GridTalk PMB No. 1
7 March 2008 2pm
Room openspace, CERN
Attending: Sarah Pearce (Project Manager, QMUL), Andre-Pierre Olivier (APO), Frederic Hemmer (CERN), Steve Lloyd (QMUL)
1. Introductions
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Each of the members of the PMB introduced themselves, their background and their role in the project.
2. Election of the PMB Chair
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Steve Lloyd was elected unanimously as Chair of the PMB.
Action 1.1: SP to edit the consortium agreement to reflect fact that the chair is elected, rather than automatically held by the co-ordinator.
It was agreed that each participating institute would have a vote on the PMB, and the Project Manager would not have a vote. Votes would be passed by a simple majority. For the PMB to be quorate, a majority of partners would need to be represented.
3. Draft consortium agreement
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A first draft consortium agreement had been prepared by QMUL and circulated immediately prior to the meeting. It was agreed that the agenda for PMB meetings should be circulated 7 days before the meeting, and additions made up to three days before. Items could also be added under AOB at the meeting. Minutes of the PMB meetings would not be public. The dispute resolution process as set out in the DoW was agreed.
Action 1.2: SP edit the consortium agreement to reflect the changes agreed and circulate to PMB members.
Action 1.3: FH to clarify whether Gridcafe and iSGTW need to be declared as background in the consortium agreement.
Action 1.4: SP to check with QMUL and Imperial College whether the RTM needs to be declared as background.
4. Recruitment
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Recruitment to the GridTalk posts was discussed.
- QMUL are agreeing the relevant paperwork and will advertise shortly.
- CERN. Cristy Burne has resigned as iSGTW editor. FH pointed out that it is difficult at CERN to hire someone as staff, but easier to hire them as a fellow.
Action 1.5: Frederic to clarify the current status of recruitment at CERN for the iSGTW editor.
Action 1.6: SP to contact the EC once iSGTW recruitment has been clarified, to check whether there is a need to change the DoW to remove references to Cristy.
- APO - APO has two people in mind for the post, and will decide shortly. Either of these should be fine to start on 1 May 2008. APO asked about the possibility of sub-contracting his post, which would result in paying less tax.
Action 1.7: SP to raise the question of subcontracting with the Project Officer.
Action 1.8: SP to clarify with Dave Colling who will be working on the RTM.
5. Website
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The EC had specificied that the website would need to have a .eu address. gridtalk.org had already been registered, but gridtalk.eu was taken. gridtalk-project.eu was another possibility.
Action 1.9: SP to check about the possibility of registering gridtalk.eu, and whether gridtalk-project.eu would be acceptable to the EC.
APO would create an initial design for the website, and would support any changes and editing in the early stages. To remove the need for a secure areas of the website, it was agreed to keep secure documents at CERN. FH created an area on the CERN server called http://cerh.ch/gridtalk.
Action 1.10: FH to check about hosting the GridTalk website at CERN
Action 1.11: FH to arrange CERN computer accounts for APO and SP. SL and FH already have accounts.
6. Synergy between GridTalk and OGF-Europe.
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A paper prepared between Stephanie Parker of OGF-Europe, SP and Cristy Burne was circulated before the meeting. The PMB agreed this with no changes. FH suggested that a mailing list for all the EC dissemination projects would be a useful means of co-ordination.
Action 1.12: SP to talk to all EC dissemination projects about a joint mailing list
7. GridTalk conferences to attend
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Three conferences were proposed in the next year, to promote the project and produce Gridcasts:
- OGF23 in Barcelona, June 2-6 2008.
- International Summer School on Grid Computing. 6-18 July in Hungary, http://www.iceage-eu.org/issgc08/index.cfm
- EGEE '08, Istanbul, 22-26 September 2008
These conferences were agreed for the year to the end of 2008. It was also agreed that GridTalk attend a conference outside the EU during its two years. FH suggested that this could be in Australia.
Action 1.13: SP to look into potential conferences in Australia to attend
There was some discussion of how to measure whether Gridcasts had been successful. SP noted that possible metrics included number of bloggers, number of blog entries and page hits.
Action 1.14: SP Sarah to produce metrics to monitor the success of the GridTalk
8. AOB
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FH raised the question of a mailing list for the project. It was agreed to establish two lists based at CERN: project-eu-gridtalk-PMB and project-eu-gridtalk-all. PMB members would be included in both lists.
Action 1.15: SP to send list members to FH for project-eu-gridtalk-all
FH showed the PMB an example PMB agenda from another project that had worked well as a template. This included:
- approval of the previous minutes
- project status (presented by the project manager, with one slide per workpackage plus deliverables and issues)
- deliverables
It was agreed to adopt this format for future meetings. Written reports would not be required from WP leaders, but they would be expected to send a slide to the project manager setting out achievements and issues.
SP mentioned that the final DoW agreed by the EC had specified that deliverables are required by the end of the month in which they are due. FH noted that project management reports would be needed within 60 days of the due date.
Date of next meeting
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Dates were set for the PMB meetings in 2008. These would be held by phone conference, Skype, or some similar technology.
Wed 11 June 1500 CET
Wed 17 Sept 1500 CET
Wed 3 Dec 1500 CET
Action list
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Action 1.1: SP to edit the consortium agreement to reflect fact that the chair is elected, rather than automatically held by the co-ordinator.
Action 1.2: SP edit the consortium agreement to reflect the changes agreed and circulate to PMB members.
Action 1.3: FH to clarify whether Gridcafe and iSGTW need to be declared as background in the consortium agreement.
Action 1.4: SP to check with QMUL and Imperial College whether the RTM needs to be declared as background.
Action 1.5: Frederic to clarify the current status of recruitment at CERN for the iSGTW editor.
Action 1.6: SP to contact EC once iSGTW recruitment has been clarified, to check whether there is a need to change the DoW to remove references to Cristy.
Action 1.7: SP to raise the question of subcontracting with the Project Officer.
Action 1.8: SP to clarify with Dave Colling who will be working on the RTM.
Action 1.9: SP to check about the possibility of registering gridtalk.eu, and whether gridtalk-project.eu would be acceptable to the EC.
Action 1.10: FH to check about hosting the GridTalk website at CERN
Action 1.11: FH to arrange CERN computer accounts for APO and SP. SL and FH already have accounts.
Action 1.12: SP to talk to all EC dissemination projects about a joint mailing list
Action 1.13: SP to look into potential conferences in Australia to attend
Action 1.14: SP Sarah to produce metrics to monitor the success of the GridTalk
Action 1.15: SP to send list members to FH for project-eu-gridtalk-all
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