[iaufwg] FITS Registry Proposal

[Doug Tody]

Hi Bill -

This all sounds pretty reasonable.  My biggest concern is that a
static web page with protected access is likely to remain empty
unless we actively solicit contributions; anything we don't know
about probably won't have a chance to be discovered.  While the
Registry technique might not be best for FITS, one advantage is than
anyone can register their contribution, to get it into the process
at the first level.  You could set up some similar mechanism where
anyone could fill out a form to submit the information as a "proposed"
convention, which is guaranteed to at least be advertised on the site.
A simpler alternative might be to use a TWiki for proposed conventions,
from which the designated FITS authorities could select conventions
deemed compliant for propagation to a controlled page.

 	- Doug


On Tue, 21 Mar 2006, William Pence wrote:

> Hopefully more people will contribute to this discussion, too, but for now 
> I'll try to summarize and reply to the points made by Doug Tody, Bob Hanisch 
> and Steve Allen:
>
> 1.  Bob and Doug both suggested opening up the registry so that proposed 
> conventions, or working drafts of conventions could be registered.  I think 
> this is fine as long as there is a clear distinction between the 2 (e.g., by 
> having separate web pages for the "proposed" and the "approved" conventions). 
> So when someone submits a convention for approval it would first be put on 
> the "proposed" web page during the public comment period. Then if the IAU-FWG 
> approves it, it would be moved to the "approved" web page.  Otherwise it 
> would remain on the "Proposed" web page indefinitely, (unless the proposers 
> want to withdraw it).
>
> 2.  Doug felt that the proposed approval process is too strict and the 
> requirements should be cut back to a minimum.  I agree that the requirements 
> should be keep to a minimum and am open to specific suggestions for how to 
> change the wording (at http://fits.gsfc.nasa.gov/fits_registry.html)  I still 
> think however that a convention must meet some minimum requirements before it 
> can be given the IAU-FWG Seal of Approval.  Doug specifically mentioned the 
> requirement of not duplicating other conventions, but the current wording 
> does not forbid this, and only says that conventions should not duplicate 
> other conventions "without good justification".
>
> 3.  Bob pointed out the strong similarities with the process used in the IVOA 
> to promote standards, which is encouraging.   He also suggested reusing the 
> existing VO registry infrastructure for the FITS conventions.  While I don't 
> want to hold back progress and new ideas, in this case I don't really seen 
> any advantage to trying to use the VO registry for this purpose.  I think the 
> FITS community would be more comfortable with the traditional practice where 
> the discussion of the proposed conventions would take place on 
> FITSBITS/sci.astro.fits news group, and the proposed/approved conventions are 
> just listed on a simple web site.  At least I would prefer to get things 
> started this way, and postpone merging into the VO registries to some future 
> time.
>
> 4. Finally, Steve raised a number of practical issues about where this web 
> site would be located and who could add new information to it.  For now, I 
> volunteer to maintain this under the FITS Support Office Web site at the 
> HEASARC, which I already maintain.   Whether this is the most appropriate 
> place for it in the long term is a good question, but I think we can worry 
> about that later.  Setting up a mirror of the FITS Support Office web site, 
> perhaps in Europe, would also be a good idea that we should consider.
>
> regards,
> Bill
> -- 
> ____________________________________________________________________
> Dr. William Pence                       pence at milkyway.gsfc.nasa.gov
> NASA/GSFC Code 662       HEASARC        +1-301-286-4599 (voice)
> Greenbelt MD 20771                      +1-301-286-1684 (fax)
>
>
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