Public forum for e-Gov on open standards

A new forum has been launched by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) to investigate how to best use web technology for good governance and citizen participation.

According to ePractice report, the forum is open to public.

The international consortium includes 400 member organisations, a full-time staff and the public, which work together in developing web standards and guidelines designed to ensure long-term growth for the web.

“Open standards, and in particular Semantic web standards, can help lower the cost of government, make it easier for independent agencies to work together, and increase flexibility in the face of change,” W3C Director Tim Berners-Lee said.

Berners-Lee said that by joining this forum, one can learn good e-Governance and to build an open standards platform on top of ones existing tools and services.

Besides identifying best practices and guidelines, document where current technology does not adequately address stakeholder needs, the group will suggest improvements via the standards process.