Interest Group/Issue

Media and Entertainment Interest Group

W3C Media and Entertainment is an interest group whose focus is to provide a council for technical discussions related to media in order to trace progress of aspects on the internet inside W3C (World Wide Web) groups and the usage of Web technologies by outside organizations, in addition to identifying specific cases and requirements that specifications should meet in order to ensure a strong support of media services on the internet. The start date of this group commenced on June 11, 2022 and will conclude on April 30, 2023. The Co-Chairs are Tatsuya Igarashi from Sony, Chris Needham from BBC, and Christopher Lorenzo from Comcast. Meetings are held in either teleconferences or in-person. Teleconferences will usually be conducted quarterly with the additional required calls. In-person conferences may be arranged by the participants per year. 

Media and Entertainment scopes investigate web technologies that are used in the end-to-end pipeline which includes production, distribution, and the consumption of constant experience defined as visual and sound recordings, timed text, and peripheral equipment used to attract users. Topics covered are in the area of clients and devices (all-around browsers, TVs, phones, and digital cameras), media companies/providers of streaming services, cable , and such. Areas of media production, transportation and control are also investigated by the interest group as well as availability of experiences and quality of media.

In order to prevail, the group is required to have at least six or more involved participants for its term with the addition of representatives from crucial media services, and vital leaders from Task Force whose responsibilities, including the Chairs, are to provide half of a work day per week towards this interest group. Other participants have no minimum requirement. Media and Entertainment inspire queries, comments and concerns on their communal mailing lists and depositories. The group gladly welcomes any non-members to forward technical documents for submission of their agreement to W3C Patent Policy’s terms. The W3C Process requires participants to obey their code of ethics and conduct. You may view the list of W3C member organizations participating in this interest group which is available through the Patent Policy Status page for the Media and Entertainment interest group. 

The decision policy will be sought through majority opinion/view and legal process by means of the W3C Process Document. Normally, either an editor or participant will issue an opening proposal. It will then be refined in dialogue between the group’s members and other reviewers. A General agreement will emerge with a required session of voting. However, if consensus fails to be achieved after much consideration, members of the Chairs will announce a group vote and will record a resolution together with any protestations. A CfC (call for consensus) will be supplied to all decisions through email, issues from GitHub, or surveys on the web, with a one week to ten work day’s response period, which is dependent upon the Chair’s analysis of the group’s agreement on an issue. If there are no protests presented by the final day of the response period, the decision will then be appraised to have the majority view as a final vote of the interest group. Every decision carried out by the group is reviewed and resolved until new information becomes known or opened again at the Chairs’ or Director’s choosing. This sanction is inscribed in conformity with the W3C Process Document, including no action of voting beyond the date specified by the process document.

Technical information in regards to this interest group is provided through group discussions and is publicly managed. Both Teleconference and in-person meetings will be recorded for the public examination. Technical conversations and defect tracking will be carried out in a written and readable manner by the general populace. A working and editor’s draft of stipulations will be issued in public storing places and will authorize unmediated requests from the public. However, the meetings alone are closed to public contributions. Information regarding the group itself, like details about outcomes, issues, status reports, participants, and/or upcoming meetings will all be shared on the group’s homepage. The Media and Entertainment group teleconferences will primarily focus on topics either tracked or inquired by the group. Their work is regularly featured on GitHub issues. The general public is welcomed to examine, discuss and be conducive to the work available. For administrative purposes, a confidential mailing list may be used for any members only. Discussions between members may be conducted at the discretion of both the participants and the Chairs, in regards to particular matters requested for discussion. 

With that in mind, here’s a brief overview of the mailing lists and how to join. The interest group of Media and Entertainment, for the most part, runs its technical affairs on the public mailing list ‘public-web-and-tv@w3.org’. In order to join this list, check out W3C mailing list and archive files guidelines, then send out an email with the subject ‘subscribe’ to ‘public-web-and-tv-request@w3.org’. For members-only there is a list at ‘member-web-and-tv@w3.org’ which is used for administrative tasks like meeting planning and such. This list may also be useful for sharing certain information when needed. In-person meetings and conferences by telephone are open to appointed experts and W3C members. The interest group for Media and Entertainment primarily uses two different tools: Wiki and GitHub. Wiki is used by the public to read as the information presented (detailed description of task forces, ongoing projects, draft documentations) is written by official group members. GitHub is used the same way but works on the site may be written by account holders on public bugs, upcoming projects and issues with the tracking service.

If you wish to participate in this interest group, Media and Entertainment encourages engaging participation from many and various communities. Here’s a guideline for whoever wants to join the group, particularly individuals in one of the following cliques:  

• Browser Vendors 
• TV broadcasters/TV service providers
• TV/cable box manufacturer 
• Company that infuses development & broadcasting (Web+TV)
• Company that utilize fusing of broadcasting/web technology
• Software vendor