syndicated.media is a working group intended to develop or improve standards related to media content. Currently the focus is on audio and video content distributed through podcasting via RSS.
The goal of this working group is to create useful, highly-adopted, well-defined additions to the existing RSS system, as well as establish standards for other technological aspects that impact podcasting, including host and client behavior, analytics, and monetization. The entirety of these standards and best practices are considered the syndicated.media specification, and may include conformance to other specs, including those defined by this working group.
The remainder of this document is a work-in-progress draft of the syndicated.media specification.
The primary goals of this spec are to improve the quality of podcasting as a method of distribution for those who have a stake in the content. Including:
- Producers
- Publishers
- Consumers (listeners, viewers, etc)
- Developers
- Studios
- Sponsors
- Underwriters
- Advertisers
The hope is to make improvements without sacrificing or diminishing core concepts and values of podcasting, such as its distributed and decentralized nature.
Currently ideas are being collected for inclusion in the spec. Proposals and discussions are taking place in GitHub Issues for the repository used to maintain this document. As ideas gain traction they will be included in the list of proposals below.
Below is a list of notable proposals for things the working group should consider addressing in this spec. They may not yet include proposals for solutions.
- a task list item
- list syntax required
If you would like to contribute to the project, first look through the list of proposals or search existing Issues to see if a similar idea has already been submitted. If not, create a new issue. Include as much information as possible, such as who the idea impacts or benefits, how it could be implemented, which aspect of podcasting it is related to (eg. feeds, mobile app, etc), and any existing solutions that currently exist for the problem and why they aren't sufficient.
Also please include any associations you have with podcasting, especially if they are in a professional capacity. (This is an effort of "full disclosure", not a means of determining importance of ideas.)