NEWSLETTER W3C Kantoor Benelux - Bureau W3C Benelux - Benelux W3C Office
August/September - aout/septembre - augustus/september 2009
Website: http://www.w3c.nl -- http://www.w3c-benelux.org
W3C Invites Implementations of Timed
Text (TT) Authoring Format 1.0 - Distribution Format Exchange Profile (DFXP)
2009-09-24: The Timed Text Working Group invites implementation of the Candidate Recommendation of Timed Text (TT) Authoring Format 1.0 - Distribution Format Exchange Profile (DFXP), used to represent timed text media for the purpose of interchange among authoring systems. Timed text is textual information that is intrinsically or extrinsically associated with timing information. The specification provides a standardized representation of a particular subset of textual information with which stylistic, layout, and timing semantics are associated by an author or an authoring system for the purpose of interchange and potential presentation. Learn more about the Video in the Web Activity.
Developer Gathering during W3C Technical Plenary Week
2009-09-21: As part of its efforts to broaden participation opportunities in W3C, W3C announces today its first Developer Gathering, to be held 5 November, 2009 during the W3C Technical Plenary Week (TPAC) in Santa Clara, California. Registration is open to the public; W3C is seeking in particular developers and designers who may not participate regularly in W3C groups. Arun Ranganathan (Mozilla), Fantasai, Philippe Le Hégaret, and others will speak on a variety of hot topics with a goal of feeding back comments to the groups developing the relevant technology standards. Learn more about the Developer Gathering.
OWL 2 is a Proposed Recommendation
2009-09-22: With more than a dozen implementations of OWL 2 reported, the OWL Working Group has published its OWL 2 Web Ontology Language as a Proposed Recommendation. An ontology is a structured set of terms that a particular community uses for organizing data, such as "title", "author", and "ISBN" for data about books. OWL 2 is a compatible extension to OWL 1, providing additional features for people using ontologies. The OWL 2 document set contains 13 documents, of which 4 are instructional: overview , primer, new features and rationale, and quick reference. The rdf:PlainLiteral datatype, developed for use by OWL 2 and RIF, is also a Proposed Recommendation. Learn more about the Semantic Web.
W3C Organizes Workshop on Access Control
Application Scenarios
2009-09-22: W3C invites people to participate in a Workshop on Access Control Application Scenarios on 17-18 November 2009 in Luxembourg. This Workshop is intended to explore evolving application scenarios for access control technologies, such as XACML. Results from a number of recent European research projects in the grid, cloud computing, and privacy areas show overlapping use cases for these technologies that extend beyond classical intra-enterprise applications. The Workshop, co- financed by the European Commission 7th framework program via the PrimeLife project, is free of charge and open to anyone, subject to review of their statement of interest and space availability. Position papers are due 23 October. See the call for participation for more information. Learn more about the Privacy Activity.
W3C Launches Provenance Incubator Group
2009-09-22: W3C is pleased to announce the creation of the Provenance Incubator Group, whose mission is to provide a state-of-the art understanding and develop a roadmap in the area of provenance for Semantic Web technologies, development, and possible standardization. The group will be chaired by Yolanda Gil. The following W3C Members have sponsored the charter for this group: Renssealaer Polytechnic Institute, Talis Information Limited, University of Manchester, University of Southampton, University of Southern California Information Sciences Institute (USC / ISI), and Vrije Universiteit. Read more about the Incubator Activity, an initiative to foster development of emerging Web-related technologies. Incubator Activity work is not on the W3C standards track.
New W3C Group to Standardize Relational
Database, RDF Mapping
2009-09-16: W3C announces today the new RDB2RDF Working Group, whose mission is to standardize a language for mapping relational data and relational database schemas into RDF and OWL, tentatively called the RDB2RDF Mapping Language, R2RML. From the beginning of the deployment of the Semantic Web there has been increasing interest in mapping relational data to the Semantic Web. This is to allow relational data to be combined with other data on the Web, to link semantics directly to relational data and to aid in enterprise data integration. The creation of this Working Group follows the work of a previous W3C Incubator Group in this area. Read the RDB2RDF Working Group Charter and learn more about the Semantic Web.
