Focus Sessions on “Interoperability of data from major astronomy projects” at the May 2016 IVOA Interoperability Meeting.

The Virtual Observatory is a framework for interoperable and efficient access to astronomical data and services across all areas of astronomy. The IVOA is an alliance of worldwide VO projects that develops the required standards and coordinates global aspects of the infrastructure. The IVOA is pursuing stronger links and participation of major astronomy projects and is organising focus sessions on “Interoperability of data from major astronomy projects” at the next IVOA Interoperability meeting in Cape Town, South Africa on May 10 and 11.

The topics to be addressed by the focus sessions include:

• The identification of use cases and requirements of major astronomy projects for interoperability of their data

• Discussion of VO technologies in the priority areas of multi-dimensional, and time domain data

• What practical measures can be undertaken to facilitate the use of IVOA standards, and to ensure their relevance to major astronomy projects

• Fostering major astronomy projects to become ‘participants’ rather than ‘customers’ of the VO

Session	Speaker	Title	Media
Session 10	Splinter Discussions
9h30 - 10h00	SKA South Africa & MeerKAT	Russ Taylor	pdf
Session 6	Session chair: Pepi Fabbiano
Session 5	Session chair: Mark Allen
Session 9	Session Chair: K. Polsterer
Tuesday May 10
Wednesday May 11
11h00 -12h30
10h00 - 10h30	LSST	David Ciardi	pdf
9h20 - 9h40	JWST	Tom Donaldson	pdf
9h10 - 9h30	Introduction to the VO standards process	Matthew Graham	pptx
9h00 - 9h10	Introduction to the Focus Sessions	Mark Allen	pdf
	Identify “minimal” requirements for IVOA standards
11h50 - 12h20	FAST	Prof. Ming Zhu	pdf
9h00 - 9h20	ESA Euclid and Gaia	Bruno Merin	pdf
	Discussion session with invited speakers on identifciation of large project needs
12h20 - 12h30	Discussion	All
10h00 -10h30	Discussion	All
9h40 - 10h00	ASTERICS - EGO/VIRGO/Gravitational Waves	Giuseppe Greco	pdf
11h00 - 11h20	ASTERICS - CTA: the Cherenkov Telescope Array	Mathieu Servillat	pdf
11h20 - 11h50	ASKAP	Jessica Chapman	pptx

Main Interop Schedule Page: InterOpMay2016

Focus Session Organising Committee:

Mark Allen, Kai Polsterer, Bruno Merin, David Ciardi, Patricia Whitelock, Fabio Pasian, Pepi Fabbiano, Bruce Berriman, Chenzhou Cui, Enrique Solano, Christophe Arviset, Matthew Graham, Pat Dowler, Janet Evans