How to Start a Community or Business Group

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Overview

Anyone with an account may propose a new group as follows:

  • Provide a title and short summary through a form.
  • Get four more people (or, for Business Groups, organizations) to support the group by pushing a button to show their support.
  • Then W3C launches the group
  • Then people join the group

Get an Account

A W3C account (public or Member) is required to propose a group, support a group, and join a group:

Propose a Group

Anyone may propose either type of group:

The FAQ explains similarities and differences between Community and Business Groups.

To propose a group you will need: 

* a name
* a short description
* a short string (which we use in URIs for the group's tools and home page)

For examples, see the list of current groups and list of proposed groups.

Get Support for the Group

For a community group, five individuals must support the group before W3C creates it. For a business group, five organizations must support it. In either case, people (representing themselves or their organizations) show support by pushing the button for that group that says "Yes, create community group" or "Yes, create business group." The button is available on the list of proposed groups but you must be logged in to see it. If you have already shown support for the group, the button is no longer available.

One way to build support for a group that you have proposed is through the W3C Forum.

Join the Group

Once W3C has created a group in response to community support, that group has a set of associated pages including a home page and list of participants. You will find a "Join this group" button on those pages. It is also possible to join groups through similar buttons on the Community and Business Group home page as well as from the list of current groups.

Please see the FAQ for information about joining a group.

Commitments made when joining a group

All participants (either as organizations or as individuals) must agree to the following policies in order to join a group:

Please see the FAQ for additional information about these agreements.

Relation to Invited Experts in Working Groups

There are no invited experts in Community Groups or Business Groups. Invited Experts in other W3C groups have existing accounts with W3C. When someone wishes to join a Community or Business Group W3C must gather additional information that was not required previously. This information relates to whether one owns the rights to contributions that might be made in a Community or Business Group (which are governed by the CLA). We update that information in all accounts that are neither Member nor Team accounts before people with existing accounts can join a Community or Business Group.

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