AG-SAG - Full Meeting #13

Date and Location: University of Southampton: 5 November 2007, 10.00-16.00

Supporting Paperwork:

Agenda :

Notes of Meeting

Project scientist slides (NW) - [.pdf]

AA - Tools calls 2006. How to measure success and usefulness of the tools call. Statistics.

JY - Plan is to allow use of the UCL Condor pool to AG users, subject to the authentication stuff being satisfactory.

NW - VO Desktop beta will be announced at the consortium meeting (14 Dec 2007). People that attended workshops will be asked if they want to sign into the AG Announce mailing list.

SAG in AG3 - addition of some tech people to the SAG. The DAG will be closed, as we will work directly with data centers.

ACTION NW+AL+Mgt Team: write draft terms of reference for SAG in AG3

ACTION AJ+ SAG: Review draft terms of reference.

AL: AGOC raised the issue of data integrity and appropriateness of registry entries. This is a very important issue for the VO and Keith is looking into how to address it.

Project Leader slides (AL) - [.pdf]

AGLI -> Astrogrid Board, including a broader group of people who have been associated with the project

VOTech and DCA run through 2008. VOTech just had a very successful review.

FP7 proposal AIDA (Astronomical Infrastructure for Data Access) was funded for 2.5 years from March 2008, led by CDS Strasbourg. ~2FTEs in the UK.

VODesktop schedule: Beta 1 release in mid December at the consortium meeting; critical service review on 3-4 March (all SAG invited to this meeting); Public release end of March at the NAM. Critical service review will replace the next SAG.

JY - suggests nominating a core team of reviewers and assigning them specific things to test. This way the critical service review will be meaningful. About 20 people - a mixture of postgrads, RA, lecturers etc.

ACTION NW + SAG + Science team: Write down the list of reviewers.

KN - beta release should be close to what will be released.

CK - A public release end of March seems late given the deadline for submitting a new proposal to STFC. The tool should be easy enough to use that someone does not need to read the whole manual.

Requirements on documentation for the beta release? Doc is required. Also examples will be needed. Email list 'AG-users' that people can email for support. Telephone numbers???

Tool Calls

• PanStarrs update - EGS
• Galaxies - See project scientist slides.
• Hipparcos - See project scientist slides.

EGS demonstrates the IPHAS web portal: EDR Portal

VODesktop Demo

see also slides AL: [.pdf]

Solar and STP update

see slides SD

Project Manager report - technical update

KN - see: Report, Talk

AG3 operations

Discussion on the format of workshops and training events in AG3.

LF: It is important to have people trying things out rather than just watching a demo.

NW: We need to train people in the community so that they can become trainers in their own department.

Another useful model is: 1 hour seminar + 1 hour open session where everyone can try out VOExplorer etc.

Workshops are useful but not everyone can spend 2 or 3 days at a workshop.

Present

• NicholasWalton (NW) (AstroGrid)
• AndyLawrence (AL) (AstroGrid)
• AndrewJaffe (AJ)
• ChristianKnigge (CK)
• AlanAylward (AA)
• EduardoGonzalez (EGS)
• SilviaDalla (SD)
• LyndsayFletcher (LF)
• KeithNoddle (KN)
• JeremyYates(JY)

Apologies

• CarltonBaugh
• NialTanvir
• SteveMaddox
• SebOliver
• BillChaplin (BC)
• DanielLennon

Expenses

Claims for expenses can be made on the Leicester Expenses Claim Form (pdf). Please download, fill in, attach receipts (Leics will reject claims without receipts unless 'no receipt' is explicitly stated against an item), and send to:

Janet Bee
University of Leicester,
Dept of Physics & Astronomy,
University Road,
Leicester
LE1 7RH

Please mark the Claim as 'AstroGrid: Science Advisory Group Meeting'

Travel and Accomodation

In general, I would strongly recommend travelling by public transport to Southampton -- parking at the University is a bit of a nightmare. If anybody is planning to travel by car and needs to get parking, please let me know today. For what it's worth, I can probably arrange for you to get parking permits when you arrive, but these are not always as helpful as you might think, since all the spaces tend to go extremely early. Much the same is true of the pay & display lots. The location of all the parking lots is shown in the map I've linked to below. (You can safely ignore the lots marked as "visitor parking" -- I've tried to reserve spaces on them, and they are already fully booked -- sorry.)

If arriving by train, plane or coach, just take a taxi to the University and ask to be dropped at the School of Physics & Astronomy. Unless traffic is horrific, it should cost under 10 pounds.

Some additional details on how to get here can be found at:

http://www.soton.ac.uk/about/whereissoton/index.html

and a map of Highfield Campus is at

http://www.soton.ac.uk/img/maps/HighfieldPDF.pdf

Meeting Room

We'll meet in the ORC Boardroom (ORC=Optoelectronics Research Centre"). This is on Level 4 of the Physics & Astronomy building (which itself is building #46 on maps etc). Note that the main entrance is located on Level 2. The ORC boardroom is room number 4051 and may be a little tricky to find. If you've come up the main stairs to level 4, walk along the corridor away from the stairs; this will eventually split, and you'll want to take the left path. Take this all the way to the end to just before the two corridors merge again near the back staircase. The ORC boardroom is inside a larger room that is accessed via the very last door on the left of the corridor. If you get lost, anybody working on Level 4 should be able to point you in the right direction. Also, I will keep my mobile on and can be reached on 07922 067242. Finally, the School secratory, Ceris French, is located on Level 5 in the room marked "Reception" -- she has made the bookings so if you mention my name to her she'll know what you're talking about.

Wireless and Network Connections

-- NicholasWalton - 09 Oct 2007