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 [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> "It's a privilege to work at Notre Dame..." _____ From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Jason Bell Sent: Tuesday, January 16, 2007 12:02 AM To: Derek Piper; [email protected] 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:[email protected]] Sent: Friday, 5 January 2007 5:25 AM To: [email protected] 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 - [email protected] - (812) 856 0111 IRI 323, School of Informatics Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana
