page are Member-confidential.
• WAI CG charter and WAI CG Public page are public.

9. Voting

The WAI CG works by consensus. In the event of failure to reach a consensus, depending on the type of issue the WAI CG may seek additional perspective from the WAI IG, or may escalate to the W3C Team (first the domain leader, then the director) as per W3C Process.

10. Participation

10.1 W3C Member and invited expert participation

Participation includes chairs and co-chairs of WAI groups (required), and two invited experts as at-large representatives appointed from the WAI Interest Group.

WAI CG participants are expected to attend bi-weekly meetings or send regrets; to send an update on their group before each WAI CG call; and to remain current on reading the WAI CG mailing list. For critical issues affecting their groups, if neither the chair or co-chair (if there is one) is able to attend, the chair of a group may designate the team contact to attend that meeting.

The current list of participants is on the Coordination Group home page.

10.2 W3C Team resources

• 10% Judy Brewer -- chair and team contact
• 5% Daniel Dardailler

10.3 Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)

The purpose of WAI is to produce public documents available royalty-free to everyone, following W3C standard IPR terms. Therefore, anyone commenting in the WAI CG will be considered to offer these ideas as contributions to WAI documents. Organizations with IPR in areas related to WAI work under discussion in the WAI CG must disclose IPR as described in the W3C Process regarding IPR and W3C's IPR fact sheet. Invited experts are required to disclose IPR claims in the same manner as individuals from W3C Member organizations.

Last updated 18 June 2001 by Judy Brewer

Daniel Dardailler, Judy Brewer

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