[Even list/ event ] stabilizing the name of a data set containing lists of events

[Mathieu Servillat]

Hi all,

I am surprised to see so few services with dataproduct_type='event' in 
the registry. I can easily update the ivo://padc.obspm.he/tap services ;-)

Changing "event" to "event-list" in ObsCore seems to be motivated and 
feasible. This particularly applies to high-energy events, i.e. 
detections of events that potentially correspond to the arrival of a 
particle on a detector (with time, coordinates, energy). Should we be 
specific and name this an "he-event-list", or is "event-list" 
sufficient? I think "event-list" is sufficient, as an astrophysical 
event may be commonly described similarly (time, coord, energy).

The name "event" is maybe too vague and self-explicit to be defined in 
the VO:
* Cambridge dictionary: "anything that happens, especially something 
important or unusual"
* Wordreference: "something that happens", "something that occurs in a 
certain place during a particular time"

The issue may be to use this name for more specific concepts. What is 
described as VOevents could better be qualified by 
"event-alert"/"event-notification" as it is generally an alert sent to 
other observatories, or "event-report" as the goal is to carry metadata 
information about an astrophysical event.

Cheers,
Mathieu


Le 24/07/2023 à 15:04, Markus Demleitner a écrit :
> Dear DM and Semantics,
>
> On Sat, Jul 22, 2023 at 09:04:19PM +0200, Mireille LOUYS wrote:
>> For clarity,  we need to homogeneize the terms and  definition:
>> so my proposal is to :
>>
>> - update Obscore to clearly use the term  'eventlist' instead of event , as
>> well as the /product-type/ IVOA Vocabulary.
>> - change the label 'event' to 'eventlist'  in the product-type vocabulary
>> - introduce  'event'  in the IVOA product-type vocabulary as defined in EPN
>> Core.
>>
>> Eager to read your comments about this proposal.
> I've never been a big fan of the word "event" in the obscore
> dataproduct_type terms, exactly because, as you say, we'll most
> likely have *lists* of events in obscore.
>
> On the other hand, changing class labels in standards (and databases)
> is always painful, and if we do it, we need to have a plan for how to
> move the installed base.
>
> I've just done an all-VO query for dataproduct_type='event', and of
> the registered Obscore services, only two have datasets labeled as
> "event":
>
>    ivo://jvo/isas/darts/hitomi/hitomaster_v1
>
> and
>
>    ivo://padc.obspm.he/tap
>
> If these two promise they'll update when we approve an erratum (or
> pass obscore 1.2), then changing "event" to "event-list" (I'd prefer
> if there was a dash in there) would be ok with me.
>
> As to re-adding "event" designating the concept of a single event
> description this time: Aw, you know about my skepticism on creating
> concepts before someone wants to use them.  That's particularly true
> in this case -- I'd much rather if there weren't a flag day when
> "event" changed its meaning in obscore.  Perhaps we can deprecate it
> first and then see if, when people actually want to publish, say,
> VOEvents in this way, there's a name for it that carries less
> historical baggage?
>
> Thanks,
>
>             Markus

-- 
Dr. Mathieu Servillat
Laboratoire Univers et Théories, Bât 18, Bur. 222
Observatoire de Paris, Site de Meudon
5 place Jules Janssen
92195 Meudon, France
Tél. +33 1 45 07 78 62
--