[AG-TECH] Fading AG usage?

Jeffrey Miller jmille22 at nd.edu
Tue Jan 16 07:16:43 CST 2007


Here at ND, we installed an InSORS grid system. I've informed all the deans,
department chairs and even specific instructors about our grid and its great
uses. 

No response. I had an open house and demonstrated its capabilities. had
about 6 people showed up and one of them was an instructor. 

We're going to do a University wide mailing of a brochure showing what the
AG can do as ND is moving toward being a research University. But. I can
bring the horses to the trough but I can't make em drink so to speak. The AG
is a "nice to have" but its not at this time a "need to have" and until that
happens I'm afraid the usage will be a novelty. We also just installed a
Polycom 9004 HDX as we are finding that A. its easy to use, B. you can
collaborate easier on it, C. more people have em. (Polycom that is) We
didn't want to have to dedicate software engineers and other technicians to
build and maintain an actual AG node. So we went with InSORS, who did a
pretty good job at setting us up and their tech support is GREAT. But. the
InSORS cube has a lot of issues, they don't even have a basic wiring diagram
of their product. I had to draw one and give it to em. They also don't have
a system to integrate into a "control room" scenario. Its designed to sit in
the back of the room its being used in. The equipment is packed so tightly
into the cube that maintenance is very difficult. We're going to pull it all
out and re-rack it. But I wish we had an AG community like England does. We
need to have better demo's and a better strategy on how we can lure
researchers to our room to use it. I never know who is giving presentations
to the AG community. There is no site that I know of that we all can go to,
to see who is presenting. 

We've hooked up with Los Alamos a few times but I have to go fishing to find
out who is presenting. IF we could know who is presenting to the AG
community at  large a week or two ahead of time then I could get the word
out to our faculty here and then garner some real interest. Otherwise, its
all just point-to-point. 

 

Thanks for listening to my venting.

 

Jeff

 

Jeffrey L. Miller

Manager, Videoconferencing Resources

Office of Information Technologies

University of Notre Dame

304 ITC Building

Notre Dame, IN 46556

Office; 574-631-6850

Cell 574-261-1895

PolycomFX IP 129.74.72.3 

Polycom PVX office 129.74.58.127

jmille22 at nd.edu <mailto:129.74.58.176jmille22 at nd.edu> 

"It's a privilege to work at Notre Dame..."

  _____  

From: owner-ag-tech at mcs.anl.gov [mailto:owner-ag-tech at mcs.anl.gov] On Behalf
Of Jason Bell
Sent: Tuesday, January 16, 2007 12:02 AM
To: Derek Piper; ag-tech at mcs.anl.gov
Subject: RE: [AG-TECH] Fading AG usage?

 

G'day Derek and All

I have been meaning to reply to this email for some time now, but have been
caught up with a number of things.

Firstly, I must concur with most of the other comments in regards that for
my perspective, AG usage is increasing.

If I may voice my opinion, I thought I would provide some perspective from
my Australian point of view and also from a QA and install guide perspective
as well.

*       A point of note that occurs to me is that the AG is no longer
considered a TOY or a research experiment, rather than a tool that gets used
in a production environment, hence people no longer "play" with the
technology, rather they implement and use it..

*       Secondly, I know of a number of research groups who are funding
within Australia their own Access Grids (10+ sites) for the sole purpose of
research, teaching and collaboration.

*       Thirdly, I am seeing an increase in the number of collaborative
teaching's across multiple institution.  (Example, we have 2 classes a term
for a particulate cross institution subject.)

*       I would also say that a number of sites no longer regularly sit in a
Venue's Lobby (Hence the possible belief that people are no longer using
it), rather they are in regular sessions, or have formed their own niche or
internal groups and have become less visible.  A simple example that I am
seeing, is a number of internal AG's purposely build for a single
institution.

*       On a QA perspective, I have had a number of emails informing me that
they are in the process of building a number of sites and are interested in
the QA process.

*       I have also seen institutions that have had an AG for a number of
years, building additional ones, which giving the institution has had
previous experience, doesn't advertise the fact.

Overall I would say the use of the AG is ever increasing, but it is no
longer a global group, but rather AG users have began splitting up into
their own niche groups for a variety of purposes.

Anyway, that's just my 2 cents worth.

Cheers,

Jason.

As a side note, I think these issues are making it ever more important to
have a single location for AG related topics, ie accessgrid.org.  As the AG
community begins to diversify and begin forming there own internal groups.
It is ever more important in my opinion for a single point of contact for AG
related topics.

-----Original Message-----
From: Derek Piper [mailto:dcpiper at indiana.edu]
Sent: Friday, 5 January 2007 5:25 AM
To: ag-tech at mcs.anl.gov
Subject: [AG-TECH] Fading AG usage?

        Hi all,

        I've been part of the AG community for a while now, nearly 3 years
and 

over that time I've not seen a lot of growth in the number of sites that 

we interface with for AccessGrid meetings. Quite oppositely I have seen 

sites that were good AG participants fall into 'disrepair' through lack 

of funding and site expertise.

        A bit of a devil's advocate question, but is AccessGrid usage 

declining? Is AccessGrid on the way out? I've seen people turn to things 

such as Polycom for meetings rather than have AccessGrid meetings.

        I'm curious to learn of other points of view on this.

        Derek

-- 

Derek Piper - dcpiper at indiana.edu - (812) 856 0111

IRI 323, School of Informatics

Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana

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