W3C seeking community input for TAG appointments
W3C is seeking input from the wider community for appointment to the W3C Technical Architecture Group (TAG), having released the election results. Please, do share this post within your organization or with friends and colleagues who might be interested.
Call to action
Following the W3C Process Document’s rules for the TAG appointees, the W3C Team is responsible for complementing the TAG election by actively seeking candidates for appointment to the TAG in order to support a diverse and well-balanced TAG, including diversity of technical background, knowledge, and skill sets.
This time, the W3C Team will appoint two individuals. The term follows this election cycle and starts at appointment until 31 January 2028.
We have opened a mail address for an internal list that you can use to make suggestions for us to consider.
Please write by January 5, 2026 to our internal mailing list at nomination@w3.org to make suggestions, and tell us why. You may self-nominate or suggest other people. Please, be as specific but also as brief as you can.
Please, note two important aspects:
- The Process limits participation in the TAG to one individual with a primary affiliation to a given organization. Affiliations of the individuals on the TAG for this round are: Ant Group, Google, Huawei, Samsung, Thinktecture.
- Appointees secure their own funding for TAG work, including travel.
Timeline
During the window spanning 10 December 2025 – 1 February 2026, the W3C Team will assess the suggestions (including seeking willingness and financial ability to serve for the suggested individuals), and the W3C Team’s choice is subject to ratification by secret ballots by both the W3C Advisory Board and the TAG itself.
Roles of the W3C TAG
The TAG was created in 2001 as a special W3C working group, chartered to steward the web architecture. To do so, it fulfills 3 missions:
- to document and build consensus around principles of web architecture and to interpret and clarify these principles when necessary;
- to resolve issues involving general web architecture brought to the TAG;
- to help coordinate cross-technology architecture developments inside and outside W3C.
The TAG is part of the Horizontal Review Process and reviews a large number of specifications done at W3C and outside, even during their early stage.
The TAG and the W3C Advisory Board are also part of the W3C Council to help resolve objections on specifications.
Strong skills for the TAG
To be successful in these roles, the TAG needs to be well-balanced in its composition and individuals’ complementary skills are highly valued.
Everyone on the TAG should either 1) be able to contribute to technical design reviews of features from across the web platform or 2) be able to lead the TAG to consensus on some topics of importance to the web’s overall architecture. Timid specialists tend not to be successful, but the TAG welcomes both cautious expert generalists and confident (but collaborative) specialists.
This year, the TAG is low on expertise in the following areas:
- CSS, User Experience, GPU, and media
- what internet users from less-wealthy regions, such as South America, Africa, and non-CJK Asia, need
- non-male perspectives
Participating as a TAG member
Individuals elected or appointed to TAG act in their personal capacity, to serve the needs of the W3C membership as a whole, and the Web community. Whether they are Member representatives or Invited Experts, their activities in those roles are separate and distinct from their activities on the TAG. The TAG participants use their best judgment to find the best solutions for the Web, not just for any particular network, technology, vendor, or user. The participation commitment for the TAG includes:
- one to three teleconferences per week,
- three to four in-person meetings per year,
- participation in TAG mailing list discussions,
- participation at the two Advisory Committee meetings each year (encouraged, but not required).