W3C Invites Implementations of WebCGM
2.1
2009-09-15: The WebCGM Working Group invites implementation of the Candidate Recommendation of WebCGM 2.1. Computer Graphics Metafile (CGM) is an ISO standard, defined by ISO/IEC 8632:1999, for the interchange of 2D vector and mixed vector/raster graphics. WebCGM is a profile of CGM, which adds Web linking and is optimized for Web applications in technical illustration, electronic documentation, geophysical data visualization, and similar fields. The Working Group has adopted a public test suite for WebCGM 2.1 and has produced a preliminary WebCGM 2.1 implementation report. Learn more about the Graphics Activity.
CSS Working Group Updates Candidate
Recommendation of CSS3 Media Queries
2009-09-15: The Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) Working Group invites implementation of the Candidate Recommendation of Media Queries. HTML4 and CSS2 currently support media-dependent style sheets tailored for different media types. For example, a document may use sans-serif fonts when displayed on a screen and serif fonts when printed. "screen" and "print" are two media types that have been defined. Media queries extend the functionality of media types by allowing more precise labeling of style sheets. Learn more about the Style Activity.
Cascading Style Sheets Level 2 Revision
1 (CSS 2.1) Candidate Recommendation Updated
2009-09-08: The Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) Working Group has updated the Candidate Recommendation of Cascading Style Sheets Level 2 Revision 1 (CSS 2.1) Specification. This specification defines Cascading Style Sheets, level 2 revision 1. CSS 2.1 is a style sheet language that allows authors and users to attach style (e.g., fonts and spacing) to structured documents (e.g., HTML documents and XML applications). This update corrects some errata in the previous draft. Learn more about the Style Activity.
W3C Opens New India Office
2009-09-07: Today the W3C India Office opened at a new Host: the Department of Information Technology in the Ministry of Communications & Information Technology. Swaran Lata, who is Director of the Human Centered Computing division (TDIL), will run the new Office with the support of deputy manager Somnath Chandra. W3C Offices act as local points of contact for W3C work and help ensure that W3C and its specifications reach an international audience. W3C would like to thank the India Ministry of Communications and Information Technology for their support in ensuring that W3C has a strong presence in India. The previous Office in India, hosted by C-DAC, has already closed. Learn more about the W3C Offices program.
A Sprinkle of POWDER Fosters Trust on
the Web
2009-09-01: Today W3C takes steps toward building a Web of trust, and making it possible to discover relevant, quality content more efficiently. When content providers use POWDER, the Protocol for Web Description Resources, they help people with tasks such as seeking sound medical advice, looking for trustworthy retailers, or searching for content available under a particular license (for instance, a Creative Commons license). The POWDER Working Group published three W3C Recommendations today: Grouping of Resources, Formal Semantics, and Description Resources. For more information about POWDER, including a POWDER Primer and a range of tools, see the group home page. Read the press release and learn more about the Semantic Web Activity.
Online Training Course: An Introduction
to W3C's Mobile Web Best Practices (Sep to Nov 2009)
2009-08-31: W3C announces today the next edition of its successful online course to introduce Web developers and designers to its Mobile Web Best Practices. The next session runs from 7 September to 9 November 2009. W3C received very positive reviews from participants who attended the previous session, including:
- "Every web developer should at least know the basics of mobile web development. So this is the course to take."
- "The best starting point possible!"
- "[The] tutor and student forum to discuss ideas or problems throughout the course was invaluable."
W3C invites you to join the next session, where you will:
- learn about the specific promises and challenges of the mobile platform
- learn how to use W3C's Mobile Web Best Practices to design mobile-friendly Web content and to adapt existing content for mobile
- discover the relevant W3C resources for mobile Web design
Participants have access to lectures and assignments that provide hands-on practical experience of using W3C's Mobile Web Best Practices. Participants will work with both W3C experts on this topic (the instructors) and peers who can share experiences about the real-world challenges of mobile Web design. More information is available about the course material (including a free sample), registration fee, and intended audience. Learn more about the Mobile Web Initiative.
SSML 1.1 Candidate Recommendation
Updated
2009-08-27: The Voice Browser Working Group has updated the Candidate Recommendation of Speech Synthesis Markup Language (SSML) Version 1.1. SSML is designed to provide a rich, XML-based markup language for assisting the generation of synthetic speech in Web and other applications. Although the Working Group has not formally identified any features as being at-risk, as a result of the previous publication, the Working Group now understands that some features may not receive adequate implementation experience. This draft identifies them in the status section and asks for feedback. A few editorial errors in the previous draft and the Implementation Report Plan document were also fixed. A list of changes from the previous draft is available. Learn more about the Voice Browser Activity.
