[iaufwg] INHERIT convention

[William Pence]

Walter Jaffe wrote:
> This begs the question of whether the expertise present in the iaufwg
> can be used in fact to improve the convention.  While this is probably
> desirable, I would separate this from the reviewing procedure.  We might
> attach a blog and a revision history to each convention.  In the first
> case people both in- and outside the iaufwg can make suggestions for
> improvements and point out hazards inherent in the convention. The 
> second would document those changes that the authors have made.

I think the most important thing we can do (and it is also fairly easy 
to implement) is to capture all the discussions about a convention and 
make them easily available to future users from the registry web page. 
Since virtually all the discussions about a particular convention takes 
place during the 'public comment' period on FITSBITS, it is probably 
overkill to set up a separate wiki or blog for this purpose.  Instead, 
at the end of the public comment period, I plan to append all the 
relevant emails from FITSBITS (and the IAUFWG list if appropriate) into 
a single text file that will be available from the registry web page 
(probably as a link labeled 'Comments and recommendations about this 
convention').  If more discussion about that convention occurs at a 
later date, then I will  manually add them to the 'Comments and 
recommendations' text file for that convention.  I don't think this will 
happen very often, so it shouldn't require much effort on my part.

For this to work efficiently, it is important that everyone here make 
any comments that they have about the convention during the 'Public 
Comment' period on FITSBITS, and not wait until the last minute to raise 
any new issues here on the IAUFWG email list just before the IAUFWG 
formally approves adding the convention to the registry.

I'll just add that I think it is perfectly acceptable to discuss 
implementation issues or criticisms, or suggestions for improving the 
convention during the public comment period on FITSBITS.  When we first 
set up the registry, I thought that these sorts of discussions should be 
considered 'off topic' and should be discouraged, but now I've come to 
believe that these sorts of wide-ranging discussions are health and 
useful and may lead to the development of even better conventions in the 
future.   These discussions should not affect whether the convention 
gets added into the registry, however, since the main purpose of the 
registry is to simply document how existing FITS conventions work.

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)