 Taking Ownership
of Change
We are living through an information revolution, which has an important
impact on how scientists disseminate their work, and gain access to
their colleagues' research. A wealth of information is now available on
the internet but we lack the organizational structures to access it
efficiently. Real thought and discussion are needed so we can take
ownership of these developments and make the necessary changes to
facilitate the way we work.
In High Energy Physics, and increasingly in other fields of science,
researchers are forming larger and larger collaborations and are
collecting huge data sets with very long legacies. This science is
almost all publicly funded research and we owe it to the taxpayers to
work out the most efficient way to share and recover information.
This is why I was delighted that the SLAC Library took the initiative to
organize The
Information Resource Summit held at SLAC on Thursday and Friday of last week. This meeting brought together many information providers from particle and particle astrophysics to explore how we can work together to develop the next generation of
information-discovery and communication systems that scientists will
need over the next ten years. The international group focused on how
science is changing and what new communication systems are needed.
Participants shared information about a host of technical details,
their users, and the services they offer. Most importantly, they agreed
to develop a collaborative structure and a concrete set of tasks to
establish a permanent partnership. This agreement to set up a
collaboration between labs, publishers and other information providers
is a first in High Energy Physics and is potentially a model that can be taken up by other
fields of science.
Read more... |
New Priority Code Added to CEF's
Service Request System
by Leslie Bachant
The Conventional and Experimental Facilities (CEF) Service Request System is used to request engineering, project management, operations, maintenance and physics support to buildings, facilities and experiments at SLAC. In order to improve scheduling and provide prompt and honest feedback to those who submit requests, CEF has added a work priority code to the Service Request System.
Read more...
Bike to Work Day Returns to SLAC
by Heather Rock Woods
Time to oil your chain and pump air into your tires. Thursday, May 17 is Bike to Work Day throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. Cyclists can stop at SLAC's Energizer station on Sand Hill Road, just downhill from the lab's main gate, for refreshments and appreciation.
Devoted cyclist Rick Challman from the Business Services Division and his crew of pedal-powered volunteers will welcome all cyclists from 6:30 to 9 a.m. on Thursday. "We get a lot of bike commuters using Sand Hill Road. Join us on Thursday," he said.
Participants can register at an Energizer Station or
online to enter a raffle. By registering, you pledge to bike at least once this week for work, school, errands or play. Find other Energizer station locations
here.
Safety Firsts
by John Cornuelle
If you are a black belt and into breaking bricks and boards with your hand, or excel at g Tum-mo meditation, there is something fundamental that you need to do that is widely unappreciated. We need to use the same technique to develop a "culture of safety." The most concise and sparse description of this, surprisingly, came out of a Hollywood movie, maybe the only truly useful thing that locale has produced.
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