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Hi Julie,<br><br>
As usual, Jennifer has given a lot of thought to this and responded
quickly. However, in reading her points, it brought a couple to my
mind.<br><br>
The first and most obvious is: What <u>dis</u>advantages does
AG-based communication have over face-to-face communication, and what can
be done to overcome them?<br><br>
As the technology has progressed, the AG is being used for more secure
high level meetings. Will this have an impact on who is selected to
be a node operator? <br>
How will it effect the status of the position? <br><br>
As the role of node <u>operator</u> becomes more automated, at the same
time that the demand for someone knowledgeable about the technology and
managerial areas increases, is the title still descriptive, or should the
the position be renamed to more appropriately describe the
role?<br><br>
Here at NCSA we have a two-person staff with a manager. Small AG
nodes often have one person who does everything, perhaps with the help of
a student. The sites with which I'm familiar often have limited
funds and are interested in making this easy for users to be able to
operate without a full-time operator present. Has anyone attempted
to define the AG operator position?<br><br>
Lots of things to think about.<br><br>
Barbara<br>
------------<br><br>
At 05:08 PM 8/28/2002 -0400, Jennifer Teig Von Hoffman wrote:<br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite>Hi Julie,<br><br>
Cool! Here are some ideas, with the big caveat that I'm not a human
factors expert (I don't even play one on TV).<br><br>
* How does the presence of a node operator affect interpersonal dynamics?
Can this be positive? How can it be minimized?<br><br>
* What human factors implications come into play when bridging the AG
with VR environments?<br><br>
* What human factors implications come into play when a given AG session
is joined by "regular" AG nodes, PIGs, VRVS clients,
etc?<br><br>
* What would happen if we gave all session participants laptops and MOO
access?<br><br>
* What advantages does AG-based communication have over face-to-face
communication, and how can we make better use of these
advantages?<br><br>
And of course, since you folks at WPI are close by, I'm happy to drive
out to brainstorm sometime if that's helpful (or have her come to visit
BU, of course).<br><br>
- Jennifer<br><br>
Julia Shiela Mullen wrote:<br>
<blockquote type=cite class=cite cite>Hi -<br>
We have an undergraduate who is interested in<br>
human factors and the Access Grid. At WPI<br>
we require each student to complete a major<br>
project which relates technology and society.<br>
(This project is a graduation requirement.)<br>
The descriptions and content of such projects<br>
is fairly flexible. We are currently at the<br>
beginning of her project experience so I am<br>
turning to the AG community for suggestions.<br>
What is the AG community most interested in<br>
with regards to 'human factors and the AG'?<br>
Is there a wish list of studies that folks<br>
would like to see? Are there project ideas<br>
that we just didn't have the manpower for?<br>
I welcome any and all suggestions - I will<br>
present them to the student and we will<br>
see what interests her.<br>
Thanks for your help on this -<br>
Julie<br><br>
------------------------------------------<br>
Julia S. Mullen, Ph.D<br>
Academic Computing Application Scientist<br>
Computing and Communications Center<br>
Worcester Polytechnic Institute<br>
Worcester, MA<br>
phone: 508.831.6054<br>
fax: 508.831.5680<br>
email: jsm@wpi.edu<br><br>
</blockquote><br><br>
</blockquote>
<x-sigsep><p></x-sigsep>
________________<br>
Barbara A. Kucera<br>
Alliance/EPSCoR Liaison<br>
National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA)<br>
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign<br>
(217) 244-0131 * Fax (217) 244-2909<br><br>
Computer Science is no more about computers than astronomy is about
<br>
telescopes. - Edsger W. Dijkstra, computer science professor<br>
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