Note: The deadline for votes is 23:59 ET, 31 August 2014.
The following statements were sent about the nominees (in alphabetical order by nominee family name):
My name is Travis Leithead. I’m running for a seat on the W3C TAG to help preserve the web platform as _the_ open and universal platform. I believe that well-coordinated web standards are a crucial way to align implementations of the web platform, and the TAG can help W3C guide the evolution of those standards to ensure they are aligned with current best practices and provide a solid foundation for web developers to build on.
The web platform and I go way back. I was that kid in the basement hacking on HTML and JavaScript back when <bgsound> and <layer> were popular. In graduate school I worked in a security lab researching digital certificate exchange systems using the semantic web stack; from RDF to Ontologies for automated access-control policy sharing. My involvement with the semantic web was short-lived however; after graduation I was recruited by Microsoft and returned to my browser-hacking roots.
I've been working on Microsoft's Browser Platform team since 2005. In my day job I spec and design features for the web platform with a particular focus in the area of DOM APIs. I've worked on many different projects within that capacity and gained a great deal of experience both in implementation details of web APIs across browsers, as well as the common patterns in use in web API definitions over time. I was instrumental in bringing a variety of W3C Recommendation-track documents into the Internet Explorer browser, including the Event model, Web Workers, and Mutation Observers. In an advisory position within Microsoft, I've also helped coordinate the browser's implementation and W3C relations for CORS, Indexed DB, FileAPI, Stream API, SVG, and experiments with Web RTC. This has provided me a very broad understanding of the web platform and how it all fits together. I organized a Microsoft internal Web API review board to facilitate documenting, sharing and distributing knowledge of the web architecture and common design patterns to internal developers and management who may not be as familiar with established best practices and patterns. I have great passion for learning and teaching others how to program on the web and what design patterns and practices are available. I believe I would be a great asset to the W3C tag in their mission to clarify and document similar web architecture direction for the W3C and larger web developer community.
I started working with the W3C shortly after starting at Microsoft, joining the Web API WG (later WebApps) to help with Selectors API standardization. That year, Microsoft only sent one person from IE to TPAC (how times have changed!). Soon after, I worked closely with Cameron McCormack during the early days of W3C WebIDL development to help establish the patterns used to project web APIs into the JavaScript language. I was also involved in some early Web Components design discussions before it was cool. I now participate (time permitting) in WebApps WG, Device API WG, Media Capture TF (jointly with Web RTC WG), HTML WG, and Web App Sec WG. I've stretched my involvement from participating in DOM Level 3 Events telcos back when Doug Schepers was editing, to joining the HTML editorial team in 2012.
Personally, I still consider myself a web developer despite having limited time to write code for the web; after work, I play with an HTML-based hobby app where I've had practical experience with Indexed DB, the Promise pattern, various input modalities, CSS transitions and animations, and good model-driven design. I prefer to write my own frameworks (for the experience) and keep the code as close to the native web platform as possible. My friends would say that I'm pretty easy-going, good at mediating discussions, and thoughtful and open-minded; my wife and three kids would probably also agree.
The openness and diversity of the web platform has kept it alive and well from its inception through today. The web is evolutionary, not revolutionary, and the TAG is an important body tracking what works and what needs some course correction. I believe I have the experience and vision to help evolve the current generation of W3C standards in a consistent direction, balancing what works today with changes to ensure the web’s vitality in the future.
Larry Masinter has been contributing to the architecture of the web since nearly the beginning of the web. He has served on the W3C AB and TAG, and in related IETF standards efforts.
His extensive background, publications and experience are detailed at his web page http://larry.masinter.net.
He's looking forward to contributing to the newly revitalized TAG, to help W3C lead the web to its full potential.
I've been involved in Web standards for over 15 years, at both the IETF and the W3C. My work focuses heavily on HTTP, security, performance and metadata. See my resume for details.
I'm interested in focusing the TAG on core issues in Web architecture, through close coordination with Working Groups like HTML and WebApps, as well as working with implementers.
Sam Ruby has been involved in Open Standards and Open Source for over 15 years. Examples include ECMA TC 39, IETF Atom, and W3C HTML, where he has served as co-chair for over five years. He is also co-author of two books, including one on REST.
In addition to his technical skills, Sam has a strong ability to be task oriented (a.k.a., getting items he has volunteered for done on schedule), and a demonstrated ability to collaborate with and build consensus across people with a diverse set of motivations. He has sufficient time available to devote to participation on the TAG.
In terms of vision, Sam isn't planning on coming to the TAG with a set agenda, but will seek to find ways to address a disturbing trend he has seen whereby prioritization has been in favor of specifiers (often arguing for theoretical purity!) over implementers over authors over users. He believes that the correct ordering is the opposite: http://www.w3.org/TR/html-design-principles/#priority-of-constituencies
For more information about Sam see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Ruby