Registry in RSS

[Roy Williams]

Dick Shaw wrote:
> Without disagreeing with the fine ideas offered in this thread, I 
> think there may be some value in keeping the conceptual basis and 
> purpose of VOEvent relatively uncluttered. The example notification 
> from IERS is, in its content, really about a non-event (no adjustment 
> to the time reference system is expected to happen at the end of 
> June). A notice about the availability of a new VO resource, while 
> interesting, isn't exactly an event in an astronomical sense. Are 
> these notifications really what VOEvent about? 


Thank you Dick. There are some features of VOEvent, and its 
software/user base, that make it less well suited as a general message 
format.

For example, each VOEvent has a position in the sky, and tools are there 
to correlate, display, and reason about that position. Setting the 
position to 999,999 or some other rubbish would confuse the users of 
such tools and make think VOEvent is wrong.

Predicted events are another extension that could muddy things. The user 
might get instant alerts on new events, and would feel cheated if it is 
about an eclipse 5 years in the future, and thus cut off the feed of all 
events.

When people see a selection of event streams, they are expecting Swift, 
Fermi, LOFAR, Veritas, ie actual observations of astrophysics. A stream 
about VO registry or leap second predictions or how hungover Matthew 
Graham is would make them confused and thus decide that VOEvent is not 
appropriate.


-- 

California Institute of Technology
626 395 3670