Update (new version) of MEF3 format (MED).

[MEDFormat]

Hello,

I am Matt Stead, the creator of all the MEF formats (1-3). The new version MEF version (MED) is faster & produces better compression than its predecessors. It continues to be HIPAA & IRB compliant. A fuller description of MED is available on https://MEDFormat.org.

I currently have 4 groups asking me about official BIDS compatibility.

MED data can be read in open source multiple tools (Matlab, FieldTrip, EEGLab, Python , Neo).

These tools are freely available in compiled form for all major platforms (MacOS, Linux, Windows) as well as having source code and specification documents available on https://github.com/MEDFormat.

There are also multiple free data converters (MEF, EDF, DAT, Neuralynx (NCS & NRD), & NATUS) available.

I would be happy to make the pull request for this.

@bids-standard/raw-electrophys-ieeg

[effigies]

FWIW I'm +1 on this, but I don't work with these data.

I believe the places to update in the schema would be:

• https://github.com/bids-standard/bids-specification/blob/master/src/schema/objects/extensions.yaml
• https://github.com/bids-standard/bids-specification/blob/master/src/schema/rules/files/raw/ieeg.yaml

I did open MEDFormat/MEDPython#6, though. The usability of a GPL'd Python library is questionable if users do not want to GPL their own code. I am having trouble digging up references, but I recall seeing some lack of clarity whether Python's import mechanism triggered LGPL or not. IIRC the most similar license that was definitely safe for use in non-GPL Python projects was the Mozilla Public License v2.

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Edit: Got a reply at MEDFormat/MEDPython#6 (comment). import dhn_med_py is not considered to trigger GPL restrictions by the authors.

[dorahermes]

I am +1 on this as well, as long as we can make sure that the old MEF3 format remains valid.

[cimbi]

Totally agree with this we already started using MED in BIDS.

[EmmanuelBarbeau]

Hi all, we fully support this as we would also like to use MED in BIDS in our Epilepsy Research Group.

[michaelpereira73]

Hello everyone, we are also a few research groups in Grenoble, France to use the MED format and are hoping for it to be included in the BIDS format! Thank you.

[KLehongre]

Hello, I confirm that having MED in BIDs would be really useful for the management and sharing of the data of our database. Thank you!