Notes from the NA2 meeting (with video conference)
25 July 2007
CERN
First review feedback
By Sarah Purcell
- Went very well in general, very positive feedback
- Recommendations (see slides)
http://indico.cern.ch/materialDisplay.py?sessionId=5&materialId=0&confI
d=17895
http://indico.cern.ch/materialDisplay.py?sessionId=5&materialId=1&confI
d=17895
- Booklet of abstract from User Forum
- Partner reviews to be organised
Changes for the second year
By Sarah Purcell
-
-
Hannelore and Owen leaving
Sarah is NA2 new Activity Manager at least until end of EGEE-II.
Currently looking for replacement for Owen as deputy, which would represent
30% of your time (not at CERN). Another part of his job was writing articles,
content for ISGTW: this position can’t be replaced at the moment.
That means that no new material should be planned for the moment (e.g.
infosheets, etc.) but we do need articles for ISTW.
EGEE-III planning is the main task for Sarah at the moment.
 All: If you are interested in the deputy position, please send Sarah an email
detailing your interest and your CV.
Please note that travel for meetings (e.g. once a month) could be paid.
 All: If you have ideas for articles, please get in touch with Sarah.
(especially if you have ideas but feel that you are unable to write articles).
 All: If you are interested in going to the Supercomputing’07 conference in Reno,
US, please send Sarah an email.
Material
By Hannelore Hämmerle
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4 page brochure based on “EGEE in 2007” booklet to be distributed widely at
events
o Paul:Email addresses, url should be blue underlined and in blue
o Nathanael check layout, change format maybe (check prices). Put more
design in the title page, EGEE logo should be on the top rather than in the
middle of the page.
o General feeling: this does not obey very well the EGEE style – it is not
easily recognizable as coming from EGEE
 Owen: look into redesigning front page of 4 page flyer to make it look more like
EGEE and make the EGEE logo more prominent.
 Anne-Lise: check out prices for printing in other formats.
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Aneta: we could highlight more applications and VOs in newsletter.
Present monitoring data on website
Could also have a “spotlight on” VOs (and rotate with VO is highlighted every
week/month)
 Aneta: send concrete proposals on what topics to cover.
-
We were thinking about new infosheets for applications. Stephanie working on
updating the Glite infosheet. New Infosheets planned on GGUS (user support)
and on portals.
- The gLite Info Sheet is specifically designed for business and does not necessarily
replace the existing one. Partner translations would initially be requested for
events targeting industry (Bratislava, 19 September; possibly also Greece, 10
September & EGEE’07). The GILDA sheet may also need some revision as a
result of the new-look gLite Info Sheet.
 Owen: try to finish these before he leaves.
 All: volunteers for Information Sheet writing?
-
Sarah working on book of abstract from UF. 1st draft in word document currently
being finalised. A student will hopefully join in the next couple of weeks to help
with the finishing touches and layout. Each chapter will have small introduction
written by NA4. Several copies printed and available by PDF.
-
Book by Christoph/Nathanael on Grid computing with EGEE as case study.
Should be available at Summer Schools, Grid Schools, big IT events such as
Supercomputing. Will be done by a professional publisher who will also take the
financial risk. Small working group set up so far and skeleton in progress
- IF has proposed a chapter on business (TBC)
 Nathanael: Send around Table of Contents
 All: volunteers for helping in produce this book should contact Nathanael.
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Presentations are now available on NA2 website. One more coming soon on
industry. Any time you need them, use them for events. Tell us if you think They
are out of date.
IF request: the IF would like to be informed of EGEE presentations at Industry
Days so we can suggest updates, etc.
DVD with other e-infrastructure projects in Europe (GEANT, DEISA, OMII). 18
minutes full version. 2nd version under discussion.
 Hannelore: check when this will be available for showing by EGEE partners at
Events.
 Hannelore: check if a web version will be available.
-
With FZK looking to do new EGEE video; very tentative and will depend on
plans for EGEE-III.
Should think about doing a video that does not rely on sound and which could
play in noisy environments (with optional subtitles)
EGI video is available at www.eu-egi.org
Christoph: provide “grid on a cd” give away, not too technical, something visually
attractive. Not too much emphasis on text, visual effects important.
