Device independence is of particular importance to the Multimodal Interaction Activity (MMI) at W3C. The goal of enabling multimodal interaction on the Web is to allow access using all the modalities one finds on modern appliances: output devices (screen, voice synthesis), input devices (stylus, voice recognition) and also various device sensors (indicating gepgraphical position, battery gauge, ambient noise, etc).
Writing Web content suitable to the modalities of a given device is one possible strategy envisaged by the MMI Working Group to make the Web experience truely multimodal. Therefore the work of the Device Independence activity is of great interest to the MMI Working Group.
A formal specification of content metadata, as envisaged as a result of this workshop, would be of particular interest to the group, as it would provide further possibilities for multimodal browsers to interpret and render downloaded Web content. In reverse, it is essential that the metadata framework designed include properties pertinent to the paradigms of multimodal browsing.
This is why, as Team contact contact of the MMI WG, I will attend the workshop in order to express as early as possible the group's concerns and requirements in this essential line of work.
Multimodal Interaction Working Group