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<h1>Semantic Web Interest Group Charter</h1>

<p style="font-size: 120%; font-style: italic"><strong>Note:</strong> This is
the charter for the Semantic Web Interest Group (formerly the RDF Interest
Group). This document supersedes the Interest Group's <a
href="/RDF/IGcharter">previous Charter</a> but it is also made obsolete by
the new SW Activity started in July 2006, in favour of the <a
href="http://www.w3.org/2006/07/swig-charter">current SW IG charter</a>.</p>

<blockquote>
  <em>Per section <a
  href="http://www.w3.org/2003/06/Process-20030618/groups.html#GAGeneral">6
  Working Groups, Interest Groups, and Coordination Groups</a> of the W3C
  Process, this charter, and any changes to it, take effect by way of an
  announcement to the W3C Membership via <a
  href="http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Member/w3c-ac-members/">w3c-ac-members</a>.</em></blockquote>

<h2>About</h2>

<p>The Semantic Web Interest Group is designed as a forum to support
developers and users of Semantic Web technologies such as RDF and OWL. The
group in particular serves to help developers create vocabularies and
applications to support a Web data marketplace combining harvesting,
syndication, metadata and Web Service techniques.</p>

<h2 class="toc">Table of Contents</h2>
<ol>
  <li><a href="#Mission">Mission statement</a></li>
  <li><a href="#Scope">Scope of the work</a></li>
  <li><a href="#Deliverables">Deliverables</a></li>
  <li><a href="#Coordination">Coordination with other Activities and
    Groups</a></li>
  <li><a href="#meetings">Meetings and Discussion fora</a></li>
  <li><a href="#membership">Membership</a></li>
  <li><a href="#Communications">Communication and Confidentiality</a></li>
  <li><a href="#Duration">Duration</a></li>
  <li><a href="#Ipr">Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)</a></li>
  <!--  <li><a href="#Home">Home Page</a></li>-->
  <li><a href="#Contact">Contact</a></li>
</ol>

<h2><a id="Mission" name="Mission"></a></h2>

<h2>1. Mission statement</h2>

<p>The Semantic Web <a
href="http://www.w3.org/2003/06/Process-20030618/groups.html#GroupsIG">Interest
Group</a> is a forum for W3C Members and non-Members to discuss innovative
Semantic Web applications. The group will focus primarily on applications of
the <a href="/RDF">Resource Description Framework</a> technology (including
<a href="/2001/sw/WebOnt/">OWL</a>), on potential future work items related
to RDF, and the relationship of that work to other activities of W3C and to
the broader social and legal context in which the Web is situated.</p>

<p>The Semantic Web Interest Group will host discussions of both
architectural/systems issues and application (e.g. <a
href="/TandS">T&amp;S</a>) interests; it is a forum for developers and users
of Semantic Web technology. The group is a continuation of the earlier RDF
Interest Group, and as such continues to provide a forum for everyone
interested in storing, exchanging, searching, and using metadata.</p>

<p>The Semantic Web Interest Group also considers a number of areas addressed
previously by the <a href="/PICS">PICS</a> initiative. Specifically, the
Interest Group will explore the application of W3C metadata technology in the
context of the social, legal, and technological issues surrounding Internet
content selection, filtering, labelling, signing, quality assurance etc.</p>

<p>Other topics in scope for the Interest Group include RDF query in the
context of the <a href="/DesignIssues/Semantic">Semantic Web roadmap</a>,
intellectual property rights, <a href="/P3P">P3P</a>, and <a
href="/ECommerce">electronic commerce</a>. Work items from other fora may be
brought to the attention of the Interest Group for comment; in particular,
the <a href="/TR/NOTE-CCPP/">CC/PP</a> vocabulary describing client
capability and user preferences.</p>

<p>An important function of the Interest Group is information sharing within
and between application communities. Conference announcements and
post-conference reviews to the Interest Group mailing list help advise W3C
staff where the W3C might most effectively allocate resources.</p>

<h2><a id="Scope" name="Scope"></a>2. Scope of the work</h2>

<p>The Semantic Web Interest Group is designed as a forum to support
developers and users of Semantic Web technologies such as RDF and OWL. The
group in particular serves to help developers create vocabularies and
applications to support a Web data marketplace combining harvesting,
syndication, metadata and Web Service techniques.</p>

<p>Semantic Web developers are already collaborating on vocabularies for
areas such as Sitemaps, robots.txt, RSS, Dublin Core, FOAF, favicon;
syntactic inclusion and association of metadata etc. The Interest Group
provides a forum to support such collaborative vocabulary development,
through the use of email discussion, scheduled topical chats (using IRC),
Wiki and Weblog tools.</p>

<h2><a id="Deliverables" name="Deliverables">3. Deliverables</a></h2>

<p>As an Interest Group, the Semantic Web Interest Group does not develop
specifications or code, and, as a body, it does not have a specific set of
deliverables. The Interest Group may be asked to review Last Call Working
Drafts and Proposed Recommendations. The Interest Group may also make
proposals to other W3C Groups through the W3C Team contact when there is
evidence of sufficient Member interest in a work item.</p>

