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Independent User Interface Task Force Work Statement

Independent User Interface Task Force is a joint task force of the Independent User Interface Working Group (Indie UI WG) and the Web Events Working Group. It assists these Working Groups with the work identified below.

• Status
• Objective
• Scope of Work
• Work Approach
• Participation
• Facilitation
• Participants

Status

This work statement has been accepted by the Indie UI WG and the Web Events WG. The task force is active.

Objective

The objective of the Independent User Interface Task Force is to develop Indie UI: Events 1.0, Indie UI: User Context 1.0, and related supporting materials. These are joint deliverables of the Indie UI WG and the Web Events WG.

Scope of Work

The task force combines participation from the Indie IU WG and the Web Events WG to work on deliverables of importance to both groups. Accordingly, the Independent User Interface Task Force operates under the Indie UI WG charter and the Web Events WG charter. The task force assists the groups on the following deliverables:

• Indie UI: Events 1.0, an abstraction between device-specific user interaction events and inferred user intent such as scroll, activate, etc. This provides an intermediate layer between device- and modality-specific user interaction events, and the basic user interface functionality used by Web applications. Indie UI: Events focuses on granular user interface interactions such as scrolling the view, canceling an action, changing the value of a user input widget, selecting a range, placing focus on an object, etc. Implementing platforms will take modality-specific user input, user idiosyncratic heuristics to determine the specific corresponding Indie UI event, and send that to the Web application (along with details of the modality-specific input such as mouse or keyboard events should applications wish to process it).
• Indie UI: User Context 1.0, a set of properties and methods related to the environmental context of a specific user, and a vehicle to access them to facilitate a Web application's ability to adapt to the user's needs. This is meant to provide information about whether a user is using a screen reader, screen magnifier, or other Assistive Technology, and to expose relevant user settings, allowing optimal adaptation of the Web application's user interface. This has important privacy implications because the information exposed may imply facts about the user's disability, which can be socially or legally problematic if misused. These issues are important to resolve and the group will consult with the Privacy Interest Group and Web Application Security Working Group to help ensure these issues are fully addressed.

In addition to the above deliverables, the Task Force may assist in the preparation of supporting materials such as requirements, primers and best practices, and test materials.

The task force is the entity that will perform the primary work on the above deliverables. The Task Force does not, however, represent consensus of either of the sponsoring Working Groups. Publication of Technical Reports and other activities that formally impact the chartered scope of the WGs must be approved and executed by both Working Groups, not by the task force. Either WG may send material back to the Task Force for further refinement.

Work approach

Independent User Interface Task Force communications are publicly visible. Communication mechanisms for Independent User Interface Task Force include:

1. E-mail discussion takes place on the Task Force's list public-indie-ui@w3.org (public-indie-ui archive).
2. Bi-weekly (or more frequently, as needed) teleconferences; minutes from the teleconferences are sent to the mailing list.
3. Face to face meetings, expected to be one per year.
4. Discussion in IRC irc.w3.org:6665 channel #indie-ui. IRC will be utilized for taking minutes during Task Force teleconferences and will not be utilized as a primary discussion channel during teleconferences.
5. Issues and actions are tracked in Tracker.
6. Draft materials may be prepared by task force participants in the wiki. The wiki starting page contains current information about the activity of the task force. Currently the task force is focused on refining use cases and requirements.
7. Web-based surveys (WBS) may be used to collect feedback and test consensus.
8. The editors' source and test resources are stored in the Mecurial repository.
9. Task Force Facilitators MAY form subteams (composed of Task Force participants) to carry out assignments for the Task Force. The scope of these assignments will NOT exceed the scope defined herein for this Task Force. The Task Force will document the process it uses to create subteams (e.g., each subteam might have an informal "Work Statement").

Participation

Any member of either the Indie UI WG or the Web Events WG may participate in the Independent User Interface Task Force. The deliverables of the task force are covered by the Patent Policy for the Indie UI WG and the Patent Policy for the Web Events WG. These are the only shared deliverables, and joining the task force via one WG does not create an obligation to the Patent Policy requirements for other deliverables in the other WG.

Participants are expected to actively contribute to the work of Independent User Interface Task Force, including:

1. 2 to 4 hours per week of Independent User Interface Task Force work;
2. Remain current on the Independent User Interface Task Force mailing list and respond in a timely manner to postings;
3. Participation in telephone meetings is highly encouraged. Regrets are expected from members of the group that have active roles e.g. Editors, Chair, Team Contact, etc. or commitments e.g. members with Open Actions. Regrets from other group participants are optional.

Contact Michael Cooper or Doug Schepers to become a participant of Independent User Interface Task Force or with questions.

Members of the public who are not covered by the W3C Patent Policy can send input to the public-indie-ui-comments mailing list [public-indie-ui-comments archive]. Messages should clearly indicate the deliverable to which they are related.

Facilitation

Staff contacts from the respective WGs oversee attention to W3C Process with respect to the chartered requirements of the respective WGs. The Facilitators set agenda, lead meetings, determine consensus, and are the primary liaison to the WGs.

• Facilitators: Janina Sajka
• IndieUI WG Staff Contact: Michael Cooper
• Web Events WG Staff Contact: Doug Schepers

Participants

The task force participants list is maintained in the W3C group database.

Document Information

Status: Updated 31 January 2013

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