At this month’s meeting, the ISOC Board of Trustees passed a resolution in support of the W3C‘s efforts to provide a more agile, inclusive, and flexible organizational structure in support of the Web community. The resolution approved an agreement for ISOC to provide the W3C staff expertise in complementary areas, as well as funding.
Raúl Echeberría, Chair of the Internet Society Board of Trustees, writes:
Dear Colleagues,
I would like to share directly with you more information about the Board’s decision.
First, a significant portion of ISOC’s mission can be described as working to keep the Internet Ecosystem healthy. ISOC and W3C have been partners in supporting the message of a global open Internet, and we have worked together to promote this vision. We expect the agreement to strengthen this collaboration.
Second, a main role of the W3C is to support the development and maintenance of Web-focused standards. The resolution makes particular note that the W3C’s standards process will continue to be independent. To be clear: ISOC’s support will not encumber W3C’s technical process.
Finally, this agreement does not affect other key ISOC programs and efforts. Specifically, it does not alter the relationship between ISOC and the IETF. Leadership of both the IETF and IAB were consulted in the process of the agreement’s development.
Both ISOC and W3C strongly believe that open standards are key to the Internet’s role as a platform for innovation around the world, and that this agreement broadens support for this belief. Both organizations will be in close consultation to ensure the agreement is meeting its intended aims. The full text of the resolution and a jointly-developed FAQ will be posted on the ISOC and W3C websites soon.
Sincerely,
Raúl Echeberría, Chair
Internet Society Board of Trustees
[Press Release – Dec 11 2009]
Internet Society and World Wide Web Consortium Strengthen Relationship to Help Ensure Open Global Internet
ISOC Donation to Support Evolution of W3C Organization
Reston, VA, USA and Geneva, Switzerland, and http://www.w3.org/ — 11 December 2009 — The Internet Society (ISOC) and the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) today announced a donation from ISOC for the purpose of advancing the evolution of W3C as an organization that creates open Web standards. Citing strongly aligned views on the value of an open global Internet and support for the current Internet governance and management model, the Internet Society pledged to support W3C efforts to implement a more agile, inclusive, and flexible organizational structure.
“ISOC and W3C have worked together for years in a number of areas, and have deeply shared values about the Internets development,” said Lynn St. Amour, President and CEO of the Internet Society. “Our support to the W3C in their transition efforts demonstrates ISOC’s commitment to ensuring the Internet continues to be a global platform for innovation. What’s at stake is the Internet’s openness, which is a critical enabler of new products and services to billions of users worldwide.”
The announcement reflects the two organizations’ shared aim of ensuring the continued growth and accessibility of the global Internet and Web, and stewardship responsibilities to ensure they continue to benefit users worldwide.
“ISOC and W3C have a long history of cooperation and the Internet ecosystem has benefited from our shared yet independent voices,” said Tim Berners-Lee, W3C Director. “The W3C staff, Members, and community continue to work on making W3C more relevant and valuable to the Web and Internet communities. ISOC support will allow W3C to evolve its structure to ensure we continue to forge solid working relationships with the increasing numbers of developers and users, worldwide.”
The two organizations will continue to operate independently, and will maintain their long-standing, informal collaboration. ISOC’s pledge of support is for three years, with both organizations working to ensure progress. A FAQ with additional information is available on both the ISOC site and the W3C site.
About the Internet Society
The Internet Society (ISOC) is a non-profit organization founded in 1992 to provide leadership in Internet related standards, education, and policy. ISOC is the organizational home of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), the Internet’s premier technical standards body. With offices in Washington, D.C., and Geneva, Switzerland, it is dedicated to ensuring the open development, evolution, and use of the Internet for the benefit of people throughout the world. For more information see http://www.isoc.org
About the World Wide Web Consortium
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is an international consortium where Member organizations, a full-time staff, and the public work together to develop Web standards. W3C primarily pursues its mission through the creation of Web standards and guidelines designed to ensure long-term growth for the Web. Over 350 organizations are Members of the Consortium. W3C is jointly run by the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (MIT CSAIL) in the USA, the European Research Consortium for Informatics and Mathematics (ERCIM) headquartered in France and Keio University in Japan, and has additional Offices worldwide. For more information see http://www.w3.org/
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