<p>The Interest Group may work on (non recommendation-track) <a
href="http://www.w3.org/2003/06/Process-20030618/tr.html#Reports">W3C
technical reports</a>, for publication as 'Interest Group Notes'.</p>

<h2><a id="Coordination" name="Coordination">4. Coordination with other
Activities and Groups</a></h2>

<p>Informal coordination is done via the Interest Group's mailing lists. More
formal coordination is done within the Semantic Web Coordination Group. The
Chair is a member of the <a href="/2001/sw/CG/">W3C Semantic Web Coordination
Group</a> (W3C <a href="/Member/">member</a> only).</p>

<p>Discussion of Web Service applications and technology is welcome within
the Semantic Web Interest Group, however detailed collaboration and design
discussions on the relationship between Semantic Web and Web Service
technology should be directed to W3C's <a
href="http://www.w3.org/2002/ws/swsig/">Semantic Web Services Interest
Group</a>.</p>

<p>The Semantic Web Interest Group shares common goals with the <a
href="/2001/sw/BestPractices">Semantic Web Best Practices and Deployment</a>
(SWPBD) Working Group, but differs in its participation model. The SWBPD
Working Group consists of a relatively small number of W3C Member
representatives, each making a substantial commitment to the weekly
activities of the SWBPD Working Group. The Semantic Web Interest Group, by
contrast, has a far larger number of participants, each of whose commitment
of time and resources may vary unpredictably. The two groups are thus
designed to compliment each other, for example through findings and
suggestions from the larger Interest Group community being reviewed and
documented through the SWBPD Working Group.</p>

<h2><a name="meetings" id="meetings"></a>5. Meetings and Discussion fora</h2>

<p>The Interest Group functions primarily through open e-mail distribution
lists hosted by W3C. The main IG list is &lt;www-rdf-interest@w3.org&gt;,
with a publicly accessible <a
href="http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-rdf-interest/">archive</a>.
Other lists sponsored by the Interest Group include <a
href="http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-rdf-logic/">www-rdf-logic</a>,
<a
href="http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-rdf-calendar/">www-rdf-calendar</a>,
<a
href="http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-rdf-rules/">www-rdf-rules</a>,
<a
href="http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-semweb-lifesci/">public-semweb-lifesci</a>,
<a
href="http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-annotation/">www-annotation</a>.
The <a href="/2001/sw/interest/">Interest Group</a> home page provides the
authoritative list of W3C email lists sponsored by the Group.</p>

<p>The Semantic Web Interest Group exists primarily as an online forum; it
does not typically conduct weekly phone conferences. The Interest Group may
also conduct virtual meetings using email, IRC, wiki and teleconference
facilities, although the large scale, International nature of the group
motivates a focus on low cost, asynchronous mechanisms such as email. The
Interest Group may on occasion meet or sponsor "Birds-Of-a-Feather" sessions
at conferences, W3C Technical Plenaries or alongside other W3C meetings, at
the discretion of the Chair and W3C staff contact.</p>

<p>The Interest Group communicates primarily in English, yet seeks to serve
an International community. Individuals and groups that can help support
cross-language discussion and collaboration are particularly welcome as
participants in the Interest Group.</p>

<h2><a name="membership" id="membership"></a>6. Membership</h2>

<p>Any person interested in the application of or extensions to the <a
href="/RDF">Resource Description Framework</a> is eligible to participate in
this Interest Group; W3C Membership is not a prerequisite.</p>

<h2><a name="Communications" id="Communications"></a>7. Communications and
confidentiality</h2>

<p>The Semantic Web Interest Group is a public forum. SW IG mailing lists and
their archives (primarily <a
href="http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/www-rdf-interest/">www-rdf-interest</a>)
are publicly accessible.</p>

<h2><a name="Duration" id="Duration"></a>8. Duration</h2>

<p>The Semantic Web Interest Group is part of the W3C <a
href="/2001/sw/">Semantic Web Activity</a> and is chartered until the end of
the Activity, 31 January 2006.</p>

<h2><a id="Ipr" name="Ipr">9. Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)</a></h2>

<p>The Semantic Web Interest Group provides an opportunity to share
perspectives on Semantic Web technology and applications. W3C advises that
information shared in the interest group through mailing list and meetings is
publicly visible. W3C reminds participants to disclose, where known, the IPR
status of information that they share in the Interest Group meetings and
materials, in accordance with <a
href="/Consortium/Patent-Policy-20030520.html#sec-Disclosure">Section 6</a>
of the W3C Patent Policy.</p>

<h2><a id="Contact" name="Contact">10. Contact</a></h2>

<p>The contact for the Semantic Web Interest Group is <a
href="/People/DanBri/">Dan Brickley</a>, W3C.</p>
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