[fitsbits] updates to the FITS standard document

[Tom McGlynn (NASA/GSFC Code 660.1)]

Since I've been on travel the past couple of weeks I may be a bit behind 
on the discussion here, but I think I'd add my voice to those who have 
suggested that this process seems much too hurried. While some of these 
conventions may have been used for quite some, they were written as 
conventions where the parties using them agreed to them..  If we are 
putting them in the standard I think there needs to be a much more 
careful review than is possible within the very constrained interval 
here including the possible interactions between the proposals.  This is 
as I understand it the first time that many of use will have seen the 
actual text being proposed for adopting into the standard.  While I 
understand that there is pressure to get to agreement before the IAU, my 
vote (had I one!) I feel that that may not lead to the best result.

In the next few hours, I plan to send out notes giving my initial 
thoughts on the status of each of these.

     Regards,
     Tom McGlynn

Lucio Chiappetti wrote:
> 2) a task force within the IAU FITS WG has been considering the inclusion
>    of a number of registered conventions as part of the standard.
>
>    For 6-7 of them we have (or nearly have) a text to be included in
>    the FITS Standard Document. According to the rules, this will be
>    subject to a Public Review Period here on FITSBITS, with the goal
>    to have the IAUFWG vote (on each convention) during July.
>
>    Considering that the conventions are in use since several years
>    (so their operablity and interoperability is surely proven), and
>    were discussed when registering the conventions themselves, to
>    speed up things the Public Review Period will be reduced to 3 weeks.
>
>    Most likely the tiled image and tiled table compression conventions
>    will be announced first (and soon) for a Public Review Period, because
>    they are a bit more complex than the rest (an entire new chapter of
>    the FITS Standard Document will be dedicated to them) and deserve
>    dedicated attention.
>
>    Soon after, the other conventions will be announced for a Public 
> Review
>    Period, most likely in parallel.
>