The World Wide Web Consortium is an international association founded and headed by Tim Berners-Lee (inventor of the World Wide Web), since October 1994. It has many offices all around the world, the central one being hosted by MIT/CSAIL in the USA.
The W3C is in charge of establishing web standards and developing programs related to them (such as the markup language XML). It was created to get developers all over the world to agree to following a set of principles that would be supported by everyone. Thanks to this, the inconsistencies between webpages would disappear, and accessibility and compatibility to different kind of platforms would increase.
The social value of the Internet consists in its capability to facilitate the communication and help us share our knowledge. One of the main goals of the W3C is to make these advantages available universally, regardless of aspects like language, geographical location or which hardware is used. In their own words, “we work toward a Web for Everyone”.
References:
- World Wide Web Consortium (2009, January 28). In Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved February 05, 2009.
- About W3C: Goals (2008, February 01). In w3.org, by Ian Jacobs.Retrieved February 05, 2009.
- ¿Qué es el W3C? (2006, April 25). In W3C: Consorcio World Wide Web, by Alicia Monsalvo Miguel. Retrieved February 05, 2009.
- Accesibilidad en páginas web (2001, November 16). In maestros del web, by Joaquín Gracia Murugarren. Retrieved February 05, 2009.
