Mobile Access Interest Group Charter

Mission

The Mobile Access Interest Group (IG) is an Interest Group as defined by the W3C Process. The IG is part of the Device Independence Activity, in the Interaction domain.

The purpose of this IG is to provide a forum for interested people to discuss issues related to mobile Web access. The Mobile Access IG also helps the Device Independence WG with advice and opinion from a mobile-specific point of view. This charter itself and the discussion archives are open to the public.

Scope

The Mobile Access IG studies specific requirements for Web access with mobile terminals (mobile Web browser/server). For example,

HTML transcoding
Location dependent services
Device independent presentation/authoring

In addition, privacy and security of mobile devices are very important. The Web community has recognized that privacy and security issues are a fundamental part of the Web. The Mobile Access IG may also focus on mobile Web privacy. The topics may include:

Protection of personally identifiable information
Use of personally identifiable information on the Web from mobile terminals
Availability of location information
Transporting personal information through proxies

Background

A wide range of people and organizations are interested in the mobile access technology area, from hardware manufacturers to software companies, communication service providers and content providers. A W3C Workshop on Mobile Access was held in April 1998, in Tokyo. This Workshop led to the creation of the Mobile Access Activity and the Mobile Access Interest Group.

This will be the third time that the W3C has chartered an IG for Mobile Access. In June 1998, the Mobile Access IG was created, initially with a duration of one year. The IG was rechartered for another year in June 1999. First 2 times, the IG was a Member only group. The Mobile Access IG held a Joint W3C-WAP Forum workshop on "Position dependent information services", at INRIA, Sophia Antipolis, France in 15-16 February, 2000. The Mobile Access IG has also produced the following deliverables.

WAP Forum - W3C Cooperation White Paper: Editors: Johan Hjelm, Bruce Martin, Peter King; Status: Published as a W3C Note on 30 October, 1998
Composite Capability/Preference Profiles (CC/PP): A user side framework for content negotiation: Editors: Franklin Reynolds, Johan Hjelm, Spencer Dawkins, Sandeep Singhal; Status: First published as a W3C Note on 30 November, 1998. Updated version was published on 27 July, 1999. As a result CC/PP WG has been created.
CC/PP exchange protocol based on HTTP Extension Framework: Editors: Hidetaka Ohto, Johan Hjelm; Status: First published as a W3C Note on 29 January, 1999. Updated version was published on 23 April, 1999. Current version was published on 24 June, 1999.
HTML 4.0 Guidelines for Mobile Access: Editors: Tomihisa Kamada, Takuya Asada, Masayasu Ishikawa, Shin'ichi Matsui; Status: Published as a W3C Note on 15 March, 1999.

Criteria for Success

If the IG is successful, it serves as a forum for interested people who are expected to describe and summarize the requirements for W3C technologies, Recommendations, or other standards needed to provide mobile device service. The summary of discussion may play critical role in giving inputs into the issues handled by Device Independence WG.

Duration

The Group will exist for one year, from February 2001 to the end of January 2002.

Relationship with other Groups

The group will have to maintain contacts with many other Groups within W3C. To mention the most important ones:

Device Independence WG: The Mobile Access IG has to help the Device Independence WG with advice from mobile-specific point of view.
CC/PP WG: This WG is developing specifications for content negotiation. CC/PP is very important for mobile devices. The Mobile Access IG should pay attention to the CC/PP WG very carefully.
XHTML WG: The Mobile Access IG has to pay attention to the direction of XHTML carefully.
XML CG: XML can be the base format for many mobile access Web applications.
CSS WG, XSL WG: Style sheets are very important to realize both scalability among mobile terminals as well as interoperability with the Web in general.
Internationalization WG/ IG: The Mobile Access IG has to take into consideration the requirements for internationalization, because mobile terminals can easily go beyond borders.
P3P WG: Privacy of mobile device information (e.g., location) is very important. The IG has to take into account the P3P WG for mobile Web privacy.
WAICG: The goal of the WAI work is to achieve universal Web access. The IG focuses on universal access for mobile devices.

Cooperation with Internationalization and WAI is also important from the viewpoint of guidelines for other standards and Recommendations.

Deliverables

The IG may be asked to review draft deliverables from the Device Independence WG. The IG may also give input to the other WGs through the W3C staff contact when the chair of the IG recognizes them as important. When the IG produces deliverables, the chair of the IG and the Team contact staff are responsible for ensuring the consistency of the deliverables between the Device Independence WG and the IG.

The Mobile Access IG can produce deliverables in the form of mail, W3C Notes, or Working Drafts when the IG finds evidence of sufficient Member benefits in work items.

Confidentiality

This charter itself and the discussion archives are open to the public.

Meeting and Communication

The primary forum for the Mobile Access IG discussion is the Mobile Access IG mailing list, www-mobile@w3.org. The mailing list and archive are publicly accessible. There will be no telephone conferences.

The face-to-face meetings may be held in conjunction with other W3C meetings or with events where the IG members of W3C Member organizations gather (e.g., IETF, WAP Forum meetings). Depending on the venue, participants may be limited to W3C Member organizations and invited experts only. The Mobile Access IG expects to hold face-to-face meetings twice a year.