"Synchronized Multimedia" Working Group (SYMM WG) Charter

This charter is superceded by the latest SMIL extended charter.

This charter is written in accordance with section 6.2.6 of the W3C Process Document.


Table of Contents

  1. Mission Statement
  2. Scope
  3. Deliverables
  4. Duration
  5. Success Criteria
  6. Milestones
  7. Dependencies/Relationship with other W3C Activities
  8. Coordination with External Groups
  9. Membership, Participation and Resources
  10. Communication, Meetings and Logistics
  11. Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)
  12. Related Documents

1. Mission Statement

The mission of the SYMM Working Group [SYMM WG] is to continue W3C's work on synchronized multimedia that started with SMIL 1.0, SMIL 2.0. Its main contribution is extending the functionality contained in the current SMIL 2.0 Recommendation. In the event of a conflict between this document and the W3C Process, the W3C Process shall take precedence.

2. Scope

Since SMIL 2.0 has been released, a number of extension proposals have been received by the SYMM Interest Group [SYMM IG]. This section describes the work items to be treated by the Working Group. The Working Group is free to decide that some of the extensions listed below are not worthwhile pursuing, and to potentially develop and evaluate new extension proposals.

2.1 SMIL 2.0 Proposed Edited Recommendation

Revise the current SMIL 2.0 Recommendation to incorporate fixed SMIL 2.0 Errata. This document will be a full re-edition of SMIL 2.0 including normative DTD and Schema (Plan is to issue a Proposed Edited Recommendation).

2.2 SMIL 2.1 for Mobile Devices

SMIL 2.1 version will incorporate features currently in use within the mobile industry, where SMIL is used as the basis of the MMS (Multimedia Messaging) Service. Given the already existing experience with these features, it should not take a lot of time for the WG to come to consensus on these features. Therefore, the SYMM WG plans to release SMIL 2.1 directly as a Last Call Working Draft. This will save time and help to get to Recommendation faster. It will also enable other standard bodies such as 3GPP and OMA to base their MMS-related specifications on W3C's SMIL 2.1 specification.

SMIL 2.1 should comprise the following functionality:

The SMIL 2.1 version will be build on top of SMIL 2.0. It should only specify new and extended features. Therefore the document should only incorporate new or enhanced functionalities, the revised or extended modules and the revised or extended profile.

2.3 SMIL Future Version

Work on a future version of SMIL will allow the SYMM WG to investigate some of the proposals that have not yet reached wider consensus and for which deployment is less certain at the time of writing. Only proposals with industry consensus on their necessisity should be pursued.
The SYMM WG once done with the SMIL 2.1 for Mobile Devices version, should work on a SMIL Future Version requirement document that lists these work items.

Potential work items include:

Media Identification and Linking

Media Layout

Media Manipulation

Others

2.4 Miscellaneous

The Working Group should investigate the potential needs within the industry before addressing the following areas of functionality:

Note: The SYMM WG may also take over the results of the Timed Text Working Group [TTWG] if that group terminates without having finished its work.

3. Deliverables

4. Duration

This Working Group is scheduled to last for 24 months, from May 2004 through May 2006. This includes a six month "life after Recommendation" phase.

5. Success Criteria

The main criterion of success for SYMM WG is that:

6. Milestones

A tentative schedule of face-to-face meetings and deliverables is given here:

April 2004
SYMM WG starts.
May 2004
First SYMM WG f2f meeting scheduled on May 12th and 13th hosted by CWI in Amsterdam.
June 2004
Release a SMIL 2.0 edition as Proposed Edited Recommendation
July 2004
First Working Draft and Last Call of SMIL 2.1
September 2004
SYMM WG f2f meeting
Create "disposition of comments" document for SMIL 2.1
October 2004
Advance SMIL 2.1 to Candidate Recommendation
Provide a Test suite for SMIL 2.1
Interoperability testing of SMIL 2.1 implementations with test suite.
November 2004
Advance SMIL 2.1 to Proposed Recommendation
December 2004
SYMM WG f2f meeting
SMIL future version Working Draft first publication
SMIL 2.1 version becomes a W3C Recommendation.
March 2005
SYMM WG f2f meeting
SMIL future version Working Draft second publication.
June 2005
SYMM WG f2f meeting
Last Call Working Draft of SMIL future version
September 2005
SYMM WG f2f meeting
Create "disposition of comments" document for SMIL future version Last Call comments
Provide a final summary of patent statements for SMIL future version.
October 2005
Advance SMIL future version to Candidate Recommendation.
November 2005
SYMM WG f2f meeting
January 2006
Provide a Test suite for SMIL future version
February 2006
Interoperability testing of SMIL extensions implementations with test suite.
March 2006
SMIL future version moves to Proposed Recommendation.
April 2006
SMIL future version becomes a W3C Recommendation.
May 2006
SYMM WG ends.

Note that public working drafts will be made available at least once every three months, per W3C Process.

