... Most of us are aware that next generation instruments, with Terabyte databases, are going to present enormous challenges to the way that we process data, and our current ways of managing astronomical databases will probably no longer work. ... The Working Group on Astronomical Data (WGAD) has two key roles: to act as a communication channel between the IAU and CODATA (ICSU Committee on Scientific Data), and to provide a forum for discussion of data issues. ...

metrologia The leap second: its history and possible future R. A. Nelson, D. D. McCarthy , S. Malys, J. Levine, B. Guinot, H. F. Fliegel , R. L. Beard and T. R. Bartholome w Abstract. This paper reviews the theoretica l motivatio n for the leap second in the context of the historica l evolutio n of time measurement . Th e periodic insertio n of a leap second step into th e scale of Coordinate d Universal Time (UTC) necessitates frequent changes in comple x timekeepin g systems an d is currentl y th e