SVTA diversity and inclusion statement
The SVTA Diversity And Inclusion Statement Outlines Our commitment to equality in the streaming video industry
Note: we see this statement as fluid, reflecting our ongoing commitment to inclusion, equality, and diversity. As such, it may change in response to global or national movements.
As the United States, and the world at large, begins to reckon with systemic racism and cultural oppression of people of color, industry associations like the Streaming Video Alliance have an important role to play. These associations are often the “voice” for an industry, representing individuals or companies from across the ecosystem and, as such, can do a tremendous amount to foster inclusion and provide opportunities for under-represented groups. The most obvious contexts of diversity include race, ethnicity, religion, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, country of origin, culture and diversity of thought. However, in a rapidly changing society, diversity continues to evolve and can include class, socioeconomic status, life experiences, learning and working styles, personality types and intellectual traditions and perspectives, in addition to cultural, political, religious and other beliefs.
The Streaming Video Alliance is strongly in support of increasing the opportunities for historically under-represented or repressed groups within the streaming industry. We stand with Black Lives Matter, the LGBTQ community, and other groups that have been victimized as a result of discrimination and racism. As such, we are committing our organization to helping improve inclusion and diversity within the streaming industry. This commitment may include, and is not limited to, such activities as:
- Actively seeking out individuals to participate within and lead our projects.
- Striving for increased diversity within our SEGMENTS conference (scheduled to debut in April, 2021).
- Improving the percentage of minority- and women-owned small businesses included in our annual grant program.
- Diversifying our leadership, from our board to the working groups.
- Seeking panelists from under-represented groups for Streaming Video Alliance webinars, panels moderated by our Executive Director at other industry events, and other educational forums such as mentoring programs.
- Launching programs to showcase individual voices from under-represented groups.
- Partnering with minority-focused organizations, such as AfroTech, to support the development and promotion of other voices within the industry.
We recognize that this isn’t a “one and done” approach. Our commitment is not for just this year, or the next. Improving diversity within our industry, and within human society as a whole, will take a concerted, long-term effort by everyone. That includes us, for the duration of our operation.
Only working together can we change our industry, and the world, so that everyone, regardless of race, religious belief, gender or sexual orientation has an equal opportunity to contribute and succeed.
About the Streaming Video Technology Alliance
Comprised of members from across the video ecosystem, the Streaming Video Technology Alliance is a global association that works to solve critical streaming video challenges in an effort to improve end-user experience and adoption. The organization focuses on three main activities: first is to educate the industry on challenges, technologies, and trends through informative, publicly-available resources such as whitepapers, articles, and e-books; second is to foster collaboration among different video ecosystem players through working groups, quarterly meetings, and conferences; third is to define solutions for streaming video challenges by producing specifications, best practices, and other technical documentation. For more information, please visit www.svta.org.
