i202 Fall 2010 School of Information, UC Berkeley

(just cutting and pasting here for people who enjoyed Kimra's talk about metadata for video on 9/27)

The explosion of the mobile device market demonstrates how consumers have come to expect and rely on access to the network from anywhere, at any time. Increasingly, people expect similar access to the Web from consumer electronics such as televisions. W3C has begun to organize a series of workshops to discuss this convergence with television industry and other producers of consumer electronics.

The first workshop in the series took place in Japan on 2-3 September. There, 150 participants from various industries discussed key use cases and important requirements for smarter integration of Web, broadcasting and consumer electronics technologies. A summary of the workshop is now available.

One recommendation from the participants was for W3C to create "Web and TV" Interest Group. A draft charter is now available; W3C invites public comment on public-web-and-tv@w3.org. The proposed scope for the group is:

• Minimum clarification about the conceptual relationship between Web and TV, especially the architectural relationship between the services on Web and the TV services;
• Identification of important requirements for the Web to function effectively with TV services on TV devices and TV-like devices;
• Identification of important requirements for TV to function effectively on various devices with services on the Web;
• Review and discussion of deliverables under development by other W3C groups, which touch on the use of the Web and TV;
• Exploration of barriers to the Web and TV services working on TV devices and TV-like devices, and potential solutions;
• Provide a forum for the exchange information about Web and TV activities around the world.