W3C

The W3C Data on the Web Best Practices is now a Proposed Recommendation. Complemented by the Dataset Usage and Data Quality vocabularies (both published today as stable Notes), the Best Practices set out how publishers can share data on the Web with maximum benefit by harnessing the Network Effect. Areas like licensing, provenance, access APIs, identifiers for and within datasets, feedback, enrichment and preservation are all covered in this comprehensive work.

The Data on the Web Best Practices Working Group has compiled a substantial implementation report that demonstrates that the Best Practices are followed across many domains including government, scientific research and cultural heritage. The three documents are designed to further develop a dynamic ecosystem in which data can be discovered, understood, evaluated and reused, and that reuse recognized. Comments are welcome through 15 January 2017.

The W3C Web Cryptography is now a Proposed Recommendation. This specification describes a JavaScript API for performing basic cryptographic operations in web applications, such as hashing, signature generation and verification, and encryption and decryption. Additionally, it describes an API for applications to generate and/or manage the keying material necessary to perform these operations. Uses for this API range from user or service authentication, document or code signing, and the confidentiality and integrity of communications. Comments are welcome through 15 January 2017.

The Social Web Working Group invites implementation of two Candidate Recommendations:

• Activity Streams 2.0: This specification details a model for representing potential and completed activities using the JSON format. In the most basic sense, an “Activity” is a semantic description of an action. It is the goal of this specification to provide a JSON-based syntax that is sufficient to express metadata about activities in a rich, human-friendly but machine-processable and extensible manner.
• Activity Vocabulary: This specification describes the Activity vocabulary. The Activity Streams 2.0 Vocabulary defines a set of abstract types and properties that describe past, present and future Activities.

Digital Publishing WAI-ARIA Module 1.0 has been published as a Candidate Recommendation and is now undergoing implementation finalization and testing. DPub-ARIA defines a WAI-ARIA module encompassing an ontology of roles, states and properties specific to the digital publishing industry. This allows an author to convey user interface behaviors and structural information to assistive technologies and to enable semantic navigation, styling and interactive features used by readers. More information about this publication is available in the blog DPUB-ARIA 1.0 is Released as a Candidate Recommendation. The draft implementation report shows the progress of testing. Please send implementation information or comments by 27 January 2017. Read about the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI).

The Web Application Security Working Group has published a W3C Recommendation of Content Security Policy Level 2. This document defines a policy language used to declare a set of content restrictions for a web resource, and a mechanism for transmitting the policy from a server to a client where the policy is enforced.

The Web Platform Working Group has published a W3C Recommendation of WebIDL Level 1. This document defines an interface definition language, Web IDL, that can be used to describe interfaces that are intended to be implemented in web browsers. Web IDL is an IDL variant with a number of features that allow the behavior of common script objects in the web platform to be specified more readily. How interfaces described with Web IDL correspond to constructs within ECMAScript execution environments is also detailed in this document. It is expected that newly published specifications reference this document to ensure conforming implementations of interfaces are interoperable.

The HTML Media Extensions Working Group has published a W3C Recommendation for Media Source Extensions™. This specification fulfills a vital part of putting video on the Web by extending the HTML5 video capabilities and facilitating a variety of use cases like adaptive streaming, time shifting and video editing, as well as 360° video players. Flexible and powerful, Media Source Extensions™ provides commercial quality IP streaming video for Web applications, across different platforms and between unrelated companies, and is already deployed in major browsers and video services, such as Youtube.