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<h1 class="title">Facts About W3C</h1>
<ul class="w3c_toc"><li class="toc_prefix">On this page → </li><li><a href="#people">people of W3C</a><span class="bullet"> • </span></li><li><a href="#org">organizational structure</a><span class="bullet"> • </span></li><li><a href="#revenue">revenue model</a><span class="bullet"> • </span></li><li><a href="#international">international participation</a><span class="bullet"> • </span></li><li><a href="#process">process</a><span class="bullet"> • </span></li><li><a href="#patpol">patent policy</a><span class="bullet"> • </span></li><li><a href="#history">history</a></li></ul>
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<p class="intro tPadding">
The World Wide Web Consortium achieves its <a href="mission">mission</a> by bringing diverse stake-holders
together, under a clear and effective consensus-based process to develop
<a href="/standards/">high-quality standards</a> based on contributions from the W3C Members, staff, and the community at large.
</p>
<h2 id="people">People of W3C</h2>
<p style="float: right" class="lPadding tPadding">
<a class="imageLink" href="http://www.w3.org/2008/10/w3cteam">
<img src="/2008/10/team-photo-small.jpg" alt="W3C Team" />
</a>
</p>
<p>W3C is led by <a href="/People/Berners-Lee">Tim Berners-Lee</a>, inventor of the World Wide Web, and <a href="/People/Jeff/">Dr. Jeffrey Jaffe, W3C CEO.</a> They are supported by a <a href="/People/all">staff</a> of technical experts who help coordinate technology development and manage the operations of the Consortium.</p>
<p>
<a href="/Consortium/Member/List">W3C Members</a> and invited experts from the public provide energy to the <a href="/Consortium/activities">groups</a> that write <a href="/standards/">W3C's Web standards</a>.</p>
<p>The broader Web community also plays an important
role in reviewing and providing input on specifications; there are many ways to <a href="/participate">participate</a> in W3C even
as an individual.</p>
<h2 id="org">Organizational Structure</h2>
<p>W3C does not have a typical organizational structure, nor is it incorporated. There are at least two ways to think about how W3C is organized:</p>
<ol class="show_items"><li>in administrative terms</li><li>in process terms</li></ol>
<p>In administrative terms: W3C is administered via a joint agreement among three "Host Institutions" (<a href="http://www.csail.mit.edu/">
<acronym title="Massachusetts Institute of Technology">MIT</acronym>
</a>, <a href="http://www.ercim.org/">
<acronym title="European Research Consortium for Informatics and Mathematics">ERCIM</acronym>
</a>, and <a href="http://www.keio.ac.jp/">Keio University</a>).
The <a href="/People/">W3C staff</a> (many of
whom work physically at one of these institutions) is led by a Director and CEO.
A small <a href="/People/domain?domain=Management">management team</a> is responsible for resource allocation and strategic planning on behalf of the staff. Regional <a href="/Consortium/Offices">offices</a> play an important role in W3C being an <a href="#international">international organization</a>.
</p>
<p>In process terms: the <a href="/Consortium/Process">W3C Process Document</a>, <a href="/2005/03/Member-Agreement">Member Agreement</a>, <a href="/Consortium/Patent-Policy-20040205/">Patent Policy</a>, and a few others documents establish the roles and responsibilities of the parties involved in the making of W3C standards. Some key components of the organization are:</p>
<ul class="show_items"><li>the <a href="/2005/10/Process-20051014/organization.html#AC">Advisory Committee</a>, composed of one representative
from each <a href="/Consortium/Member/List">W3C Member</a>. The Advisory Committee has a number of review roles
in the W3C Process, and they elect the Advisory Board and TAG.</li><li>the <a href="/2005/10/Process-20051014/organization.html#AB">Advisory Board</a>, an advisory body elected by the Advisory Committee</li><li>the <a href="/2005/10/Process-20051014/organization.html#TAG">Technical Architecture Group (TAG)</a>, which primarily seeks to document Web Architecture principles</li><li>the W3C Director and CEO, who assess consensus for W3C-wide decisions</li><li>the <a href="/Consortium/activities">chartered groups</a>, populated by Member representatives and invited experts, and which produce most of W3C's deliverables according to the steps of the W3C Process.</li></ul>
<h2 id="revenue">Revenue Model</h2>
<p>W3C sources of revenue include:</p>
<ul class="show_items"><li>
<a href="/Consortium/fees">W3C Member dues</a>
</li><li>
<a href="/Consortium/nmfunds">Research grants and other sources of private and public funding</a>
</li><li>Individual donations of money and equipment through the
<a href="/Consortium/sup">W3C Supporters Program</a> and
the <a href="/QA/Tools/Donate">Validator Donation Program</a>
</li></ul>
<h2 id="international">International Participation</h2>
<p>Organizations <a href="/Consortium/Member/stats">located all over the world</a> and involved in many different
fields join W3C to participate in a vendor-neutral forum for the creation of
Web standards. <a href="/Consortium/Member/List">W3C Members</a> and a dedicated <a href="/People/">full-time staff of technical experts</a> have earned W3C
international recognition for its contributions to the Web.
