The mission of the Timed Text Working Group, part of the Video in the Web Activity, is to develop W3C Recommendations for media online captioning by developing and maintaining new versions of the Timed Text Markup Language (TTML) and WebVTT (Web Video Text Tracks) based on implementation experience and interoperability feedback, and the creation of semantic mappings between those languages.
Join the Timed Text Working Group.
End date | 30 November 2015 |
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Confidentiality | Proceedings are public |
Initial Chairs | Nigel Megitt, David Singer |
Initial Team Contact (FTE %: 20) |
Philippe Le Hégaret, Thierry Michel |
Usual Meeting Schedule | Teleconferences: Weekly for TTML, and as
needed for WebVTT Face-to-face: 1-2 per year |
This group is chartered to develop formats used for the representation of text synchronized with other timed media, like audio and video. Such formats MUST be useable for online media captioning, should be useable for described video (aka video/audio description) and should address the media accessibility user requirements. Such formats MAY also be useable for broadcast production and exchange and MUST be useable in the context of HTML.
The Group will:
In the process of producing the specification, the Group WILL:
The experimental license was approved only for products of the HTML working group. Though VTT is often thought of as an HTML extension (notably by the original author), this work will be going on in the more appropriate TTML working group, dedicated to Timed Text, and thus it doesn’t fall automatically into the approved category. The original version of the VTT document was developed in a Community Group, and CG deliverables have a fairly liberal license. The group is keen to avoid the problem that the CG output(s) become more used/referenced than the WG official documents, as a consequence of their more liberal license: in a sense, this would be encouraging the very forking that the W3C license normally tries to avoid. Ideally the CG output(s) are seen as, and marked as, and understood as, precursors to the WG output(s), and the WG Recommendation Track documents are seen as current and are the ones used, referenced, and so on. By using a liberal license for the WG document(s), we can avoid having the CG documents be apparently ‘more attractive’, and thus we can effectively retire them.
(We note that this work is among the first to move from Community to Working group, and this issue may come up again.)
If problems are found with this approach, the group will use the W3C document license, and try to handle the transition as gracefully as it can.
The new work is expected to be broadly available and should be provided on a timely fashion. This charter features a tightly constrained scope designed to ensure that the Working Group will meet its schedule and objectives.
The Working Group is expected to demonstrate at least two interoperable implementations of all available features in the recommendations.
The Working Group will update the test suites intended to promote implementations of the above specification(s) and to assess interoperability between these implementations. The Group will also produce an implementation report for each deliverable.
Note: The group will document significant changes from this initial schedule on the group home page. | ||||||
Deliverable | LC | Note | CR | PER | PR | Rec |
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WebVTT 1.0 | January 2014 | N/A | March 2014 | N/A | September 2014 | November 2014 |
TTML Live Production and Streaming Note | March 2014 | June 2014 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
Timed Text Markup Language (TTML) 2 | April 2014 | N/A | July 2014 | N/A | December 2014 | February 2015 |
Text and Image Profiles for Internet Media Subtitles and Captions | April 2014 | N/A | July 2014 | N/A | December 2014 | February 2015 |
TTML/WebVTT mapping | N/A | September 2014 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
As part of the Video in the Web Activity, the Timed Text Working Group will be represented in the Hypertext Coordination Group.
To be successful, the Timed Text Working Group is expected to have 5 or more active participants for its duration. Effective participation to Timed Text Working Group is expected to consume one half-day per week for each participant; one day per week for editors. The Timed Text Working Group will allocate also the necessary resources for building Test Suites for each specification.
Participants are reminded of the Good Standing requirements of the W3C Process.
This group primarily conducts its work on the public mailing list public-tt@w3.org (archive).
A Member-only mailing list, member-tt@w3.org (archive) is available for administrative purposes such as liaison with Member-only Working Groups.
Information about the group (deliverables, participants, face-to-face meetings, teleconferences, etc.) is available from the Timed Text Working Group home page.
As explained in the Process Document (section 3.3), this group will seek to make decisions when there is consensus. When the Chair puts a question and observes dissent, after due consideration of different opinions, the Chair should record a decision (possibly after a formal vote) and any objections, and move on. This charter is written in accordance with Section 3.4, Votes of the W3C Process Document and includes no voting procedures beyond what the Process Document requires.
This Working Group operates under the W3C Patent Policy (5 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.
For more information about disclosure obligations for this group, please see the W3C Patent Policy Implementation.
This charter for the Timed Text Working Group has been created according to section 6.2 of the Process Document. In the event of a conflict between this document or the provisions of any charter and the W3C Process, the W3C Process shall take precedence.
The previous charter is also available.
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