Yesterday we received word from Baidu that it has joined the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), an international community whose members work towards developing web standards. One of the goals the W3C had for 2011 was to increase global participation, specifically in China and India. So Baidu joining up as a member is a certainly a big step towards that goal.
Jeff Jaffe, the CEO of the W3C, tells Penn Olson this morning:
I’m very happy to have Baidu as a W3C Member. W3C seeks international participation to better serve the needs of all stakeholders and to ensure the long-term growth of the Web. We look forward to working with Baidu on topics ranging from core Web standards to issues that are critical to China such as multilingual support.
According to recent data from Internet World Stats, over half a billion Chinese speakers user the internet which accounts for nearly a quarter of all the internet users on the planet. As the W3C strives towards One Web For All, it will require the addition of more organizations like Baidu.
Baidu’s executive director for monetized products Alex Cheng noted that the company has much to bring to the W3C:
Our experience with Box Computing — with developing and operating our search-driven open data and applications platform, and in working with data providers, content owners, and application developers — has provided us with valuable insight and perspectives that we can share with all W3C members …This would be highly relevant to the work that the W3C is doing in standards for the Web of Data and Services.
Baidu is the first Chinese Internet company to join the consortium. Other Chinese members to date include China Unicom, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Zhejiang University, and Beihang University (the Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics).
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