ADEC NSF GRANT PROJECT AUDIO CONFERENCE MINUTES
July 13, 2001
July 13, 2001
12:00 Noon Eastern Time
PRESENT:
Kevin Gamble, ADEC
Jim Hamilton, University of Illinois
Dave Staudt, EDUCAUSE
Randy Ross, ADEC
Janet Poley, ADEC
Jeff Poley, ADEC
Kate Sydik, ADEC
Stacey Sanchez, ADEC
Dale Finkelson, University of Nebraska
Bob Dixon, ITEC
Pankaj Shah, ITEC-Ohio
Paul Jewell, Iowa State University
Rebecca Kellogg, Iowa State University
Joe Monahan, Iowa State University
Gary Atkins, Colorado State University
Brad Paleg, University of Maryland-College Park
Don Riley, University of Maryland-College Park
Valorie McAlpin, University of Maryland-College Park
Ken Spelke, University of Illinois
Poley began by saying that the test calls were helpful in building communication and problem solving. Resuming the NSF calls will allow us to come together on the project. Stacey Sanchez, Tiffani Hill and Rebekah Deter were recognized as ADEC NSF REU fellows.
1. Overview - End-of-the-First-Year Report to NSF
Poley said she is pleased where we are at present and would like to thank everyone for getting us the information for the annual report. We recognize how much work is involved in the program. All will get copies of the report.
There are two amendments to the core project:
a. The Chinese American Symposium (CANS) - University of Maryland-College Park lead.
b. REU amendment for five undergraduate research students. We currently have three and will have two more shortly.
2. Overview of the Project
Gamble reported that it has been a successful spring. The network became operational May 1. Everything is working and we have 24 sites operational and three more orders this week (30 was year one goal by September 30, 2001). We should easily make this goal and perhaps have fifty sites by September.
With the help of Randy Ross, we have gained many tribal college sites. We are not yet as far along with the 1890 community, but there was a need to lay appropriate ground work. We have done well with our engineering sites: CSU, ISU, Ohio State and the traditional extension locations. It is easy to connect quickly, when there is familiarity with the project. There are a number of good potential sites in the works.
On July 1 the Network Operations Center (NOC) at OARnet became operational. We are now recording data on user concerns.
Several sites have expressed interest in mobile units and we have a field trip scheduled to look at the Wells Fargo unit in Eugene, Oregon on July 16 (Gamble, Shah, Atkins and Jeff Poley). Gamble will then go to the San Diego Super Computing Center NAP Annual Meeting.
Poley mentioned that Dan Godfrey of NCA&T is serving as the coordinator with HBCUs and is doing a good job of bringing together leadership of institutions such as the meeting held in Atlanta in May. There is much interest in mobile units specifically, also in Internet2 connections and wireless applications. We expect 10-12 sites to become connected soon.
3. Discussion of To Do Lists for R&D Agenda
Network Infrastructure - We have a missing piece making the physical connection to Internet2. This will happen at the San Diego NAP. Poley will speak with Doug VanHouweling about the best way to connect and affiliate with I2. ADEC is unique, and we don't quite fit the model but everyone is helping get this worked out.
Addressing - Finkelson said we have two full class C blocks of addresses. ARTN is handing them out in relatively small increments. For the most part, this is sufficient but we need a larger block. We will deal on a case-by-case basis. We can go back and say we need more and hopefully it will be forthcoming. If we need a little more space, we may be able to get some additional from Cox. Finkelson and Shah are working together on this. Poley said this was excellent. It is important to communicate with folks on this.
McAlpin asked about the two sites partnered with PowerUp. They are providing AOL, wiring, training, hardware. Will this be a problem in terms of assigning addresses?
Finkelson said there is nothing intrinsically wrong with what McAlpin suggested. If they are also providing public addressing space they want routed, they need to let us know to work with Cox.
NOC - Shah noted that the NOC is operational as of July 1. We have already received a call. Gamble put the number out. Shah talked with George Shih at Tachyon on general, procedural and technical issues.
Question for Tachyon: What is the best way to get realtime data - information through Tachyon regarding outages?
Shah said that he heard that Tachyon normally informs end users about outages only after lasting one hour which is not acceptable.
Poley said Tachyon should be highly motivated to make this work as well as possible, and they will be joining the weekly calls. Guralnick and Carmichael are important to our discussions.
Gamble is working on the spreadsheet of information on local sites. Tachyon has all information updated as of Wednesday, but it does not contain e-mail addresses - working on collecting that.
ITEC will track new flow data from ADEC router. The agreement with ITEC will be added to the ADEC webpage. Also, the collaborative workspace will be improved.
Poley thanked ITEC and remarked that they have been great at communicating.
Dixon said his first test of H.323 was very crude. The test consisted of a linux box talking to another terminal. The results were very marginal, the call remained but 128k video and audio were unacceptably poor.
