The World Wide Web Consortium’s aim is to develop standards that allow the Internet to be accessible to all, regardless of hardware, software, network infrastructure, language or geographic location.
Ottawa companies will have the chance to talk about web standards, and how best to improve them with new protocols such as HTML 5, in an upcoming event with the W3C.
What makes this event noteworthy is the W3C, a non-profit organization dedicated to building effective websites, is considering placing its office in Ottawa when it expands to Canada later this year.
The bureau itself will be small, likely made up of one person (who must not be affiliated with any commercial company) and then growing in staff as membership revenues grow.
More importantly, a W3C presence in the region, or even in Canada, will give local developers, firms and other people interested in the web more opportunities to share ideas, said W3C spokesperson Karen Myers.
"We'll be talking about all these different ways that the tech community can engage," she said.
Feedback will be especially appreciated in the national capital region, as "Ottawa is certainly one of the hotsposts in the tech corridor, from Ottawa to southern Ontario. We are seeing increased business growth and a lot of startups."
The new office will be open at the end of 2012.
Speakers at the event will include Microsoft's Paul Cotton (who is co-chairing the HTML 5 working group), Espial's Peter Hutchins and Ms. Myers. The event, which requires registration, will be held May 24 at the Brookstreet Hotel from 6 to 8 p.m.
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