W3C's global efforts includes:</p>
<ul class="show_items"><li>
<a href="/2001/11/StdLiaison">liaisons</a> with national,
regional and international organizations around the globe. These contacts
help W3C maintain a culture of global participation in the development of the
World Wide Web. W3C coordinates particularly closely with other organizations
that are developing standards for the Web or Internet in order to enable
clear progress.</li>
<li>The <a href="/Consortium/Offices">Offices Program</a>,
which promotes adoption of W3C recommendations among developers, application builders, and standards setters, and encourage inclusions of stakeholder organizations in the creation of future standards by joining W3C.</li>
<li>
<a href="Translation/Overview.html">translations</a> of
<a href="/standards/">Web standards</a> and other materials
from dedicated volunteers in the W3C community. W3C also has a
<a href="/2005/02/TranslationPolicy.html">policy for authorized
translations</a> of W3C materials. Authorized W3C Translations can be used for official purposes in languages other than English.</li><li>
<a href="/Talks/">talks</a> around the world in a variety of languages
on Web standards by people closely involved in the creation of
the standards.</li><li>
<a href="/International/">W3C's Internationalization Activity</a> helps ensure that the Web is available to people.</li></ul>
<h2 id="process">Process</h2>
<p>Most W3C work revolves around the standardization of Web
technologies. To accomplish this work, W3C follows
<a href="/Consortium/Process/">processes</a> that
promote the development of high-quality standards based on community
<strong>consensus</strong>; an
<a href="/2005/10/Process-20051014/intro">introduction to the W3C Process</a>
gives a sense of how W3C gets work done.
<strong>All stakeholders</strong> can have a voice in the
development of W3C standards, including Members large and small, as well as
the public. W3C processes promote fairness, responsiveness, and
progress: all facets of the W3C <a href="mission">mission</a>.</p>
<p>In August 2011, W3C created <a href="http://www.w3.org/community/">Community and Business Groups</a> with a lighter-weight <a href="http://www.w3.org/community/about/agreements/">process</a> to promote innovation.</p>
<p>See also <a href="/Consortium/Legal/">W3C legal and policy information</a>.</p>
<h2 id="patpol">Patent Policy</h2>
<p>In February 2004, W3C adopted a <a href="http://www.w3.org/Consortium/Patent-Policy-20040205/">Patent Policy</a> for Working Groups
to enable continued innovation and widespread adoption of Web standards
developed by the World Wide Web Consortium. The W3C Patent Policy
is designed to:</p>
<ul class="show_items"><li>Facilitate the development of W3C Recommendations by W3C Working
Groups;</li><li>Promote the widespread implementation of those Recommendations on a Royalty-Free (RF) basis;</li><li>Address issues related to patents that arise during and after the
development of a Recommendation.</li></ul>
<p>In August 2011, W3C adopted a <a href="http://www.w3.org/community/about/agreements/cla/">Community Contributor License Agreement</a> with Royalty-Free patent licensing terms and permissive copyright for <a href="/community/">W3C Community and Business Groups</a>. See also the <a href="http://www.w3.org/community/about/agreements/final/">Final Specification Agreement</a>, which further increases patent protection around Community and Business Group Specifications.</p>
<p>More resources</p>
<ul class="show_items"><li>
<a href="/2003/12/22-pp-faq.html">Patent Policy FAQ</a>
</li><li>
<a href="/2004/01/pp-impl/fact-sheet">Fact Sheet</a> (who has made commitments for the standards
created under the policy)</li><li>
<a href="/2004/02/05-patentsummary.html">Policy Summary</a>
</li><li>
<a href="/2004/03/pp-points-20040210.html">Business Benefits</a>
</li></ul>
<h2 id="history">History</h2>
<p class="tPadding">In 1989, <a href="/People/Berners-Lee/">Tim Berners-Lee</a> invented the
World Wide Web (see the <a href="http://www.w3.org/History/1989/proposal.html">original proposal</a>).
