Comparison of Group Types
The following table compares some key elements of W3C group types. See also original design goals for the Community and Business Groups program.
| Working | Interest | Community | Business | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scope | Determined by Charter | Determined by Charter | Determined by scope statement | Application of technology to business context; requirements and use cases; input to standards process |
| Creation process | Team proposes charter to Membership | Team proposes charter to Membership | Proposal is complete | Proposal is complete and management approves resource allocation |
| Duration | Limited by charter, may be extended | Limited by charter, may be extended | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Primary Deliverable | Standards-track and supporting | Note (which may become a Statement) | Community Group Report (e.g., a technology innovation from a small set of developers). Community Groups Reports are not standards-track documents. | Business Group Report (e.g., use cases or requirements of a particular industry to be provided as input to a Working Group). Business Groups Reports are not standards-track documents. |
| Staff Contact | Yes | Yes | Not generally; but see W3C Team support for W3C Community Groups | Consulting role (e.g., share expertise, but not likely to attend meetings regularly). But determined by W3C Management on a case-by-case basis. |
| Other Staff Interactions | Background support and coordination | Background support and coordination (for some) | Monitoring, Outreach |
|
| Fee to participate or organize | Membership or Invited Expert (no fee) | Membership or Invited Expert (no fee) | None | Annual fees for non-Members |
| Confidentiality of activities | Public | Generally Public | Public | Public or non-Public |
| Patent Licensing Commitment for this Group’s Deliverables | Defined in Section 3 of W3C Patent Policy | No | Defined in section 3 of W3C Community Contributor License Agreement (CLA) or Final Specification Agreement | Defined in section 3 of W3C Community Contributor License Agreement (CLA) or Final Specification Agreement |
| Patent Disclosure Obligation | Defined in Section 6 of W3C Patent Policy | Defined in Section 6 of W3C Patent Policy | Defined in Section 6 of W3C Patent Policy; no new obligations under CLA/FSA | Defined in Section 6 of W3C Patent Policy; no new obligations under CLA/FSA |
| Copyright for documents | Specified in charter | Specified in charter | W3C Community Contributor License Agreement (CLA), Final Specification Agreement | W3C Community Contributor License Agreement (CLA), Final Specification Agreement or W3C Document License |
| Copyright for software | W3C Software License generally | W3C Software License generally | Group determines, but expectation is compatibility with Open Source Software Licenses. | Group determines, but expectation is compatibility with Open Source Software Licenses. |
| Chair selection | Appointed by Team | Appointed by Team | Group determines | Group determines |
| Access to Member site | For IEs depends on charter | For IEs Depends on charter | No | No |
| Decision-making based on consensus | Required | Required where applicable | Recommended where applicable | Recommended where applicable |
| Expectations regarding scope overlap with other groups | Actively avoided | Actively avoided | Acceptable but not recommended | Acceptable but not recommended |
Note: A previous version of this table included Incubator Groups, but W3C closed the Incubator Activity in 2012.