HTML 5 Drafts Published
2009-08-26: The HTML Working Group has published Working Drafts of HTML 5 and HTML 5 differences from HTML 4. In HTML 5, new features are introduced to help Web application authors, new elements are introduced based on research into prevailing authoring practices, and special attention has been given to defining clear conformance criteria for user agents in an effort to improve interoperability. "HTML 5 differences from HTML 4" describes the differences between HTML 4 and HTML 5 and provides some of the rationale for the changes. Learn more about HTML.
W3C Announces Two New Co-Chairs for the
HTML Working Group
2009-08-26: Tim Berners-Lee announced today that two people will join Sam Ruby (IBM) in co-Chairing the HTML Working Group: Paul Cotton (Microsoft) and Maciej Stachowiak (Apple). Chris Wilson has stepped down as co-Chair and indicated that he will be changing his focus to programmability in the web platform. As Berners-Lee wrote about this transition, "The work of this group is tremendously important to the Web. I am pleased that all three co-Chairs have taken on the responsibility for working closely with the editor and group to make HTML 5 a success." More information about the new Chairs is available in Berners-Lee's announcement. Learn more about the HTML Working Group.
SVG Open 2009 Schedule Available; Early-Bird Registration Ends 31 August
2009-08-25: SVG Open 2009, the 7th International Conference on Scalable Vector Graphics, will be held 2-4 October, hosted by Google in Mountain View, California, with workshops hosted by IBM, on 5 October. The theme is "SVG Coming of Age", reflecting increased industry support and interest by Web designers and developers. The schedule and confirmed keynote speakers are now available. Over 70 presentations will be delivered by SVG experts from around the globe, on topics including script libraries, authoring tools, mobiles, Web mapping and geo-location services, and much more. Chris Lilley, Doug Schepers, and the W3C SVG Working Group will be participating. Learn more about W3C's SVG Activity.
W3C Relaunches Multimodal Interaction Working Group
2009-08-19: W3C is pleased to announce the relaunch of the Multimodal Interaction Working Group to develop technology that enables users to use their preferred modes of interaction with the Web. Deborah Dahl (Invited Expert) chairs the group which is chartered to develop open standards to adapt to device, user and environmental conditions, and to allow multiple modes of Web interaction including GUI, speech, vision, pen, gestures, haptic interfaces, sensor data, etc. W3C Members may use this form to join the Working Group. Read about the Multimodal Interaction Activity.
Call for Review: XForms 1.1 Proposed Recommendation Published
2009-08-18: The Forms Working Group has published a Proposed Recommendation of XForms 1.1. XForms is not a free- standing document type, but is intended to be integrated into other markup languages, such as XHTML, ODF or SVG. XForms 1.1 refines the XML processing platform introduced by XForms 1.0 by adding several new submission capabilities, action handlers, utility functions, user interface improvements, and helpful datatypes as well as a more powerful action processing facility, including conditional, iterated and background execution, the ability to manipulate data arbitrarily and to access event context information. Comments are welcome through 22 September. Learn more about the XForms Activity.
From Chaos, Order: SKOS Recommendation Helps Organize Knowledge
2009-08-18: Today W3C announces a new standard that builds a bridge between the world of knowledge organization systems - including thesauri, classifications, subject headings, taxonomies, and folksonomies - and the linked data community, bringing benefits to both. Libraries, museums, newspapers, government portals, enterprises, social networking applications, and other communities that manage large collections of books, historical artifacts, news reports, business glossaries, blog entries, and other items can now use Simple Knowledge Organization System (SKOS) to leverage the power of linked data. The Semantic Web Deployment Working Group also published today two Group Notes with the Recommendation, updating the SKOS Primer and SKOS Use Cases and Requirements. Read the press release and testimonials and learn more about the Semantic Web Activity.
Namespaces in XML 1.0 (Third Edition) is a W3C Proposed Edited
Recommendation
2009-08-06: The XML Core Working Group has published the Third Edition of Namespaces in XML 1.0 as W3C Proposed Edited Recommendation. XML Namespaces provide a simple method for qualifying element and attribute names used in Extensible Markup Language documents by associating them with namespaces identified by URI references. The Third Edition as proposed incorporates all outstanding errata. The review period is open until 14 September 2009. Learn more about the XML Activity.
