improve electrode group documentation (#659)

Co-authored-by: Ryan Ly <[email protected]>

Author: h-mayorquin

core/nwb.ecephys.yaml

@@ -235,7 +235,10 @@ groups:
 
 - neurodata_type_def: ElectrodeGroup
   neurodata_type_inc: NWBContainer
-  doc: A physical grouping of electrodes, e.g. a shank of an array.
+  doc: A physical grouping of electrodes, e.g., a shank of an array. An electrode group is typically used to describe
+    electrodes that are physically connected on a single device and are often (but not always) used together for
+    analysis, such as for spike sorting. Note that this is descriptive metadata; electrodes from different groups
+    can still be spike-sorted together if needed.
   attributes:
   - name: description
     dtype: text

core/nwb.file.yaml

@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ groups:
   attributes:
   - name: nwb_version
     dtype: text
-    value: "2.9.0"
+    value: "2.10.0-alpha"
     doc: File version string. Use semantic versioning, e.g. 1.2.1. This will be the
       name of the format with trailing major, minor and patch numbers.
   datasets:

core/nwb.namespace.yaml

@@ -57,4 +57,4 @@ namespaces:
   - doc: This source module contains neurodata_type for retinotopy data.
     source: nwb.retinotopy.yaml
     title: Retinotopy
-  version: "2.9.0"
+  version: "2.10.0-alpha"

docs/format/source/conf.py

@@ -83,9 +83,9 @@ def setup(app):
 # built documents.
 #
 # The short X.Y version.
-version = '2.9.0'
+version = '2.10.0'
 # The full version, including alpha/beta/rc tags.
-release = '2.9.0'
+release = '2.10.0-alpha'
 
 # The language for content autogenerated by Sphinx. Refer to documentation
 # for a list of supported languages.

docs/format/source/format_release_notes.rst

@@ -3,6 +3,15 @@
 Release Notes
 =============
 
+Upcoming
+--------
+
+Minor changes
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+- Improved documentation of ``ElectrodeGroup`` to clarify its purpose as a physical grouping of electrodes
+  that are typically used together for analysis, such as spike sorting. (#659)
+
+
 2.9.0 (June 26, 2025)
 ---------------------
 
@@ -33,6 +42,7 @@ Minor changes
 - Clarified documentation of ``PlaneSegmentation`` that at least one of ``image_mask``, ``pixel_mask``,
   and ``voxel_mask`` is required. (#636)
 
+
 2.8.0 (November 24, 2024)
 -------------------------