Tantek Çelik is nominated by Mozilla Foundation.
Nomination statement from Tantek Çelik:
Hi, I'm Tantek Çelik and I'm running for the W3C Advisory Board (AB) to build on the momentum the AB has built with transitioning W3C to a community-led and values-driven organization. I have been participating in and contributing to W3C groups and specifications for over 25 years.
I am Mozilla’s Advisory Committee (AC) representative and previously served on the AB for several terms, starting in 2013, with a two year break before returning in 2020. In early years I drove the movement to shift W3C to more open licenses for specifications, and more responsiveness to the needs of open source communities and independent website publishers.
Most recently on the AB I led the AB’s Priority Project for a W3C Vision as contributor and editor, taking it through wide review, and consensus at the AB to a vote by the AC to adopt the Vision as an official W3C Statement.
Previously I also co-chaired the W3C Social Web Working Group that produced several widely interoperably deployed Social Web Standards. Mastodon and other open source software projects built a social network on ActivityPub and other social web specs which now require maintenance from implementation experience. As such, I have participated in the Social Web Incubator Community Group and helped draft a new charter to restart the Social Web Working Group and maintain these widely adopted specifications.
With several members stepping down, the AB is experiencing much higher than usual turnover in this election.
I am running for re-election to both help with continuity, on the Vision project and other efforts, and work with new and continuing Advisory Board members to build a fresh, forward looking focus for the AB.
I believe governance of W3C, and advising thereof, is most effectively done by those who have the experience of actively collaborating in working groups producing interoperable specifications, and especially those who directly create on the web using W3C standards. This direct connection to the actual work of the web is essential to prioritizing the purpose & scope of governance of that work.
Beyond effective governance, the AB has played the more crucial role of a member-driven change agent for W3C. While the Board and Team focus on the operations of keeping the W3C legal entity running smoothly, the AB has been and should continue to be where Members go to both fix problems and drive forward-looking improvements in W3C to better fulfill our Vision and Mission.
I have Mozilla's financial support to spend my time pursuing these goals, and ask for your support to build the broad consensus required to achieve them.
I post on my personal site tantek.com. You may follow my posts there or from Mastodon: @tantek.com@tantek.com
If you have any questions or want to chat about the W3C Advisory Board, Values, Vision, or anything else W3C related, please reach out by email: tantek at mozilla.com. Thank you for your consideration.
Addendum: More Candidates Blogged Nomination Statements
Several other candidates (all new candidates) have also blogged their nomination statements, on their personal websites, naturally. This is the first AB election I know of where more than one candidate blogged their nomination statement. Ordered earliest published first:
- Tess O’Connor: Candidate Statement for the 2025 W3C Advisory Board (AB) election
- Hidde de Vries: Running for the AB
And one more candidate blogged about why he is running: