W3C Opens India Office during International Conference in New Delhi

http://www.w3.org/ — 3 May 2010 — As part of its efforts to ensure that core Web standards meet global needs, the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) announces today the opening of a new Office in India. The Office is hosted in New Delhi by the Technology Development for Indian Languages (TDIL) Programme, part of the India government's Department of Information Technology. W3C and TDIL will celebrate this collaborative effort at an opening ceremony on 6 May 2010, as part of a conference organized by TDIL on the topic of technology, standards and internationalization.

"We want to see the Web for All and Web on everything and help to lead the web to its full potential," Ms. Swaran Lata Director & Head, Human Centered Computing Division and Manager of the new W3C India Office. "We look forward to promoting W3C standards all over India in all twenty-two constitutionally recognized Indian languages, and welcome this opportunity to bring together people in India who are interested in participating in the development of the future Web."

"Increased participation from India will strengthen W3C's international community," said Jeff Jaffe, W3C CEO. "I look forward to partnering with TDIL so that we build the W3C community in India, including drawing Membership from key industrial and academic leaders. The upcoming conference is an important first step."

International Conference to Address Internationalization Challenges

Language diversity in India poses challenges to Web technology developers and users. To mark the opening of the new Office, TDIL has organized an international conference on 6-7 May in New Delhi: World Wide Web: Technology, Standards and Internationalization. Conference participants will discuss issues some of these challenges and how best to promote open standards participation and dissemination in India. The program begins with the formal opening of the new Office, then is followed by discussions on internationalization, mobile access, Web architecture, Semantic Web, Accessibility, and other areas of W3C work.

About Technology Development for Indian Languages Programme (TDIL)

Technology Development for Indian Languages (TDIL) programme, is a flagship programme of Department of Information Technology, Govt. of India involved in research, development, standardization and proliferation of Language Technology in India in twenty-two constitutionally recognized Indian languages. TDIL Programme is also associated with international standardization bodies like the Unicode Consortium and ELRA.

About the World Wide Web Consortium

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is an international consortium where Member organizations, a full-time staff, and the public work together to develop Web standards. W3C primarily pursues its mission through the creation of Web standards and guidelines designed to ensure long-term growth for the Web. Over 350 organizations are Members of the Consortium. W3C is jointly run by the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (MIT CSAIL) in the USA, the European Research Consortium for Informatics and Mathematics (ERCIM) headquartered in France and Keio University in Japan, and has additional Offices worldwide. For more information see http://www.w3.org/

Media Contacts

Contact Americas, Australia —

Ian Jacobs, <ij@w3.org>, +1.718.260.9447

Contact Europe, Africa and the Middle East —

Marie-Claire Forgue, <mcf@w3.org>, +33 6 76 86 33 41

Contact Asia —

Naoko Ishikura, <keio-contact@w3.org>, +81.466.49.1170