Standard Committee on Standards & Processes

28 October 2008, IVOA Interoperability Meeting, Baltimore

A meeting of the SCSP was held during the IVOA Interoperability meeting in Baltimore on 28 October 2008. The following topics were discussed:

• Theory standardisation process

H. Wozniak, chair of the Theory IG, explained current situation with respect to Theory standards, which are will be discussed during three sessions during this meeting, plus a special session organised on Wednesday 29 October with the chairs of the relevant WGs. Two standards are being prepared, SimDB and SimDAP. The promotion of standards to recommendation is a WG responsibility, and cannot thus be ensured by the Theory IG which is an Interest Group and not a Working Group. SimDAP was presented at the DAL session and it should be hosted by the DAL WG. SimDB requires input from several WGs.

The discussion concluded that the current rule that a single WG is in responsible of a given standard must be maintained. When other WGs are strongly involved, the WD 'inWG' discussions should be also held in the other WGs, under responsibility of the WG in charge.

SimDB involves DM, Registry, Semantics, VOQL. It is likely that it will be hosted by DM or Registry, but more time is needed to assess which WG will be in charge. This was confirmed by the discussion held during the 29 October special session with the relevant WG leads. Participants/contact persons have been or will be identified by all relevant WGs.