1. Building a worldwide interoperable data infrastructure for astronomy: the International Virtual Observatory Alliance
SciDataCon 2016, Denver, 13/Sept/2016
Christophe Arviset
Chair of the IVOA Executive Committee

2. IVOA : Data Sharing, Science Drivers
What is your discipline culture with regard to data sharing ?
Open data policy, after proprietary period (6-12 months)
Open source software policy
Overall very collaborative culture, astronomy science has no border !
Many projects have large international collaboration
What are the science drivers for building your discipline interoperability infrastructure ?
Multi wavelength science, combining datasets from multiple sources
Time variability of objects
Data discovery and data access tools
Data analysis and visualization tools
CSP – Committee on Science Priorities, defines priority science cases to be supported by the VO framework

3. IVOA : Organization
How is your discipline organized to build interoperability infrastructure ?
Created in 2002, 20 projects today worldwide
No formal IVOA funding, nationally funded projects
Executive Committee, 1 representative from each project, rotating chair renewed every 1.5 years, 3-4 meeting/telecon per year
Committee of Science Priority with senior Scientists, setting science use cases for interoperability
Technical Coordination Group with
6 (open) WG, defining interoperability standards, ~W3C process
6 (open) IG discussing experiences with VO tech, give inputs to WG
IVOA Architecture, evolving but stable since 2012
2 face to face meetings per year (~ people), organized by one project
Collaboration tools (wiki, mailing lists, web pages, …)

4. IVOA : Lessons Learned and Re-use
What are the lessons learned from building your discipline interoperability infrastructure ?
Infrastructure needs to be driven by Science, and supported by applications
Collaboration amongst projects is difficult and time consuming but compulsory
Engagement and take-up from data centres and big projects is key
Which part of your discipline interoperability infrastructure could be made generic for other disciplines ?
Some IVOA standards specific to astronomy (eg DataModels)
Other IVOA standards more generic and re-usable (TAP Table Access Protocol, SAMP – Apps messaging interoperability, VOSpace (“dropbox for VO”), Registry of VO resources, …)
Strong re-use from neighbouring disciplines (Planetary Science, Astroparticles, Atomic and Molecular Data, …)