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How to to contribute to W3C work? Tutorials
We started a series about how you can contribute to W3C work. Last time, we have seen how to create and propose your own quick tips. This week, we will go a step further by looking at tutorials.
Specifications are for implementers
W3C is somehow victim of its openness. We published all Working Drafts of a technology in a public space. The specifications are freely downloadable by many different types of audiences. It creates friction and misunderstanding. The primary audience of W3C specifications is the developers community, people coding softwares.
There are expert users of the technology who do not develop a product implementing the technology but who are creating documents using the technology. This document will be viewed, parsed, processed by a product. These expert users need tutorials to understand and use the technology. Unfortunately, the W3C has not that much resources for developing materials in this category. Luckily enough, there are strong Web communities publishing materials online, writing books and giving examples. Sometimes a Working Group will publish a primer such as RDFa Primer on how to use microformats the RDF way in your pages. Most of the time there isn't a primer.
How to create your own tutorials.
You can write a tutorial. W3C has a list of tutorials. But too few. It would be cool if you could contribute more. If the topic is too big, split it and contribute by small pieces. When you have created a tutorial, please send it to public-evangelist@w3.org. We will help you to contact the appropriate Working Group and its staff contact. And we will see if your content can be added to W3C Web site. (There is no guarantee, it will be.)
Tutorials usually offer a very good exposure of your competences. It is good for your karma. The community will have a broader access to the technology. It makes the technology easier to learn specifically when it is still quite new.
Filed by Karl Dubost on June 13, 2007 7:30 AM in Tutorials, W3C Life
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Nicolas: when you say internationalized tutorial, do you mean translations?
There is already a list of tutorials and FAQ translations, which may be what you're looking for. Of course, before having more translations, it needs more tutorials...
Yes, I was talking about translations (sorry for my approximate english). Thank you for the link !
Good point. That's one of the reasons that I have started getsemantic.com - a wiki where you can put up details of semantic web projects and tutorials.
Thanks for very interesting article. btw. I really enjoyed reading all of your posts. It’s interesting to read ideas, and observations from someone else’s point of view… makes you think more. So please keep up the great work. Greetings.
I think a tutorial for, say, (X)HTML should go so basic as to explain what "<" and ">" do (begin and end a tag, respectively). A tutorial should also explain why one should use a doctype, what an element actually does, and so on. I am working on such a tutorial.
I think it is brilliant that you are allowing us to implement our own tutorials. Despite the other attractions this site has the main reason I come here now and did in the beginning was the tutorials. I believe they always have and always will be a major force driving traffic to this amazing community.
Many thanks, I'll have to begin working on one.
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A good point will be to provide internationalized tutorials, or some links.
I think for non-expert users it is essential and will prevent misunderstanding.
About tutorials: I think proposing some examples based on real life is a very good thing. A non-expert has not the same logic than an expert and give them a point of reference is essential.