Combining the strengths of UMIST and The Victoria University of Manchester Access Grid Quality...
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mbining the strengths of UMIST and e Victoria University of Manchester Access Grid Quality Access Grid Quality Survey & New Services Survey & New Services Update Update Michael Daw Manchester Computing Access Grid BOF, All Hands Meeting 20 September 2006
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Transcript of Combining the strengths of UMIST and The Victoria University of Manchester Access Grid Quality...
Combining the strengths of UMIST andThe Victoria University of Manchester
Access Grid Quality Access Grid Quality Survey & New Services Survey & New Services UpdateUpdateMichael DawManchester Computing
Access Grid BOF, All Hands Meeting20 September 2006
20 September 2006 2All Hands Meeting 2006
Contents
Quick review of the AGSC year
AGSC User Survey
e-Science Centre Survey
The Message…
…Possible Solutions
20 September 2006 3All Hands Meeting 2006
A Busy Year!
User survey
New look website
Booking system launched
Improving services– VRVS
– Jabber integration
– AG3
– IG2
20 September 2006 4All Hands Meeting 2006
Usage Highlights
20 September 2006 5All Hands Meeting 2006
Growth of UK Access Grid Nodes
0
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Bef
ore
AG
SC
Aug
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Sep
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Oct
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Nov
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Dec
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Jan-
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Apr
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May
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Aug
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Sep
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Oct
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20 September 2006 6All Hands Meeting 2006
AGSC Survey – Respondents
9th-31st January 2006
26 different institutions– e-Science
– e-Social Science
– AGSC registered
– etc.
70 respondents:– Users 69%
– Node admins 24%
– Node operators 6%
20 September 2006 7All Hands Meeting 2006
User Quality
Excellent: 35%
Good: 44%
Poor: 15%
Abandoned: 5%
20 September 2006 8All Hands Meeting 2006
Session Frequency
On average…
Users – used AG 3.1 times each month
Node admins/operators – nodes used 4 times each week
20 September 2006 9All Hands Meeting 2006
Number of Sites Involved
“How many sites are involved in your Access Grid sessions?”
Two sites only 45% of sessions
3-5 sites 39%
6-10 sites 14%
More than 10 3%
20 September 2006 10All Hands Meeting 2006
Top Rated Problems
“What are the top three problems that hinder Access Grid sessions that you are involved in?”
Networking: 26%
Problem sites: 24%
Poor quality audio: 21%
20 September 2006 11All Hands Meeting 2006
Benefits of the AGSC
"What do you see as the main benefits of the Access Grid Support Centre?"
General support 54%
Services 19%
Quality Assurance testing 17%
Training 17%
Did not respond 27%
20 September 2006 12All Hands Meeting 2006
Benefits of the Access Grid
“What are the ways in which Access Grid helps you in your work?"
Alleviating the need to travel: 74%
Facilitating teaching: 6%
Negative comments: 6%
"Saves time & money travelling. Communication is more natural & open as body language and expression is available"
"Not impressed by AG and now use as a last resort only"
“A cool thing to show to people who don't know how far video conferencing has come"
20 September 2006 13All Hands Meeting 2006
Top Rated Improvements
“What are the top three improvements you would like to see in Access Grid?”
More reliability: 35%
More Access Grid nodes for those without:16%
Better audio (e.g. stereo): 12%
Running meetings without an operator: 7%
Better video: 7%
Better integration with other applications: 4%
20 September 2006 14All Hands Meeting 2006
e-Science Centre Survey
Conducted by Clare Gryce, University College London
Nine centres responded
Most centres report increasing usage of Access Grid
Most sites have node operator service
Several sites encourage user-operation
One site charges for node operation
20 September 2006 15All Hands Meeting 2006
e-Science Centre Survey
“Is the Access Grid valuable?”
All respondents said yes
Most sites planning further installations
One site is planning to replace other videoconferencing technologies with AG
20 September 2006 16All Hands Meeting 2006
The Message in a Nutshell
Users are most concerned about reliability
In almost all cases, this means problems connecting and problems with audio
20 September 2006 17All Hands Meeting 2006
What Goes Wrong?
Symptoms Causes Solutions
Break-up, loss of connection
Network congestion, other network problems
Hardware faults
No real solution; QoS?; NB: inSORS clients more resilient to network loss than AGTk clients
Repair/replace hardware
Echo Mics too near speakers
Poor settings
Dying/dead batteries in wireless mics
Move the mics/speakers
Correct the settings
Replace batteries
Extraneous noises: hissing, crackling, general poor quality
Poor settings
Ambient room noises (e.g. aircon)
Hardware faults
Correct the settings
Reconfigure room
Repair/replace hardware
20 September 2006 18All Hands Meeting 2006
What’s to be done?
Regular QA tests
Good for…– Training
– Looking after your node
But…– What about between tests?
20 September 2006 19All Hands Meeting 2006
What’s to be done?
Open test sessions
Good for…– Training
– Imparting information
– Knowing the AGSC is there for you
– In case you need to test
20 September 2006 20All Hands Meeting 2006
What’s to be done?
AG Check
Good for…– Self testing
– Checking audio & video quality “objectively”
– Perhaps a replacement for QA tests…?
20 September 2006 21All Hands Meeting 2006
What’s to be done?
Incident report
Good for…– Grass a site!
– Keeping nodes up to scratch
But…– No good if it’s not used!
http://www.agsc.ja.net/incidentreport.php
20 September 2006 22All Hands Meeting 2006
What’s to be done?
Store working audio configurations
Good for…– Centralised storage
– When it all goes wrong
– Will be accessed through booking system
20 September 2006 23All Hands Meeting 2006
What’s to be done?
Request AGSC assistance
Let us baby-sit your meeting
It’s easy to ask!
Good for…– Solving problems before they affect users
– When you’ve got a meeting that can’t go wrong!
– When sessions always seem to fail
– If you’re new to this game
20 September 2006 24All Hands Meeting 2006
What’s to be done?
Better training
AGSC on-line movies – coming soon
AGSC workshops – every six months
20 September 2006 25All Hands Meeting 2006
A Selfless Act
(Urwin Wood, University of Newcastle)
20 September 2006 26All Hands Meeting 2006
And Finally…
Report for JISC
“Usability & manageability”+
Focus group: 2nd November
Volunteers apply here!
Combining the strengths of UMIST andThe Victoria University of Manchester
Manchester ComputingManchester Computing
Providing Research Infrastructure & SupportProviding Research Infrastructure & Support
http://www.mc.manchester.ac.uk/services/accessgrid
Research Support ServicesResearch Support ServicesManchester ComputingManchester Computing
