W3 Workshop (W3W) was founded by Michael J. Strait in 1998 as a workshop for the design and development of web-based education and information services in the public interest.  The inspiration for the name was the Children's Television Workshop (CTW), famous for the design and development of the children's educational television program, Sesame Street, and now known as Sesame Workshop.  Like CTW, the idea for W3W was and is to base its design work on current learning theory and research and its development work on rigorous action research and formative evaluation.