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This came up on www-talk@w..., but seems to have plenty of relevance here. Given that the W3C seems to see XML as a step toward the Semantic Web, these may be some critical issues for developers concerned with XML's relationships with web technologies. >Date: Sun, 13 May 2001 01:34:55 -0500 >Subject: TAG and WWW Architecture >From: Aaron Swartz <aswartz@s...> >To: <timbl@w...>, <process-issues@w...>, > "www talk w3.org" <www-talk@w...> >CC: "Simon St.Laurent" <simonstl@s...>, > "Roy T. Fielding" <fielding@e...>, FoRK <fork@k...> > >[ This letter is based upon the information given to me as a member of the >public at the recent W3C Technical Plenary. Notes from that are at: >http://logicerror.com/w3c-meeting-2001-2-28 ] > >The W3C is working on a proposal[1] for what they call a Technical >Architecture Group (TAG). The TAG will be like a working-group but remain >active throughout the life time of the W3C. Members will be voted on, and >the group will write recommendations and notes. In essence, the group will >decide and define Web architecture in private. I think this is an awful >decision for the future of the Web. > >In his dissertation[2], Roy Fielding thanks Tim Berners-Lee, not for >inventing the Web, but for making it "an open, collaborative project". He >describes how Web architecture was decided and defined, for the most part, >on this list (www-talk) and in public IETF working groups. > >TAG threatens to change all that by taking Web architecture behind closed >doors (W3C Members only) and have the W3C vote on the participants. In >effect, the Web itself would be proprietary, defined not by any one company, >but by their conglomeration at the W3C. It would mean the end of the open, >collaborative Web and instead allow things to be decided by the result of a >vote. > >Many people have contributed to the Web and can contribute. Not all of them >are W3C members, fewer are likely to be voted on to the TAG and even fewer >will serve their term when they are truly needed. By not allowing these >people (the vast majority of Web users!) to contribute to discussions about >Web architecture, the W3C is making a serious mistake. > >It saddens me enough that many important Working Groups conduct themselves >in private (thankfully many important ones remain public), however, taking >the entire Web architecture into this veil of privacy is a step too far. > >I insist that TAG not be created without adequate review by the Web >community at large, and the Web community must be allowed to take part in >TAG's process. I understand the desire for a small working group that can >get things done, but that must be balanced with the need of the Web >community to take part in major architectural decisions. I call upon other >users of the Web and members of the Web community to join me. > >This issue is so serious that I plead for the W3C not to enact the TAG in >its present form. To do so may be a blow from which the Web might never >fully recover. > >[1] http://www.w3.org/2001/02/12-tag >[2] http://www.ics.uci.edu/~fielding/pubs/fielding_diss.pdf >-- >[ Aaron Swartz | me@a... | http://www.aaronsw.com ] Simon St.Laurent - Associate Editor, O'Reilly & Associates XML Elements of Style / XML: A Primer, 2nd Ed. XHTML: Migrating Toward XML http://www.simonstl.com - XML essays and books
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