Conference Co-Chairs' Message

Welcome to Japan and WWW2005. This is the 14th conference in the series that was started by Robert Cailliau in Geneva in 1994. It is also worth noting that the conference has now been held in each of the three major W3C host countries (USA, France, and Japan).

This year's conference maintains the traditional 1:3:1 format including: a day of tutorial and workshop sessions, three days of keynotes, paper tracks and poster presentations as well as the special W3C track, and finishes with Developers' Day.

Once again we are delighted to have Tim Berners-Lee deliver the opening keynote and to be followed by four internationally distinguished speakers in the other plenary session slots. This year Developers' Day also begins with a special keynote address.

The resources and staff of Keio University, the W3C Japan Host and the local Professional Conference Organizer have worked with a large number of volunteers and members of the International World Wide Web Conference Committee (IW3C2), the group that administer the conference series, to organise this year's conference. This work has been supported by our much valued conference partners and sponsors.

Conferences of this nature happen for three reasons: a spirit of inquiry about the subject; the willingness of a group of authors write up and share their ideas and research findings; and, a group of organisers (mostly volunteers) who are prepared to put in the time and effort to build and management a conference program and run a conference environment. Conferences are team efforts — our thanks to everyone who has been a part of the WWW2005 team.

Finally, we hope you find the conference stimulating and professionally rewarding and that you enjoy your stay in Japan and have a safe trip home.

Allan Ellis
Southern Cross University
Tatsuya Hagino
Keio University