- Get a W3C account (if you don’t have one).
- Push the “Join” button for any current group. If you are not logged in, you will be prompted
to log in. If you already have an account but we don’t know your affiliation (e.g., your employer) we will prompt you to update your account.
What you see after pushing the Join button depends on the affiliation you have declared in your user account. This is because joining a group involves agreeing to the W3C Community Contributor License Agreement (CLA). Below we describe the join process for different affiliations.
Please remember that for Community Groups, there is no fee for anyone. There are fees for participation in a Business Group by non- W3C Members.
If you work for a W3C Member
If you work for a W3C Member:
- If you are a Member Advisory Committee Representative, you may join the group immediately on behalf of your organization. After joining, you may nominate others from your organization to participate in the group.
- If you are otherwise an employee of a W3C Member, you must be nominated by your Advisory Committee Representative. There is a button to send a request to your Advisory Committee Representative to (join the group if not already in the group) and nominate you. You will be informed if your Advisory Committee Representative accepts (or declines) to join the group.
If you work for a non-Member organization
- If you are affiliated with a non-Member organization, you may join the group immediately on behalf of the organization, which we recommend in most cases.
- Or, you may request to participate without representing your affiliated organization, but those requests are subject to W3C Staff sole discretion. We attempt to address requests within one business day. W3C publishes guidelines for evaluating individual requests to participate in a group.
Other Affiliations
- If you are affiliated with the W3C Staff, you join immediately as an individual.
- If you have no affiliation with any organization, you join immediately as an individual.
Is it possible, even if I work for a W3C Member, to subscribe as an individual? I’m asking because I would like to join a group more like an “observer”, meaning that I do not intend to represent or endorse the organization’s official position (if any). In case, I guess I would have to use my personal email?
Hi Nicola,
Two replies:
* Member organizations have requested that their employees not be allowed to join as individuals. Thus, you must go through your Advisory Committee representative.
* There is no “observer status.” If you wish to simply observe the group’s work, you can subscribe to its public mailing list.
Hi Ian,
thanks for your replies.
Is there a place for public comment on a topic (DRM specifically) without joining a community? I’m sure that many are concerned about an issue, but it would be unwise to include everyone in the discussion.
Thanks
Thomas, you can write to the group’s public mailing list (which is listed on the group’s home page). You do not need to join the group to sent to it’s public list.
Ian
Hello Ian,
I would like to join the “Accessibility in India Community Group”. My organization is not a W3C member thus i would like to join as an individual and my thoughts/comments are solely mine. Kindly let me know the process for the same.
Regards
Pooja Nahata
Hi there,
Please be sure you have a W3C account. Log in and look for the join button on:
http://www.w3.org/community/accessibilityinindia/
Ian
I do have the the W3C account – but I get a message to update my affiliations. On updating the affiliation, get a message that I cannot join as I am affiliated to an organization.
If you are affiliated with a Member organization, then you need your Advisory Committee representative to join and appoint you.
If you want to continue this by email, write me at ij@w3.org.
Ian
I am trying to join the SWISIG group (http://www.w3.org/community/swisig/) but keep getting promted to log in. I am already logged in as “vdeboer2″ (https://www.w3.org/users/56487).
If I try to still login, for some reason the login/password combination does not work, even after repeated resetting.
Hi Victor,
Can you try again?
Jean-Gui