Web of Things at W3C 
This is the landing page for W3C's activities for the Web of Things.
The Internet of Things (IoT) is widely recognised to have lots of potential, but its commercial potential is being held back by fragmentation. A sensor on its own has limited value, but there are huge opportunities for open markets of services that combine sensors, actuators and multiple sources of information. The Web of Things seeks to counter the fragmentation of the IoT, making it much easier to create applications without the need to master the disparate variety of IoT technologies and standards. Digital twins for sensors, actuators and information services are exposed to consuming applications as local software objects with properties, actions and events, independently of the physical location of devices or the protocols used to access them.
Each thing is identified by a URI that can be dereferenced to obtain a machine interpretable description. The URI can also be used as an identifier in rich descriptions as a basis for semantic interoperability between suppliers and consumers of services. Thing descriptions expressed in JSON-LD cover the behavior, interaction affordances, data schema, security configuration and protocol bindings. The Web of Things complements existing IoT ecosystems to reduce the cost and risk for suppliers and consumers of applications that create value by combining multiple devices and information services. There are many sectors that will benefit, e.g. smart homes, smart cities, smart industry, smart agriculture, smart healthcare and many more.
Note: the Web of Things is closely coupled to W3C's work on the Web of Data.
Web of Things Interest Group
The Web of Things Interest Group brings together stakeholders interested in the Web of Things to explore ideas prior to standardization together with collaboration with external groups, e.g. standards development organisations and industry alliances. The Interest Group is has recently re-chartered. Please join and help counter the fragmentation of the IoT.
Web of Things Working Group
The Web of Things Working Group has recently advanced two specifications to Candidate Recommendation status and aims to advance them to W3C Recommendations. The Working Group is in the process of rechartering. Please encourage your Advisory Committee Representative to respond positively in support of the proposed new charter.
Interested parties should contact Dave Raggett dsr@w3.org or Kaz Ashimura ashimura@w3.org.
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