W3C—World Wide Web Consortium

Organization concerned with development and standardization of the many resources on the Internet using the HyperTextTransfer Protocol (HTTP) and related technologies. The HTTP protocol forming the basis of today’s Web was invented by Tim Berners-Lee, who also helped to create the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and who once stated that the World Wide Web is actually a universe of network-accessible data—an embodiment, as it were, of human knowledge.

The W3C exists to help the Web reach its fullest potential. It is a consortium of industry leaders wanting to promote standards for the Web’s continued development and for greater interoperability between WWW products. The W3C receives funding from its industrial partners to produce reference software and specifications. However, despite this funding arrangement, the W3C upholds its claim that it is not only vendor-neutral but also that its products are free for everyone. Moreover, the W3C is international, with joint hosts including the MIT Laboratory for Computer Science in the United States and the INRIA in Europe.

Throughout its six research units in Bordeau-Lille-Saclay, Grenoble, Nancy, Rennes, Rocquencourt, and Sophia Antipolis, INRIA has more than 3,500 employees, with more than 2,500 of these being scientists from INRIA’s partner organizations such as CNRS (the French National Center for Scientific Research) and French universities. Operating under the French Ministry of Research and the Ministry of Industry, INRIA is France’s national institute for research in computer science and control. INRIA completes basic and applied research in Information and Communication Science and Technology (ICST).

See Also: HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol); Internet; Network; World Wide Web (WWW).