USG Agenda for Oct. 25, 2010

• Task Lead Reports
  • NRC
    • LOC Meeting tomorrow (10/26 at 4PM EDT). Dave Neufeld is not able to attend so Gordon contacted Mark Wolfire. Mark will also not be able to attend so Gordon has contacted Michael Kaufmann. Still waiting for a reply.
    • Tutorial registration is now open and the "mass email" was sent out today. We still are trying for a limit of 60 people and currently there are 44 people registered for the tutorial which include a handful of trainers. We may be able to expand it if the need arises.
    • PRIMER - it is now time to send the ES PRIMER to the other ARCs for review and comments. However, we need to impose a deadline on the ARCs for incorporating edits. This should be done ASAP as we prepare the final version for the AAS/Victoria meetings.
  • Tutorials (Kartik)
    • Kartik not online for this meeting
    • Update on Train The Trainers
      • Rachel reported that she has insufficient information as to exactly what is expected of the trainers.
        • ACTION ITEM: KS to send more specific information to the trainers.
      • Kartik sent around homework for all TTT participants. Jim wanted to know about the right version of the OT to download and install.
        • ACTION ITEM: Jim will follow-up with Harvey on the latest most stable version of the OT to install. One that will work on our version of Linux in CHV is preferred. He will report back to us on the progress.
      • There is wiki that is expected to be set up for problems like which version of the OT to install.
        • ACTION ITEM: KS to followup on that wiki and include the OT problem.
      • Visitors will be able to use room 211 for the TTT session. This can accomodate 6-8 people.
  • Documentation (Jim)
    • There is wiki page set up that holds all the old presentations but gets rid of the ones that are outdated or convey the wrong information per Carol's suggestion. See below:
      • Updates to the Presentations Page
    • The Proposer's Guide to ALMA
      • Is this our responsibility? - for the NA community, yes
      • Does the OT user manual address these concerns? - NO
        • The OT manual describes the software - it is not helpful in preparing or submitting a proposal.
    • So what do we (ie, the NAASC) need in terms of documentation? Taking an overview of all that's needed without considering what already exists, or is planned, in one form or another, Jim came up with the following broad categories of required documentation.
      • • Why should the user be interested in ALMA? - Taken care of by the PRIMER
        • Proposers Guide - (in preparation and should be less than 10 pages) See below:
          • Recommended Outline for the Proposer's Guide to ALMA (for NA Users)
        • User's Guide - no further progress yet
        • Data Analysis Guide
    • ACTION ITEM: Jim will work on preparing the Proposer's Guide with the intention that it will be released after the CfP. In addition, he will coordinate with John in organizing this effort because there were a lot of "Plans for Early Science" documents prepared by the ARCs for the reviews.
    • How does the Proposer's Guide overlap with the NAASC Users Guide?
      • The NAASC guide should present what the NAASC does and provides to the community.
      • ACTION ITEM: Jim, Aaron and Scott to review overlaps of material between the web and documents such as the proposed proposer's guide, and define what the "user's guide" should be (document; new web pages; woven into existing web).
  • Science Web (Aaron)
    • No update this week. There is still discussion on how to get the NRC logo onto the NAASC page.
    • Victoria has updated their pages and have provided Aaron with the appropriate links.
  • Helpdesk (Tony)
    • Work over the last week has been focused on the deployment of the helpdesk scheduled for early/mid Dec. The deployment of the helpdesk is dependent on the rollout of the ALMA User Portal. If that is not ready by mid/Dec, we still have the NAASC department available for questions through the NRAO helpdesk. However, those tickets will not be mirrored to the other ARCs.
    • In addition to setting up the helpdesk, there has been a lot of discussion on reporting to make sure any one USS is not overwhelmed with tickets.
      • Remijan and Sharp have looked at the canned reports available through Kayako and decided they are not adequate for any type of reporting, especially to the other ARCs.
        • ACTION ITEM: Remijan and Sharp are preparing a short presentation that will be made available to the other ARCs on what type of reporting that can be generated using mysql queries from the Kayako database.
  • NAASC presence at science meetings (Adam)
    • Please send comments on the Poster to Adam and James.
      • ACTION ITEM: Every NAASC scientist should review the Poster and send comments to Adam and James. - POSTER FOUND HERE: NAASC_Poster_v2.ppt
  • Visitor program (Scott)
    • Should we use helpdesk as our method for requesting a visit?
      • That is correct and is a dedicated department in the NAASC helpdesk. Detailed questions on visits should be triaged to Scott or Lyndelle.
    • Should visits be scheduled on a first-come first-served basis?
      • While in principle this is how it will work, it may be better to use other wording off the page like "on a space available basis"
    • Both Scott and Jim are preparing documents that have information for proposers/users of ALMA... see above action item under documentation.
• AOB
  • Remijan and Evans will prepare a document on how the NAASC will disseminate and work with the SciComm and EPO groups. Remijan has a meeting with M. Adams on Thurs.

• NAASC_visitor_program.pdf: rough draft of the visitors program guide