https://www.w3.org/blog/2025/join-the-w3c-exploration-interest-group-where-standards-start/ Skip to content * Ri Ben Yu homupeziJapanese website * Jian Ti Zhong Wen Shou Ye Chinese website W3C Visit the W3C homepage * Standards Standards Understand the various specifications, their maturity levels on the web standards track, and their adoption. Explore web standards + About W3C web standards + W3C standards & drafts + Types of documents W3C publishes + Translations of W3C standards & drafts + Reviews & public feedback + Liaisons + Promote web standards * Groups Groups A variety of groups develop Web Standards, guidelines, or supporting materials. About W3C groups + Working Groups + Interest Groups + Community Groups + Business Groups + Technical Architecture Group + Invited Experts + Participant guidebook + Positive work environment * Get involved Get involved W3C works at the nexus of core technology, industry needs, and societal needs. 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Blog 3. 2025 4. Join the W3C Exploration Interest Group: where standards start Join the W3C Exploration Interest Group: where standards start Author(s) and publish date By: + [] Heather Flanagan, co-chair of the Exploration Interest Group + [] Jet Ding, co-chair of the Exploration Interest Group Published: 22 April 2025 You know the feeling. You're in a product meeting, skimming GitHub issues, or catching up on another EU regulatory proposal, and you realize there's something missing in how we're building for the web. Maybe it's a technical shortfall, maybe it's a user experience no one's nailed yet, or maybe it's a whole category of use case the current standards aren't touching with a ten-foot pole. That's where the W3C Exploration Interest Group (IG) comes in. We're not a working group. We're not here to define normative specs. We're here to connect the dots between the real world and the standards world and to ask better questions before jumping to answers. Think of us as the early R&D lab for identity, authentication, and trust on the web. Why this group, and why now? If you're building for the web, navigating its policy landscape, or just trying to make something interoperable, this group's for you. Why? Because web identity is in flux. Cookies are on the way out. Federated login flows are being rebuilt. Browsers are experimenting with new APIs. And regulators? They're not exactly standing still either. If we want a web that works for real users, across real use cases, we need more people at the table who can say: "Here's what's happening in production, and here's what we still don't understand." That's what the Exploration IG is here for: to find the gaps, to make space for disagreement, to spotlight use cases that standards groups haven't prioritized yet, and to build the bridges that might become working group charters down the line. What we're exploring? We don't have a single-track agenda--but here's the kind of stuff that gets us talking: * Technical gaps between browser implementations and web specs * Emerging wallet models, identity credentials, and federation flows * Use cases that span trust frameworks, sectors, or jurisdictions * Fragmentation risks when multiple standards solve the same problem differently * Regulatory signals that need a better technical response Contribute your ideas! Our GitHub repo is public, and we actively welcome ideas and discussion there; this is an open forum, and everyone is welcome to contribute their ideas. If you see something in the wild that standards groups should be thinking about, bring it to us. Whether you're an implementer, a researcher, a policymaker, or someone with a stubborn browser bug and a vision, open an issue. We want to hear from you. And if it turns into a recurring collaboration, we'd be delighted to have you join the group. Some of the best conversations start with "I'm not sure this fits anywhere else." And that's exactly the kind of conversation we want to have. So if you've ever felt like there's something important that doesn't quite have a home in the standards process yet, maybe it belongs with us. We meet every other week and organize sessions around topics raised by the community. Join us. Listen in. Bring your questions. Or just open an issue and see what happens. Learn more about the Exploration Interest Group. Related to this post Groups * Exploration Interest Group Related RSS feed # Subscribe to our blog feed Comments (0) Comments for this post are closed. * Home * Contact * Help * Donate * Legal & Policies * Corporation * System Status * # W3C on Mastodon * # W3C on GitHub Copyright (c) 2025 World Wide Web Consortium. W3C^(r) liability, trademark and permissive license rules apply.