Headlights2014/Webizen

Name of idea

Create an individual Webizen program

Submitter name

Jeff Jaffe

Classification

This idea is (CHOOSE ONE):

• A new scope of work for W3C for an existing technology area (e.g. education, testing, validation, certification, profiles)

One Hundred Word Description of the Idea

It was proposed at TPAC that we should have an Individual Membership program at W3C. After some W3M discussion, we concluded that we did not want a program which conferred the participation rights of Membership to individuals, we were looking for a program where individuals could participate in the W3C technical community without the rights of Membership.

At this point, the question is whether to take the effort to explore creating such a "Webizen" program.

For such a program to work, we would need to confer benefits comparable to the Webizen fee. This is hard because much of what W3C provides (specs, CG participation, Unicorn, Web Docs) is free to users. Where we have "for pay" services (e.g. Premium Validator, DevCampus), a Webizen benefit could be a discount to these services. But that is not a significant enough benefit to attract Webizens at a fee of $100 per annum.

So to make this really work, we need to consider creating new services - not currently in W3C scope - to make this a worthwhile investment. Examples could be user groups, user conferences, consulting, Group Life Insurance, and publications.

This project asks whether it is worth our time exploring this.

Benefit(s) to Web or W3C

Substantially broadens our community

Which of our stakeholders would be the most enthusiastic in supporting

The general public.