 Christoph: send sample from D-grid (?) to Sarah.
-
- Aneta: most important is to show success stories. Show how important is the grid.
If we don’t do video in house for EGI, we can still pass it on to someone else. Have to
make it easy to find on web.
-
Victor (JINR) presents some material (book, translated annual report, sheets,
videos).
 All: If you do anything locally, please tell us, and also if it’s available somewhere,
it’s always good to have new ideas.
Metrics web form
By Anne-Lise Goisset
- Web form launched in May for QR5
- Input from partners collected successfully. Some bugs fixed, send questions to AL
 FZK, RBI, Red.ES: fill in the form for QR5
 Greece and China: provide missing input for “Advanced course on Grid
technologies” 14/05/07 (Greece) and “1st International EchoGrid-EUchinaGrid
Conference” 24/04/07 (China).
Feedback from Anne-Lise on your reports
-
You are responsible for your own data. Check records, remove duplicates
Bad reporting:
o Problem with events: YOU organised/ you attended
o Internal events organised = project & activity meetings. Those you
attended should be reported under “events attended”
o Do not report same event on both “industry” and “events” page
 To avoid bad reports: read instructions, comments, ask Anne-Lise
- Events: add an event into drop down list = this event will be tied to a date, venue,
country, description.  Do not use generic events title like “Meeting, Seminar”.
We must all know which specific event this is otherwise people might use it and generate
bad reports. Specify which meeting, with which company or the venue or whatever in the
title so that we can’t make mistakes.
- Mandatory fields (outcome on events): don’t find tricks not to fill them in!!!
We need to report on those to the management!
- If you forgot to report something for a period, you can still add it on the web
and it will be taken into account for the final Dissemination Report.
Some questions/problems partners had this quarter
-
Where should we report promotional material distributed outside events (e.g.
user forum flyers sent by e-mail)
 Box added on the Promo Material page. Date added as well so that we know for
which period you reported an item.
- Material distributed at events are reported on events pages.
 Do not forget to specify type and nb of material distributed.
- (Rosette) Where should we report essays (from students)?
 into Scientific papers
- NB: Web statistics are reported on a monthly basis. Either report each month
(April, may, etc.) or give an average per month over the quarter. If there is just
one record on the web for your website statistics, I will assume you gave me an
average per month over the 3 month period.
- Contacts: useful contacts, please give details and follow-up (newsletter, material
to send, etc.)
- Next metrics collection QR6 (Due early October). John currently working on
further improvements.
Web Task Force
By Hannelore Hämmerle
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Meeting held at CERN on 9 July.
To structure the website we’ll have sub domains and are currently working on sub
menus
 All: If you would like to be involved, please contact Nathanael (Sarah in cc)
Events
By Hannelore Hämmerle
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ISC: week long event, people coming to stand all week
o What worked: animation (Live Grid monitor)
o What didn’t: video (can’t hear the sound)
o Suggestion: Demo/simulation that visitors/guests can use
- IUGG Perugia 2 weeks in Italy on Earth Science: positive event
- ISMB Vienna (Biology) where Martin is at the moment, very positive initial
feedback
- End August in Germany: Climate event
 All: Please tell us about events (especially user events) where you think we should
have presence
- SC’07: Sarah will be there, other people coming?
- Aneta: big event with presentations from several countries
- Victor: to be advertised on website.
 All: Please check that your events are in the list and on the website – (soon on the
wiki)
Industry
By Stephanie Parker
Increasing visibility especially of gLite on website & review recommendations
- New IF steering committee (see slide). Permanent Chair from a company missing
for steering committee. The ideal candidate would be a company representative
with experience of EGEE.
