ANU is set to play a significant role in guiding the future of the Web after being chosen as the new host of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Australia Office.
The W3C is an international consortium of over 400 member organisations that work together to develop Web standards and guidelines to ensure the long-term growth of the Web.
Dr Armin Haller, who will become Manager of the W3C Australian Office, said it was a great honour for ANU to be chosen as host.
“The W3C is looking at broadening the Web, and this is where ANU will really come into play,” Armin said.
“Where change is happening is in the vertical domains, and that’s really interesting to us – things like Web payments, digital publishing, linked open data, Web of things and Web security – these are areas our researchers are already involved in.”
Founded in 1994 by the inventor of the Web, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, W3C has overseen more than 345 technical standards that make the Web work. Its members include Microsoft, Apple, Google and Facebook.
In Canberra today, W3C Global Business Development Lead, J. Alan Bird, said ANU was the perfect fit for the consortium.
“After a comprehensive review of other universities and non-profit organisations in Australia, we have determined that ANU is the right partner to help W3C succeed in advancing its mission and serving the needs of key communities in technology, research, business and industry and government sectors in Australia,” Alan said.
“We very much look forward to working with expert academic and professional staff from the ANU.”
As the host of the W3C Australia Office, ANU will help develop relationships with Australian technology and policy leaders and promote the implementation of W3C standards in Australia.
The Australian W3C office will be jointly hosted by the ANU College of Business and Economics, and the ANU College of Engineering and Computer Science.
“We are delighted to be selected to host the Australian office for W3C, an organisation that defines the international standards of the World Wide Web and shapes the future of the Web,” said Professor Shirley Leitch, Dean of the ANU College of Business and Economics.
“This will give our staff and researchers a voice and the opportunity to work with influential groups and companies such as Google, Microsoft, Alibaba and Apple.”
Professor Elanor Huntington, Dean of the ANU College of Engineering and Computer Science said the University will integrate ideas and developments from the W3C into its teaching.
“As an office of the W3C, ANU will be positioned at the forefront of the very latest developments and ideas in Web technologies,” she said.
“World Wide Web technologies have revolutionised the way we all operate, including the research we are doing at the ANU into information retrieval, the mobile Web, Web eye gaze technologies and social networks,” Professor Huntington said.
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