W3C
W3C is the acronym for World Wide Web Consortium and represents an international community where web standards are being developed by the staff hired as well as by the public that works together. [1]
Short overview edit
The mission of W3C is yo lead the WWW at its full potential by means of the development of protocols and guidelines for long-term growth of WWW. This international community allows anyone and anywhere to share information. The W3C sustains participation, involvement, sharing knowledge and building trust at global level.
The w3C was founded in 1994 by Tim Berners-Lee and this international community enjoys the support of many key industries and organizations.
W3C standards edit
The main web standards developed by W3C were HTML in 1997 and XMl in 1998. There are many recommendations which belong to W3C from previous technologies which proove the promise of a " Semantic Web". [2] Since the creation of W3C the working groups of this international community developed more than 90 standards which are referred according to w3C as "Recommendations". Each of these recommendations must pass through a set of stages which is known as the '"Recommendation Track" which involves: review, reformulation and finally implementation. [3]
Each of these recommendations were developed by working groups which consist of up to 15 W3C members which have experience in the field.
A recommendation must pass through the following steps ( also called maturity levels):
- Working draft
- Last call for working draft
- Implementation call
- Call for review of proposed recommendation
- W3C recommendation
W3C members edit
The overall Director of W3C is Tim Berners-Lee and stay in touch with all the interns who are involved in W3C activities. Tim Berners-Lee is also part of a management which consists of 67 members. [4]
On a yearly basis, W3C attracts over 11 million visitors and in August 2009 there were 322 member organizations. Most of members are non-profit organizations, governmental entities, other types of businesses and individuals. In order to become a W3C member the application will be reviewed and approved by W3C.
Even if the W3C membership is not created for individual membership but individuals are encouraged and invited to get involved in mailings lists (the methods through which the working groups operate) and workshops.
In order to become a W3C member there are some fees depending on the geographical sensitivity. But in the case of small companies, the membership W3C may be rather expensive. [5]