Dear Colleagues

Mark Gurwell has joined our group on operations, so the list is now

Christine Wilson
Peter Shaver
John Richer
Roy Booth
Leo Bronfman
Malcolm Walmsley
Yasuo Fukui
Seiichi Sakamoto
Mark Gurwell

I will attach a draft of the work statement for our group that
Ewine has approved. This may be on the agenda for the ASAC telecon
Thursday, so that is a good time to discuss the scope of our work.

I have been collecting materials that provide background for our
considerations. Here is the list I have so far. Please let me know
if I have omitted anything. In addition, we are supposed to get a binder
that has some of these documents and some others that I don't have
access to. However, I don't know when this binder might arrive, and
we need to get started.

1. Project book chapter 18 (available on web).
2. ALMA memo 367 from the Software requirements group. (available on
web)
3. vol 6, mainly section 4 of the ESO proposal (big binder we all should
have)
4. operations model from Seiichi Sakamoto (will attach two files)
5. Canadian proposal for Real-Time Imager
6. Joe Schwarz's document on ALMA Operations Issues (attached)
There may be other documents that come up as we go along. For example,
it
may be helpful to see the full Software Requirements document.
 
I think we need a telecon after some time to read these documents and
think.
Given the geographic locations of our members, it seems that the time of
the
ASAC telecons or one hour earlier is about the only possible time. Let
us
default to the same time as the ASAC telecons (1415 UT as long as we are
on
Daylight Savings time) unless I hear strong opinion to move one hour
earlier.
 
Here is a proposed schedule of activities:
 
July 12  comment during ASAC telecon on work statement, assuming it is
on
         the agenda.
July 19  Initial telecon after reading the material; form into
         subgroups to develop options, recommendations in various areas.
Aug. 17  Reports of  subgroups due to me
Aug. 21  Assembled report to all members
Aug. 23  Final telecon to clear up any issues.
Aug. 31  Report delivered to ASAC for discussion in Chile
 
This schedule deals with the fact that I will be gone August 4-16, but
of course I don't know all your constraints. Please suggest reasonable
modifications that still produce a document well in advance of the
ASAC meeting.

Finally, as I noted in my last message, I am using an alter ego,
almanje, for this project, so please use this address for
communications.
I am also testing netscape mail, so that I can
deal with attachments. If some of you cannot deal with attachments
(like me in my usual guise as nje), let me know and I can put things
on ftp sites. The report will need to be in latex, by the way.
 
Best wishes,
Neal (almanje) Evans
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       Goals of the Operations Task Group

We will address a number of questions and deliver a short document
laying out recommendations or options, as appropriate, for ASAC review
at the Chile meeting. The topics we will address include the following:

1. How does the astronomer interact with ALMA before and during
the observations? 

This will include issues of proposal preparation
and review, observing script generation, interaction with TAC, ability
to update observing scripts, access to data while observing, 
access to archives to plan observations, calibration issues, etc.

Specific questions to be addressed:
a. What tools do you want available for proposal and script preparation
   (time estimators, beam simulators, other simulations,...)
b. Who reviews and provides advice on observing scripts?
   (RDCs or Chile Operations?)
c. Do we want something like the real-time imager described in
   the Canadian proposal?
d. How do we provide flexibility in adapting observing scripts while
   ensuring compatibility with the TAC-approved proposal?

2. How does the astronomer interact with ALMA after observing?
This is primarily an issue of archiving and software. 

The following questions are an example of issues we need to address.
a. What is the role of the regional data centers? 
b. How do they interact with existing or future archives, such as
   the National Virtual Observatory in the US?
c. What do we want to have available at the centers and remotely? 
d. Will people travel to the RDCs? If so, for what purpose?
e. Should funding for data analysis and publication (e.g., travel 
   to RDCs) be part of operations budget?
f. What software do we want? Should this software run only at RDCs
   or should it be portable to platforms at our home institutions?
g. Will the RDCs specialize in different areas or be carbon copies?
h. What is the proprietary period and when do observations become
   available to the community?