Extensible Web Avengers, Assemble!
In 2012, two things happened: First, a group of some of the world’s mightiest heroes came together on screen to save the world — The Avengers. Second, a group of some of the Web’s mightiest ran for the W3C Technical Architecture Group (TAG) on a slate to reform Web standards, explain Platform and save the Web. Coincidence? I think not…
If you're not familiar with it: In 2001, the W3C formed “The Technical Architecture Group” or TAG — a sort of steering committee elected by membership to oversee the larger architecture of the Web Platform. Initially, it played a visible and important role, but for a long time it was effectively “lost” and we entered a dark age, in which it became relatively uninteresting and unknown. Development of HTML broke off into the WHATWG and for a while, W3C efforts and the larger organization itself for seemed to be struggling with its own relevance. But then one day, a new hope arose…
“And there came a day, a day unlike any other, when Earth’s mightiest heroes and heroines found themselves united against a common threat. On that day, the Avengers were born — to fight the foes no single superhero could withstand! Through the years, their roster has prospered, changing many times, their glory has never been denied! Heed the call, then — for now, the Avengers Assemble!” — prologue from 1970's era Marvel Avengers.
From their victory, a new TAG was born. A better TAG. And like the proverbial domino falling, this event has played a role in helping a lot more to happen too. The Extensible Web Manifesto, co-authored/co-signed by 4 of those newly elected Avengers…er…members, laid down a basic vision for change that has re-focused all of Web standards. The TAG began to reach out and work with ECMA TC-39 (the group in charge of standardizing the next version of JavaScript) and the IETF (the group in charge of standardizing HTTP2). They did reviews of drafts from numerous groups and helped re-focus designs on the underlying systems and commonalities. They helped organize meetups and the TAG began talking to and listening to developers. And other things fell in line too — the W3C Advisory Board began to take on a similar reform effort, reforms and the Extensible Web in particular were the talk of this year’s TPAC (annual W3C gathering).
But, like the Avengers coming together to face a seemingly never-ending array of ultra-bad guys, an effort to change something the scale of the Web isn't about a single battle, it’s a long war. It’s exhausting. Battles leave scars. And, believe it or not, superheroes want to have lives too. That’s why over the 60 or so years since Stan Lee and Marvel introduced the Avengers, the roster and even leadership has constantly shifted. Similarly, the membership of the W3C TAG changes with each new election, and once again, it’s time to choose next year’s members. We have a good heroes to choose from: There are six excellent candidates for 4 seats.
Assemble 2015
I'd like to make the case for a particular lineup of heroes for what I think could be this year’s blockbuster smash…
- Alex Russell. Let’s bring him back. He was an Extensible Web Avenger founding member pushed out by a rules technicality and unable to complete his term, and he'll be the only original left. Smart like Tony Stark, leadership qualities like Captain America, TC-39 Member who works on the Google Chrome team. I'm not going to take this Avengers thing much further here, but in many ways, you can credit his ideas and tenacity as key ingredients us to getting this far.
- Mark Nottingham. Elected just a few months ago in a special mid-term election to fill Alex’s vacant seat, he’s proven a great asset already. He’s the chair of the HTTP WG in IETF, an excellent liaison, super smart, personable and he gets things done. Let’s re-elect him.
- Travis Leithead. Also ran for Alex’s vacated seat, but we had to make a really tough choice with two great candidates for one seat. Now we can get all three! Also a TC-39 Champion, works on the IE team. Travis has a great understanding of the platform and has been involved in a whole lot of the efforts that made it an increasingly competitive browser again and bring Microsoft back to the table. Travis could be a powerful add.
- Yan Zhu. Something the TAG and the Extensible Web sorely needs: Someone with a strong focus on security. From the security team at Yahoo and former EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) engineer, Yan’s background, open source work and positive working relationships make her a must-get for the team as we continue to refocus efforts toward uncovering the lower layers of the Web Platform.
You can read more of their own statements (and all candidates) at http://www.w3.org/2014/12/01-tag-nominations.
Combined with the members we have left on TAG like Dave Herman and special agents Dan Appelquist and Peter Linss, this could be a powerful force for good.
I’m in! How do I vote?!
Ok, now for what will seem like a punchline: Chances are, you don't actually even get a vote — only one AC member representative from each W3C member org actually gets to cast a formal vote. That’s a different problem, and one we're also working on…
BUT — the past two years has shown us that normal people showing their support and asking members to vote with us has had good effect — every single election, it’s worked. So, if you support these heroes — tell someone! If you know someone who works for a member, email them! If not, just tweet it, blog about it, share it on facebook — believe it or not, people are listening and they know that ultimately the Web depends on people like us believing in it and rooting for a vision to succeed.
In short, make a little noise and make sure you're heard — let’s do this #tag2015 #extendthewebforward.
