W3C Developer Council Working Statement

This is a living document, it can/will change as we continue to work.

Aims

The Developer Council has two main aims:

1. Create an inclusive and welcoming space into the W3C.
2. Facilitate communication between working groups and web community. We want to ensure that those curious about the W3C and its inner workings have a space to ask questions, find out more and share feedback. We also want to encourage people making proposals for changes to the web to reach out to the web community for expertise and input.

Principles

Broad Participation

Not only developers who create and make the web. Recognise non-traditional technological expertise and centre the needs and expertise of designers, content creators, educators, and more.

Respect and support pre-existing communities practices.

Accessibility and Digital Equity

Barriers to full community engagement should be recognised and removed. This includes but is not limited to barriers due to disability, socio-economic status, education and skillset, as well as access to digital and material infrastructure.

Openness and Transparency

Open sharing of the work and the impact of the work with web communities, make space for further contributions. Make clear who is involved and why.

Ownership

There should be a mutual, non-extractive exchange of value Engaged communities should have ownership of the outcomes of their engagement with the W3C Developer Council and should be involved in determining the parameters of their engagement and decision-making mechanisms.

It's important to name and recognise power asymmetries and how these might influence ownership and self-determination for involved community groups.

Data Privacy, Consent and Autonomy

Respect individual and collective data autonomy, enable active consent. Consent looks like different things to different communities and it should be understood and implicitly given. Communities should be able to easily withdraw their consent and their participation at any time.

Communication

GitHub

We use GitHub to host our agendas, minutes and other related documents. Here is where we will also post and discuss agenda items (as issues) for public input.

Slack

We use Slack for asynchronous communication for topics not posted on GitHub, this can include event planning, action items and other various tasks.

Remote Meeting

We have monthly remote meetings on the fourth Thursday of the month (4pm GMT/11am EST/8am PST/12am JST). These meetings will be held via Google Meet or Zoom. These meetings are currently only open for the leadership team while we plan and organise.