W3C

The Protocols and Formats Working Group (PFWG) published Role Attribute as a W3C Recommendation. Role Attribute is an XML attribute that allows authors to add semantic information to documents. Role Attribute supports WAI-ARIA, the Accessible Rich Internet Applications technical specification for making dynamic, interactive web content accessible to people with disabilities. Learn about the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI).

The XSLT Working Group and the XML Query Working Group have published a Candidate Recommendation of XSLT and XQuery Serialization 3.0. This document defines serialization of an instance of the data model as defined in XQuery and XPath Data Model (XDM) 3.0 into a sequence of octets. Serialization is designed to be a component that can be used by other specifications such as XSL Transformations (XSLT) Version 3.0 or XQuery 3.0: An XML Query Language. Learn more about the XML Activity.

The Device APIs Working Group has published a Last Call Working Draft of HTML Media Capture. The HTML Media Capture specification defines an HTML form extension that facilitates user access to a device's media capture mechanism, such as a camera, or microphone, from within a file upload control. Comments are welcome through 19 April. Learn more about the Ubiquitous Web Applications Activity.

The SPARQL Working Group has completed development of its full-featured system for querying and managing data using the flexible RDF data model. It has now published eleven Recommendations for SPARQL 1.1, detailed in SPARQL 1.1 Overview. SPARQL 1.1 extends the 2008 Recommendation for SPARQL 1.0 by adding features to the query language such as aggregates, subqueries, negation, property paths, and an expanded set of functions and operators. Beyond the query language, SPARQL 1.1 adds other features that were widely requested, including update, service description, a JSON results format, and support for entailment reasoning. Learn more about the Semantic Web Activity.

The Royal Academy of Engineering announced today that Tim Berners-Lee, Marc Andreessen, Vinton Cerf, Robert Kahn, and Louis Pouzin are the recipients of the new Queen Elizabeth Prize for Engineering, which recognizes "outstanding advances in engineering that have changed the world and benefited humanity." The award is shared by Berners-Lee for his invention of the Web, Andreessen for his work on the Mosaic browser, and Pouzin, Cerf, and Kahn for their pioneering work on fundamental Internet protocols.

"The prize recognises what has been a roller-coaster ride of wonderful international collaboration," said Berners-Lee. "Bob and Vint’s work on building the internet was re-enforced by Louis’ work on datagrams and that enabled me to invent the Web. Marc’s determined and perceptive work built on these platforms a product which became widely deployed across nations and computing platforms. I am honoured to receive this accolade and humbled to share it with them. I want the Web to inspire and empower new generations of engineers --boys and, especially, girls-- who will build, in turn, their own platforms, to improve our global society. I hope the message behind this award, along with the work we are doing with the World Wide Web Foundation and W3C, will assist in achieving the vision of a web that is open, accessible and of value to all."

Learn more about how the Web is expanding into a full-fledged programming environment for rich applications, documents, and data: the Open Web Platform.