- New approach to industry days based on feedback from reviewers: make
concerted effort to achieve tangible results; highlight the potential strengths of
gLite & compliance with Grid standards
- Upcoming Industry Days: 1) ID Greece, September ‘07 (awaiting more info); ID
in Cyprus, September ‘07 (awaiting more info); ID in Bratislava, September
’07: Grid and Pharmaceutical (increased focus on gLite: early adopter case study:
health-e-child; examples of technologies compatible or interfacing with gLite;
WISDOM success story & live demo). This ID targets both companies and the
healthcare system. ID in Paris (Grid & Finance, November ’07: supported by
Europlace (venue/hosts): organization promoting Paris as a financial market with
150 members). New ID should consider review recommendations
(Pharmaceutical in CH; Finance in UK), though for UK, Energy has been
highlighted as offering interesting market openings for the project.
- Explore the possibility of organising more focused meetings. IF suggestions:
smaller, more targeted audience especially in locations with fewer companies. To
focus also more on SMEs and public administration.
 Stephanie: to circulate proposal for feedback from ALL mid-September.
- Business track at EGEE07: speaker recruitment is on track.
 All: promote the Business Track to all pertinent business contacts & inform IF. A
message to be sent by MTW.
-
Contacts: Industry Report Template. A general picture of business contacts is
requested. This is to evaluate the market/opportunities in each federation and plan
longer-term actions. These contacts are also highly valuable for 1) increasing the
circulation of the IF newsletter 2) promoting industry events, e.g. Business
Track’07 & Industry Days. This report should also highlight key business
contacts: aligning objectives, opportunities & EGEE case studies/sectors and
regions where EGEE is under-represented. These can then be matched to 1)
specific actions & 2) the various mechanisms for industrial involvement,
including the new Focus Groups in the IF Steering Committee. The Report also
asks partners to highlight any obstacles encountered (see above). Provide as much
information as possible to pursue pbjectives.
 All: Provide feedback on your Industry contacts to Stephanie. For now a time-line
of when this can be done is sufficient. All partners can contact Stephanie on an
individual basis if necessary.
(please note that MTW does not want your contact details, just a general overview on
who you know and in what fields)
The Guide is intended to highlight objectives and new opportunities for all partners.
Revisions have been made (with more expected) due to the outcome of the review & new
information being fed into the project.
 All: read the Industry A-Z guide and give feedback (once distributed by Stephanie)
Tools
By Hannelore Hämmerle
WIKI: set up with events template, so we can start entering our events now
http://wiki.healthgrid.org/index.php/EGEE:Index
- Digital library for images: this is an open library without copyright protection.
You can put videos or clips or something like that as well. You need only a Grid
certificate to upload your images.
 All: Please upload your images (if not copyright protected).
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Image gallery (Healthgrid): This is for copyright protected images that we can use
inside EGEE/NA2. Only NA2 people will have access to this part.
 All: Ask Nathanael for login details
Since we did not get anywhere with CRÈME and “contacts” on the metrics
webform are not very easy to use as a contacts database: Christoph had the idea of
a contact database populated by Email. I.e. when you send an email to a contact
after a conference you cc (or bcc) a generic email address that feeds information
directly into a database (email address, keywords).
Nathanael: legal problem because people might not want to be added onto a
database. Need a “opt-out” clause.
Paul: problem with multiple recipient names on e-mail, people might be
disappointed about receiving a general e-mail and might delete it straight…
Helene: what should key words be? (e.g. Newsletter, Glite, Middleware,
applications, etc.)
 Christoph: write a proposal about how this would work and send it to the NA2
partners
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EGEE-III status
By Sarah Purcell
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NA2 Budget has been considerably decreased by PMB
We’ll be going to less events than we expected, printing costs reduced
Manpower: 16.5FTE was the plan NA2 submitted initially. Now Maximum 13.5
FTE
Next week we should have finalized everything. Trying not to cut the regional
efforts. Sarah will keep you all informed about what is going on.
Next meeting
By Sarah Purcell
-
Reviewers suggested partner audit.
Next face to face meeting will be in November (3rd week) or late October (last
week), after EGEE07 and each federation will be asked to present what they’ve
been doing for EGEE-II. Probably 2 days.
 Sarah: prepare template for partners to know what they should report.
- We’ll also have an NA2 lunch on a less formal basis at EGEE07
- Spain (Red ES) has volunteered for a meeting in the future, but we need a
volunteer now to host the one in November.
 All: If you would like to host the next NA2 meeting, send e-mail to Sarah.