SMPTE AG 14
Administrative Guideline

Standard Community Participation Agreement

Published - 2023-01-31

Table of contents

  1. Foreword
  2. 1 Scope
  3. 2 Conformance
  4. 3 Normative references
  5. 4 Terms and definitions
  6. 5 Participation Agreement

Foreword

SMPTE (the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers) is an internationally-recognized standards developing organization. Headquartered and incorporated in the United States of America, SMPTE has members in over 80 countries on six continents. SMPTE’s Engineering Documents, including Standards, Recommended Practices, and Engineering Guidelines, are prepared by SMPTE’s Technology Committees. Participation in these Committees is open to all with a bona fide interest in their work. SMPTE cooperates closely with other standards-developing organizations, including ISO, IEC and ITU. SMPTE Engineering Documents are drafted in accordance with the rules given in its Standards Operations Manual.

This Standards Administrative Guideline forms an adjunct to the use and interpretation of the SMPTE Standards Operations Manual. In the event of a conflict, the Operations Manual shall prevail.

1 Scope

This Administrative Guideline sets forth the participation agreement for membership in the SMPTE Standards Community. The participation agreement must be agreed to when a person applies to become a Standards Community Member.

2 Conformance

Normative text is text that describes elements of the design that are indispensable or contains the conformance language keywords: "shall", "should", or "may". Informative text is text that is potentially helpful to the user, but not indispensable, and can be removed, changed, or added editorially without affecting interoperability. Informative text does not contain any conformance keywords.

All text in this document is, by default, normative, except: the Introduction, any section explicitly labeled as "Informative" or individual paragraphs that start with "Note:"

The keywords "shall" and "shall not" indicate requirements strictly to be followed in order to conform to the document and from which no deviation is permitted.

The keywords, "should" and "should not" indicate that, among several possibilities, one is recommended as particularly suitable, without mentioning or excluding others; or that a certain course of action is preferred but not necessarily required; or that (in the negative form) a certain possibility or course of action is deprecated but not prohibited.

The keywords "may" and "need not" indicate courses of action permissible within the limits of the document.

The keyword "reserved" indicates a provision that is not defined at this time, shall not be used, and may be defined in the future. The keyword "forbidden" indicates "reserved" and in addition indicates that the provision will never be defined in the future.

Unless otherwise specified, the order of precedence of the types of normative information in this document shall be as follows: Normative prose shall be the authoritative definition; Tables shall be next; then formal languages; then figures; and then any other language forms.

3 Normative references

The following documents are referred to in the text in such a way that some or all of their content constitutes requirements of this document. For dated references, only the edition cited applies. For undated references, the latest edition of the referenced document (including any amendments) applies.

4 Terms and definitions

For the purposes of this document, the terms and definitions given in the following documents apply:

5 Participation Agreement

By submitting this application I understand:

  • That on approval of my application I will be permitted to join any number of SMPTE Technology 
    Committees and their subgroups;
  • That my initial status on each Technology Committee will be that of Observer Member, 
    but that after attending one or more meetings I may apply to the Technology Committee Chair 
    for Participant Member status on that Technology Committee;
  • That Participant Membership in any Technology Committee requires regular attendance at meetings
    and regular articipation in formal ballots of the committee;
  • That membership of the SMPTE Standards Community requires a single working email address for 
    all committee communications, and access to the Internet for obtaining documents, participation 
    in committee ballots, etc.

I acknowledge and agree:

  • To be governed by the SMPTE Bylaws
  • That I will adhere to the provisions of the SMPTE Operations Manuals applicable to Engineering 
    Committees (available at https://www.smpte.org/about/policies-and-governance), specifically 
    the SMPTE Standards Operations Manual and the Intellectual Property Policy included therein 
    and, following notification of any adoption or change, such rules and policies as the Board of 
    Directors and/or the SMPTE Standards Committee may from time to time adopt.
  • That on-going participation in Committee activities constitutes an agreement to be bound by any 
    amendment(s) in SMPTE Bylaws, SMPTE Standards Operations Manual, rules and/or policies that
    are made from time to time. Such adoptions, amendments and changes in policies will be communicated 
    to me by email to the address I provide for Committee communications at least 30 days before the 
    effective date of the change.
  • That I may be participating in issues relating to the on-going appraisal of technologies, and in 
    decisions that are interim by nature and may undergo substantial revisions. I recognize that SMPTE 
    encourages me to discuss such issues privately with others considered to be knowledgeable in the 
    field. However, since premature public disclosure may be a disservice to the industry I agree to 
    refrain from either directly or indirectly making any public disclosure of the business transacted 
    by the Committee without the express consent of the Committee Chair and the Standards Vice-President.
  • That recording of meetings (except by the Secretary as permitted by the 
    SMPTE Standards Operations Manual) is prohibited, and if, when available, I choose to attend 
    meetings by electronic means this same prohibition applies.