7. Dependencies/Relationship with other W3C Activities

The Working Group has to take into account technologies developed by other groups within W3C, and ask them to review specifications prepared by the SYMM Working Group. At the time the charter was written, the following ongoing W3C activities are concerned:

Hypertext Coordination Group
The Hypertext Coordination Group has the responsibility for ensuring that reviews between Working Groups are planned and carried out so as to meet requirements for deliverables and deadlines. The Hypertext Coordination Group includes representatives for the XML Coordination Group and for the Web Accessibility Initiative, as well as the Working Groups in the Interaction Domain.
HTML Working Group
The Working Group cooperates with the HTML WG for the SMIL modularization framework and for SMIL integration into others languages e.g. XHTML+SMIL Profile , XSS Compact 1.0 - An XHTML + SVG + SMIL Profile.
CSS Working Group.
The Working Group coordinates with the CSS WG on presentation and layout issues.
Timed Text Working Group
The Working Group cooperates with the TT WG to ensure that SMIL meets the requirements of this group and for proper integration of timed text into SMIL.
Scalable Vector Graphics Working Group
The Working Group cooperates with the SVG WG for SMIL integration into others languages e.g. XSS Compact 1.0 - An XHTML + SVG + SMIL Profile.
Device Independence Working Group
The Working Group cooperates with the DI WG to ensure that SMIL meets the requirements for device independent access, e.g. to ensure that the format is usable both on mobile devices and PCs.
Multimodal Interaction Working Group
The Working Group coordinates with the MMI WG to ensure that SMIL meets the requirements for a range of modalities including speech, pen and keypads. The Working Group will work with the MMI WG to look into:
Internationalization Working Group
The Working Group cooperates with the I18N WG to ensure SMIL provides effective support for internationalization.
QA Working Group
The Working Group coordinates with the QA WG to develop SMIL test suites.
TAG Working Group
The Working Group ensures that SMIL meets the general Web architecture of the TAG and helps coordinate cross-technology architecture developments inside and outside W3C.
XSL Working Group
The work of the Working Group coordinates with the XSL WG on presentation and layout issues.
Web Accessibility Initiative
The Working Group cooperates with the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) to ensure SMIL meets W3C accessibility goals

8. Coordination with External Groups and Standard bodies

Outside W3C, a number of groups are working technologies relevant for the SYMM WG.

9. Membership, Participation and Resources

9.1 Membership

To become a member of the SYMM Working Group, a representative of a W3C Member organization must be nominated by their Advisory Committee Representative (please send email to the Working Group chair and the W3C team contact). The nomination must include explicit agreement to this charter, including its goals, a Patent disclosure and the level of effort required of the representative.
Membership is also open to invited experts from the community, as per W3C process.
Participation is expected to consume at least one day per week of each Working Group member's time.

9.2 Resources

The SYMM WG is chaired by Yoshihisa Gonno (Sony) and Guido Grassel (Nokia).
The W3C team contact for this working Group is Thierry Michel.

9.3 W3C Team Involvement

The W3C team will provide a team contact whose task are described in the document "Role of the Team Contact". W3C team members are expected to adopt the same requirements for meeting attendance, timely response and information disclosure as are required of W3C Members. 30% of the W3C team contact's time is expected to be devoted to the SYMM Working Group.

10. Communication, Meetings, and Logistics

10.1 Email Communication

The SYMM Working Group utilizes a member-confidential mailing list <symm@w3.org> and a public mailing list <www-smil@w3.org>.

10.2 Group Home Page

The Working Group has a home page that records the history of the group, provides access to the archives, meeting minutes, updated schedule of deliverables, membership list, and relevant documents and resources. The page is maintained by the Chair (s) in collaboration with the W3C team contact.

10.3 Telephone Meetings

A one to two hour Working Group phone conference is held every week. When necessary to meet agreed-upon deadlines, phone conferences may be held twice a week.

10.4 Face-to-Face Meetings

Participation in face-to-face meetings is limited to SYMM Working Group members. Decisions may be taken in face-to-face meetings but must be announced on the Working Group mailing list.
The Chair (s) makes Working Group meeting dates and locations available to the group at least eight weeks before the meeting, per W3C Process.

11. Patent Policy

The current Working Group is operating under the W3C Patent Policy (05 February 2004 Version). To promote the widest adoption of Web standards, W3C seeks to issue Recommendations that can be implemented, according to this policy, on a Royalty-Free basis.

12. Related Documents

W3C Recommendation: Synchronized Multimedia Integration Language (SMIL 2.0)
This document is the latest W3C Recommendation for the SMIL language.
SMIL 2.0 Extension for Professional Multimedia Authoring - Preliminary Investigation
This document is the a W3C Note of the Sony Submission.

For questions on this document, please contact:: Thierry Michel <tmichel@w3.org> (last modified on $Date: 2006/06/01 18:58:52 $)