The first response from Tachyon was discouraging, they said results can't be expected without guaranteed quality of service. There is currently no guaranteed QoS, but we are working on it. It should work and ITEC is committed to making this work.
Jewell communicated with someone at Tachyon and was somewhat encouraged that this can work.
Shah mentioned that we need a list of folks to email regarding problems
Jeff Poley asked whether Tachyon was aware that a test was going on? Dixon replied yes - but it is important that Guralnick and Carmichael are involved.
Gamble asked that members let him know of specific questions before going to the San Diego Super Computer Center NAP meeting.
Finkelson asked if there was a different foundry switch yet at the NAP.
Gamble said that the current switch is too flaky and that we need higher reliability. He will discuss with Jeremy. There are multiple switches and a large number of connections, it is not as straightforward as it may seem. ADEC is the only organization with a problem, but we are not the only one using the switch.
Poley said we need to get this nailed. She said she saw e-mail traffic trying to eliminate variables. Let's find out the problem. Finkelson said it is probably not as straightforward as it might seem. We can't just throw money at the problem and make it go away.
McAlpin asked where are we with the test equipment for the Home and Garden Center?
Gamble said Ritz should have sent earlier.
McAlpin said their users were not pleased with the results. Hopefully Chariot will help identify what is really going on and what is perception.
Gamble reminded that this is a research project. We are learning as we go along.
Poley reminded that it is a key thing to build local communities, there is a big difference between users like Erik Nagy doing big science projects and building learning communities with rural and remote audiences. There are many rural and remote folks with very low level connectivity and other marginalization issues. There is other work along with engineering work.
Ross said there is a broad base of communication issues combined with technical issues.
Engineering and Effectiveness are not separate and unless we work with communities, the project will fail. Connectivity is necessary but far from sufficient to have any impact.
The Educational Effectiveness Panel will integrate research agenda beyond network. Building community is very important. We must develop experimental protocols and consider appropriate use of learning applications. It is important to remember end users.
McAlpin said it is important to understand how local community takes ownership and identify the needs of a particular community. Local sites seem a little unsure and may be looking for a recipe. End users would value information sharing and ideas on economic development, health, etc.
Poley said we must build community at the edges of the network. People will adopt technology to fit particular uses and needs. The folks at the sites need to communicate and share with each other.
Atkins said he moved the CPE to rural remote area. There were more than simply NOC issues that came up, other equipment applications. There is a high need to get geared up to be responsive.
Dissemination Guidelines: Poley said there are many opportunities to present and talk about the project. It is important to know about dissemination and outreach talks relating to the project. We need to be sure we know what is going on. Also, periodically we much get the PIs together. Last year we coordinated the release of results from the preliminary test. When in doubt, let Gamble or Poley know so everyone is aware of a dissemination piece.
4. Discussion of Webpage and Collaborative Workspace
There is an NSF Button on the ADEC Page. We are collecting data here. We will include the testing protocol. The idea is to put the project in a fish bowl - be open, available, public.
We are going to be updating collaborative work space for the next round of testing. The Zope tool will be another tool in addition to audioconferences and Internet.
Gamble asked who was going to the ACE/NETC meeting in Toronto. Spelke said he was with 14 representatives; McAlpin said she had 10-12 people going.
Dixon said that assuming we get the video conferencing working well over the satellite network by October, and we have connectivity to Internet 2, he would like to invite participants to Megaconference III, October 3. He would like as many ADEC schools as possible to give presentations.
Poley reminded everyone of the Distance Teaching & Learning Conference in Madison, Wisconsin in August. ADEC is heavily involved. Last year the ADEC both included a CPE. This year the work of the Tribal Colleges will be featured.
Send materials and events to Kate Sydik so she can post them on the web.
5. Weekly Conference Calls
Poley said she would structure calls so that the plan is to hold calls weekly:
NSF List meets once a month;
Networking & Engineering meets once a month;
Educational Effectiveness meets once a month; and an
Open-to-All Call once a month.
Staudt reported on the ANMSI - Advanced Networking with Minority Serving Institutions. It was funded under an NSF award September 1999 and is a four-year grant for $6 million focusing on HBCUs, Hispanic Institutions, and Tribal institutions. There are currently about 35 of each involved. They have focused on:
1. Executive awareness by talking to campus decision makers about the need for good IT structure.
2. Network Technology Guidelines - They will get published and will be available so others can use.
3. Remote Technical Support Centers - They are for security and virus protection and 24-7 monitoring.
4. A Terrestrial wireless project - They will have wireless installations at four tribal college sites by the end of September. For interest in more details visit the ANMSI website at www.anmsi.org.
Dixon said that ITEC will be happy to manage a NOC for ANMSI. Poley said
sharing between the two projects should continue.