W3C is seeking input from the wider community for appointment to the W3C Technical Architecture Group (TAG), having just released the election results. Please, do share this post within your organization or with friends and colleagues who might be interested.
Call to action
Following the W3C Process Document's rules for the TAG appointees, the W3C Team must complement the TAG election with actively seeking candidates for appointment to the TAG in order to support a diverse and well-balanced TAG, including diversity of technical background, knowledge, and skill sets.
This time, the W3C Team must appoint one individual. The term follows this election cycle and starts at appointment until 31 January 2027.
We have opened a mail address for an internal list that you can use to make suggestions for us to consider.
Please write by January 5, 2025 to our internal mailing list at nomination@w3.org to make suggestions, and tell us why. You may self-nominate or suggest other people. Please, be as specific but also as brief as you can.
Please, note two important aspects:
- The Process limits participation in the TAG to no more than one individual with a primary affiliation to a given organization. Affiliations of the individuals on the TAG are: Apple, Samsung, Alibaba, Google, Huawei and Mozilla.
- Appointees secure their own funding for TAG work, including travel.
Timeline
During the window spanning 17 December 2024 - 1 February 2025, suggestions are made to –and assessed by– the W3C Team (including seeking willingness and financial ability to serve from individuals), and the W3C Team's choice is then subject to ratification by secret ballots by both the W3C Advisory Board and the TAG itself.
Roles of the W3C TAG
The TAG was created in 2001 as a special W3C working group, chartered to steward the Web architecture. To do so, it fulfills 3 missions:
- to document and build consensus around principles of web architecture and to interpret and clarify these principles when necessary;
- to resolve issues involving general web architecture brought to the TAG;
- to help coordinate cross-technology architecture developments inside and outside W3C.
The TAG is part of the Horizontal Review Process and reviews a large number of specifications done at W3C and outside, even during their early stage.
The TAG and the W3C Advisory Board are also part of the W3C Council to help resolve objections on specifications.
To be successful in these roles, the TAG needs to be well-balanced in its composition and individuals's complementary skills are highly valued. Effective work on the TAG is done because people demonstrate particular skills and interests in the following areas: understanding of web architecture, design review, diplomacy, chairing skills, cultural/social diversity, technical writing and copy editing, deep/broad technical knowledge.
Participating as a TAG member
Individuals elected or appointed to TAG act in their personal capacity, to serve the needs of the W3C membership as a whole, and the Web community. Whether they are Member representatives or Invited Experts, their activities in those roles are separate and distinct from their activities on the TAG. The TAG participants use their best judgment to find the best solutions for the Web, not just for any particular network, technology, vendor, or user. The participation commitment for the TAG includes:
- one teleconference per week,
- three to four in-person meetings per year,
- participation in TAG mailing list discussions,
- participation at the two Advisory Committee meetings each year (encouraged, but not required).
