IVOA Exec Highlights

[Dave De Young]

Dear IVOA Members;

The IVOA Exec met last week on April 24 2008 via
a teleconference.  As in the past, I am sending 
you some highlights from this meeting that will
provide some added information about the Exec
activities.  Other information, including a formal
list of Exec actions, can be found in the minutes 
posted on the IVOA website.  (Please note that these
minutes are still in draft form.)

Several of the agenda items were simple updates 
about preparations being made for the full Interop
meeting next month in Trieste.  There were no new
standards or revisions of existing standards put
forward for approval at this meeting.

Discussion has been underway for some time about the
term of the Chair of the IVOA.  The current one year
term provides rapid rotation of the leadership among
the various IVOA member countries, and this rotation
is beneficial because it provides a distributed 
representation of IVOA leadership.  However, now that 
IVOA is more mature there is a growing need for 
longer term policies and programs, and it was recognized
that a longer term for the Chair would make the
oversight of such programs more effective.  A doubling
of the current term to 2 years would accomplish this,
but concern was also expressed that the value of 
frequent transfer of leadership should not be lost.
As a result of these deliberations, a term of 18 months
for the IVOA Chair was proposed, and this proposal was
accepted by the Exec, to become effective with the term
of the next Chair.

It was noted that several (6) Chairs of Working Groups
or Interest Groups are due for rotation at the Trieste
meeting.  I will be sending a separate email to all of
you very soon that asks for your opinions on these
changes of leadership.

The committee to evaluate the results of the IVOA
Assessment has been meeting for several months, and
at this meeting the committee report was presented
to the Exec for comments and revisions.  The report
focuses on the role of the IVOA in the era of VO 
operations, and many of the recommendations describe
new initiatives for the IVOA that are relevant to
this role.  Among these are establishing better
communication and information transfer among the 
various VO projects, improving the processes for
adopting new and revised standards, and establishing
liaison between the IVOA and various "VO like" projects
in other fields.  After the inclusion of any revisions,
the report will be ready for formal adoption at the May
Interop meeting.

The planning for the Trieste meeting is in its final
stages, and the fall Interop meeting will be held in
Baltimore from 26 October to 31 October 2008.  I
look forward to seeing you in Trieste.

Best wishes,

Dave De Young
IVOA Chair