Intro, Part 9: Questioning the Web’s Status Quo
Yesterday we said we plan to make recommendations. That may have concerned some, especially those who are involved in the standards process. But don’t worry, we won’t make them in a vacuum; we intend to engage everyone interested to participate and influence the creation of the recommendations, especially the leading experts in the field of web architecture. We pledge to evaluate everyone’s input objectively, and incorporate input without prejudice.
What’s more, we aim to respect all the standards created by recognized standard’s bodies such as the Internet Engineering Task Force and the World Wide Web Consortium. Further, we plan to respect the spirit of all standards and acknowledged axioms.
Though we did expose a long list of agenda items, some of those may fall by the wayside once we engage the community. Those were our ideas but as we are not perfect some of them may not be either. Our goal is to make things better, not worse, and intellectual honesty is our only ally in addressing reality.
But that doesn’t mean we intend to always be non-controversial. No, we intend to push the envelope and lead some people out of their comfort zone. Like a child constantly asking “Why?” we plan to challenge conventional wisdom. We want to ensure that the axioms and standards defining web architecture are still based on actual requirements. We don’t want to see progress impeded simply because the framers of the web shared the universal human trait of being usable to foresee all future innovations and their requirements.
Though potentially disruptive, we think our willingness to question prior assumptions will ultimately lead to a better web for all.