He coined the term "World Wide Web," wrote the first World Wide Web server,
"httpd," and the first client program (a browser and editor), "WorldWideWeb,"
in October 1990. He wrote the first version of the "HyperText Markup
Language" (<acronym>HTML</acronym>), the document formatting language with
the capability for hypertext links that became the primary publishing format
for the Web. His initial specifications for URIs, HTTP, and HTML were refined
and discussed in larger circles as Web technology spread. </p>
<div style="float:left">
<p>
<a href="/2004/09/W3C10.html">
<img class="w3c_image" src="/2004/12/W3C10-Photos/Set.jpg" width="300" height="225" alt="Some of the individuals involved in the creation of the Web and of W3C recount key events at the Tenth Anniversary Celebration of W3C" />
</a>
<br />
<a href="/2004/09/W3C10.html">W3C10</a> panel recounts early Web history.</p>
</div>
<p>In October 1994, Tim Berners-Lee founded the World
Wide Web Consortium (W3C) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
Laboratory for Computer Science [MIT/LCS] in collaboration with <a href="http://www.cern.ch/">CERN</a>, where the Web originated (see
information on the <a href="http://www.w3.org/Daemon/">original CERN
Server</a>), with support from DARPA and the <a href="http://europa.eu.int/">European Commission</a>. In April 1995, <a href="http://www.inria.fr/">INRIA
(Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et Automatique)</a> became
the first European W3C host, followed by <a href="http://www.keio.ac.jp/">Keio University of Japan</a> (Shonan Fujisawa
Campus) in Asia in 1996.
In 2003, <a href="http://www.ercim.org/">ERCIM
(European Research Consortium in Informatics and Mathematics)</a> took over
the role of European W3C Host from INRIA.</p>
<div class="line" style="clear: left">
<div class="unit size1on2">
<h3>More history resources</h3>
<ul class="show_items"><li>
<a href="/News/archive">W3C News Archive</a>
</li><li>
<a href="/Press/">Press Release Archive</a>
</li><li>
<a href="/TR/tr-date-stds.html">W3C Standards by Date</a>
</li><li>
<a href="/2004/09/W3C10.html">W3C's Tenth Anniversary</a>
</li><li>
<a href="/History.html">A Little Web History</a>
</li></ul>
</div>
<div class="unit size1on2 lastUnit">
<p>
<a href="http://www.w3.org/2005/01/timelines/timeline-2500x998.png">
<img class="w3c_image" src="/2005/01/timelines/timeline-thumbnail.png" alt="W3C time line" />
</a>
</p>
<p>
<a href="/2004/09/W3C10.html">W3C10</a> Time Line Graphic<br />
(<a href="http://www.w3.org/2005/01/timelines/">other formats</a> and <a href="http://www.w3.org/2005/01/timelines/description">description</a>)</p>
</div>
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<div class="unit size1on4 lastUnit w3c_rhs">
<h2 class="h4 category">W3C Community</h2>
<ul class="theme right-list">
<li><a href="/People/">Staff</a></li>
<li><a href="/Consortium/Offices">Offices Program</a></li>
<li><a href="/Consortium/Member/List">W3C Members</a></li>
<li><a href="/community/">Community and Business Groups</a></li>
<li><a href="/2004/01/pp-impl/">Group Participation</a></li>
</ul>
<h2 class="h4 category">Reference Documents</h2>
<ul class="theme right-list"><li>
<a href="/Consortium/Process">Process Document</a>
</li><li>
<a href="/Consortium/Patent-Policy-20040205/">Patent Policy</a>
</li><li>
<a href="/2005/03/Member-Agreement">Member Agreement</a>
</li><li>
<a href="/Consortium/Legal/">Policies and Legal</a>
</li></ul>
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