An STC "when" and "where" example

[Rob Seaman]

> This is nothing to do with the IAU accepted practices, and everything 
> to do with the way you build the architectures for reliable and robust 
> web services.

As usual when passionate discussion arises, folks are really talking 
about two different things.  Might I humbly suggest that VOEvent in 
particular, and VO in general, will benefit from being informed by IAU 
best practices?

Here are the four focus areas for the workshop:

1: What are the purposes of a system that exchanges information about 
immediate astronomical events (VOEvents).

2: What is the semantic structure of a VOEvent message? Is the "Who, 
When, Where, What, How" paradigm the correct one?

3: How can we make a set of adjectives ("ontology") that can be used to 
describe a VOEvent

4: How can we build a system that exchanges VOEvent messages for the 
purposes that we uncover in Focus Area 1?

Arnold (and I) are mostly talking about the early steps.  Alasdair is 
mostly talking about the later steps.  One has to imagine that when we 
meet in the middle (like a stellar model simultaneously solved outward 
from the core and inward from the photosphere) that the resulting 
semantics and system will be stronger for it.

Rob Seaman
NOAO