[wfc] The end of the road

[Rob Seaman]

There's a blurring of lines here that could benefit from clarification.  What is the relationship between the (former) North American FITS Committee and the AAS Working Group on Astronomical Software (WGAS):

	http://aas.org/comms/working-group-astronomical-software-wgas

On the IAU side there is a similar blurring between Commission 5 and the IAU FITS working group.

In particular an action of an IAU WG (to say it will no longer pay attention to regional subcommittees) is not directly pertinent to a AAS committee or subcommittee.  By all means the AAS WGAS should go along with dissolving its advisory role to the IAU FITSWG, but the WGAS does not therefore cease to exist.

I understand there have also been changes contemplated to WGAS, perhaps eventually a promotion to AAS divisional level, but the current membership serves until Dec 2014 according to the web page.

Suggest whatever the process is that it be a coherent and open one.

Rob
--


On Mar 26, 2014, at 8:37 AM, Robert J. Hanisch <hanisch at stsci.edu> wrote:

> While it may be the end of the road for the Committee per se, it is not yet the end of the road for FITS or a rejection of your interest in it!
> 
> Please participate in the public discussion of the FITS time specifications discussions via the new format.
> 
> Thanks,
> cheers,
> Bob
> 
> From: Arnold Rots <arots at cfa.harvard.edu>
> Date: Wednesday, 26 March 2014 11:16 AM
> To: "wfc at nrao.edu" <wfc at nrao.edu>
> Cc: "Robert J. Hanisch" <hanisch at stsci.edu>, Frossie Economou <frossie at noao.edu>
> Subject: The end of the road
> 
> Dear colleagues,
> 
> I suspect that most of you are aware of the vote that took place in December 2013,
> but I realized that I have been seriously amiss in not passing the result on to you
> officially.
> 
> The IAU FWG voted in favor of the change in its voting rules. Although that sounds
> rather innocuous, it has a dramatic impact on the AAS's WGAS FITS Committee, as we
> are officially known; more colloquially, we were the North American regional FITS
> committee.
> One of the changes in the IAU Working Group's voting rules was the elimination of the
> regional FITS committees. Ergo, we do not exist anymore.
> 
> Thus. it is my task now to convey to you that we have been dismissed.
> I would like to thank all of you (and by implication our past members) for your service.
> It has been an important service; our committee has served the community well and
> provided a meaningful contribution during an era when global connectivity was not
> what it is today. The landscape in digital astronomy is dramatically different from what
> it was several decades ago when the WFC was constituted and that change (to which
> we did contribute as well) has made changes in how we develop our standards inevitable.
> Part of that is the obsolescence of the regional committees.
> 
> Thank you again and au revoir!
> 
>   - Arnold
> 
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Arnold H. Rots                                          Chandra X-ray Science Center
> Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory                   tel:  +1 617 496 7701
> 60 Garden Street, MS 67                                      fax:  +1 617 495 7356
> Cambridge, MA 02138                                         arots at cfa.harvard.edu
> USA                                                   http://hea-www.harvard.edu/~arots/
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
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