RFC: General conventions for spatial derivatives

[Chris Markiewicz]

Hi all

I'd like to bring your attention to issue 1602 (https://github.com/bids-standard/bids-specification/issues/1602) on the GitHub repository.

The issue is about a concrete problem that affects multiple BEPs and needs resolution, and a general method for resolving it. I won't go into the specific proposal here (see the issue), but I do want to lay out my perspective on the proposed resolution method.

It is frequently the case that multiple BEPs can be solving similar problems in different contexts (for example, microscopy and microelectrode recordings, or MRI and PET imaging derivatives), and so decisions often need to be made to progress within the BEP while being aware that at the end of the process you might get objections from another section of the community just learning about the issue. We have had some attempts to resolve this by breaking BEPs into several PRs with orthogonal components, but getting to the point of merging a PR requires agreement on detailed specification text, when the approach may not even be approved in principle.

This issue is an attempt to turn that around and get feedback on the approach. If approved, aspects of BEPs that adopt that approach would be considered approved in principle so that the focus both within BEP development and during the final community review can be about the details of BEP and not about whether an entirely different strategy needs to be adopted. We hope that this will unblock some BEPs and also prove to be a useful model for future decision making processes that engage the community while respecting the amount of attention people can afford to devote to these topics.

All this is to say, please go read the issue, and comment on both the issue at hand and the proposed decision-making approach.

Best,

Chris