Invited Expert at the W3C: My role
On January 2 of this year I became an Invited Expert volunteer at the W3C:
There is a formal and important process to ensure you are a good candidate to be invited to join. I passed the test and committed to following the agreement when I was invited. It is no small thing!
However, almost everyone can be involved in volunteering at the W3C somehow and this is encouraged, particularly on GitHub and Slack. The more you get involved, the more opportunities arise to potentially become an IE in the respective area you might be working on.
It does not mean I get paid any money for anything (the time could be said to be a cost of money) nor does it give me any particularly special privileges in many ways. It is an honorable title that does allow me to contribute on a regular basis knowledge and feedback and be credited as a contributor. Which is awesome to me!
Per the Charter of the Sustainable Web Interest Group, participation time is also on a 0+ hour basis for me: There is no minimum requirement for IE participants like me. It may be different for what group you participate in.
I am proud. It definitely sounds fancy…
But it was a natural evolution of my work. I am proud of it.
On the older Sustainable Web Design Community Group I was active and contributed a number of GitHub issues to the draft CG Report. I became familiar with the chairs and contributors and became a name within the org.
I raised issues on things like:
- Technical details in the guidelines
- Principles discussion
- QA of the document sharing platform ReSpec
- Suggestions for rewording things
Just a natural progression…
When the group was elevated in status from a CG into an interest group I knew I wanted to participate in the Sustainable Web Interest Group. And I am in there raising GitHub issues!
The Sustainable Web Interest Group currently has 46 participants (including 26 Invited Experts) representing 15 organizations. I became one of them.
Things are more focused than even before
Using my influence for good: supporting the Charter
It is my duty to work to promote the Charter’s objectives focused on the following activities:
- Publishing a set of guidelines (based upon the CG Draft Report).
- Working with regulatory and standards groups to improve compliance targets within our work.
- Improving measurability (how guidelines are endorsed and weighted through quantitative data) to provide more accurate advice within published deliverables.
- Creating educational materials to foster wider adoption of the guidelines.
Particularly that last bullet – creating educational materials! My passion
This has led me to experiment on personal side projects, such as the WSG-o-matic
Many hours of learning about sustainability has been had. It brings me joy.
Excellent people
What else can I say? A focused, creative, technical group that cares.