Hi Sam/All

Looking upwards I do not see any mandates in this area!

You are referring to general communication (since there are also the  
special lists on various topics) and from my point of view the various  
mechanisms are being used as required so:

1) TB-SUPPORT is (and historical has been) the main discussion route.  
It is a useful list and people get along well with the asynchronous  
mode. Having the history in an email thread is also nice. People use  
email all the time so I doubt this one will change in preference stakes.

2) The jabber conference room was proposed to allow realtime  
discussion and collaboration on technical areas where joint progress  
is needed quickly. We have so far not seen many situations like this  
arise. I suspect it will get more use if for example we need quick  
changes - I think the original proposal was to model something on the  
ATLAS/ScotGrid virtual operations room, but our mode of operation  
across the UK is different. Coordination on security matters was also  
put forward as one area that might benefit from immediate discussion.  
It is in slight competition with actual meetings where there is also  
discussion (well sometimes!).

3) Like many I have not had an invite to Google Wave so personally  
I've not tried it and have yet to experience the benefits. I suspect  
it will be similar to 2).

We have several things that we try but get abandoned through lack of  
interest or use (we have quite a few unused mailing lists). I see  
nothing wrong with those options remaining as they are - if there is a  
sudden requirement for their services then they are ready to be used.  
At least they are tested. Overall I suspect mailing lists are easier  
to keep up with and most of us have the habit of tracking them, so the  
situation may not change even with Wave hype!

Does anyone want a mandate in this area?

Jeremy


On 24 Nov 2009, at 12:10, Sam Skipsey wrote:

> Hello all,
> This is something of a meta discussion point, but there isn't a
> TB-SUPPORT_META mailing list, so.
>
> There are currently at least three "TB-SUPPORT" entities for  
> communication:
>
> This list ( [log in to unmask] ), a conventional mailing list.
> The jabber conference room.
> The Wave ( TBSUPPORT )
>
> Of these, only this list seems to actually get any activity. The Wave
> is mainly people (okay, Ewan and I) talking about Wave invites and ACL
> settings. The jabber conference room seems to have a membership of < 5
> (Chris Brew, Duncan, Derek, and someone from Scotgrid, usually Dug).
>
> Now, one might reasonably ask what the point is of things that aren't
> used, since they do increase the amount of cognitive load in keeping
> up with the group.
>
> Any comments, rationales, mandates from on high?
>
> Sam