Re: New SyncMedia draft online - please comment

Hello,

This is a reminder to review this new draft - several people expressed interest in stabilizing a model for sync media before moving to serialization (e.g. JSON and/or XML). This is a chance to dig into that model. Looking forward to your comments.

Marisa

> On Sep 15, 2020, at 14:26, Marisa DeMeglio <marisa.demeglio@gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Hi all,
> 
> I have put together a new draft and would like to ask for your feedback. An overview of the new documents can be found here:
> https://raw.githack.com/w3c/sync-media-pub/wip/docs/new/index.html <https://raw.githack.com/w3c/sync-media-pub/wip/docs/new/index.html>
> 
> And the spec itself is here:
> https://raw.githack.com/w3c/sync-media-pub/wip/docs/new/sync-media.html <https://raw.githack.com/w3c/sync-media-pub/wip/docs/new/sync-media.html>
> 
> 
> The purpose of this ground-up rewrite is:
> 
> * To maintain continuity with EPUB Media Overlays by building on SMIL
> * To expand what is possible with synchronized media: include more media types and rendering parameters
> * Increase accessibility by introducing the idea of “tracks”, which represent roles in a presentation (think of “background music track”, “text transcript track”, “video track”, “sound effects track”, “images track”, etc). Tracks can be enabled/disabled, and have global parameters that can be adjusted.
> 
> To get an idea of what could be possible in this space now, here are a few types of examples we hope to create:
> 
> - SVG comic with audio narration
> - EPUB with separate side-loaded audio overlay
> - Audio-only presentation (with structuring beyond what is possible in the Audiobooks spec)
> - Background music
> - Video and text transcript
> 
> 
> Regarding the existing Synchronized Narration documents:
> 
> To me, it did not feel like a good path, because it did not follow in the footsteps of EPUB Media Overlays closely enough, and it had issues that were preventing it from moving forward. 
> 
> That said, a possible JSON serialization of this new rewritten syntax, referenced above, could look not too different from the Synchronized Narration examples that have been floating around. 
> 
> Our landing page has been updated and while it still references Synchronized Narration, it also mentions that we are working on something new and that changes are to be anticipated:
> https://w3c.github.io/sync-media-pub/#status <https://w3c.github.io/sync-media-pub/#status>
> 
> Also worth mentioning, the Audiobooks spec has been updated to be less specific in its references to our work, to give us some room. You can see the latest here:
> https://www.w3.org/TR/audiobooks/#audio-accessibility <https://www.w3.org/TR/audiobooks/#audio-accessibility>
> 
> That said, Audiobooks will reach CR soon (November), so if we could stabilize our documents by then, it would be really great.
> 
> And finally, the new spec is called SyncMedia, as “Synchronized Narration” was a mouthful that no one could remember. In conversation, everyone was just saying “Sync Media” to me anyway. So why fight it? Open to suggestions here if anyone feels strongly.
> 
> Thanks to Lars Wallin for collaborating with me and really digging in to this work. I’m looking forward to hearing everyone’s thoughts and also working on some examples.
> 
> Thanks
> Marisa
>