MEEG+iEEG --> Make it a requirement that channels in bids sidecar and raw file are in order

[sappelhoff]

came up in mne-tools/mne-bids#697 (comment)

We currently have the following in the spec:

EEG:

To avoid confusion, the channels SHOULD be listed in the order they appear in the EEG data file.

source

iEEG:

Channels SHOULD appear in the table in the same order they do in the iEEG data file.

source

MEG:

To avoid confusion, the channels SHOULD be listed in the order they appear in the MEG data file.

source

our proposal (cc @hoechenberger @agramfort ) is to turn this "SHOULD" into a "MUST". This would be in line with the BIDS principle to place most burden on the dataset curation stage, as that's a one-time-burden. All steps that follow after this will have an easier time. For example, tools can rely on the sidecar files, and don't have to double check with the raw files.

Potential issue(s):

• We currently cannot validate a MUST, because we lack JS readers for ephys formats
• Breaking backwards incompatibility for all currently existing datasets that did not follow the RECOMMENDATION ("SHOULD") that we now want to turn into a REQUIREMENT ("MUST")

Somewhat parallel issue(s):

• EEG - confusion between channels.tsv and electrodes.tsv bids-specification#667

[hoechenberger]

+100 on this one.

[agramfort]

+1000 :)

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[agramfort]

+1

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Message ID: <bids-standard/bids-2-devel/issue/52/issue_event/6402352958@ github.com>