From tlmurray@usgs.gov Mon Jul 10 09:11:17 2000
Date: Mon, 3 Jul 2000 10:15:00 -0700
From: tlmurray@usgs.gov
To: earthw-list@nmt.edu
Cc: jpower@usgs.gov, jnmarso@usgs.gov
Subject: Re: EW Community Center

I too have been disappointed by the lack of connection among earthworm
community users and developers.  I have developed quite a few modules,
especially for integrating non-seismic data streams into the earthworm
system. Some might achieve wide-spread use.  For example, archiving
continuous waveform data still seems to be an issue. So I wrote a simple
module for sending triglist2k messages to trig2disk at user-specified
intervals to produce sequential data files containing all the desired trace
data.  Though probably not the enterprise level solution that some network
operators require, it is perfectly suited for smaller operators such as I
work with.

But I am not sure what to do with this module or the others.  Wait until
the formal release of a USGS Open-File Report describing them? The
open-source proponents seem to push a test-it-in-battle approach, much more
in keeping with my preferred style.  Does the fact they are written in
Visual Basic and thus NT-specific make a difference?  I don't know.  I was
expecting to funnel everything through the staff in Golden, but they are
swamped with their own set of tasks.  Until I saw this latest exchange, I
did not even know others shared my concerns about such issues.  Though
unsuited to undertake a major role with the entire Earthworm community, I
do have a certain responsibility to the users I work with.  My approach is
perhaps instructive of what will increasingly occur unless some strong
leadership in the Earthworm community either appears on its own or is paid
to appear.

I am in a somewhat unique position among Earthworm users.  In my role
working with overseas volcano observatories, I am setting up numerous
Earthworm boxes around the Pacific rim, especially Latin America.  In
addition to monitoring volcanoes, the observatories typically run their
country's national seismic network.  My guess is that within 3 years
Earthworm boxes will be integral to every national seismic net in North and
South America to as far south as at least Ecuador and possibly all the way
to Tierra del Fuego.

As part of this effort, I want to see these groups become part of an active
user community.  To assist in this end, Jeff Marso (who is working with me
on this project), put together a new listserver,
http://tlaloc.wr.usgs.gov/mailman/listinfo/glowworm  We opted to produce a
new one because the current Earthworm listserver appeared (1) moribund  (at
the time) and (2) several generations old. He used GNU's Mailman :
http://www.gnu.org/software/mailman/mailman.html We are hoping it will
become the focal point of our support efforts as it provides a nice user
interface, message threading, and all the normal benefits of a listserver.

There is no content yet.  Our plan is to announce it and begin using it
during an install in Ecuador starting next week.  By using it as the
primary method of obtaining support from us, we hope that our colleagues
will become accustomed to using it and eventually develop the community as
they start to peek under the hood and can help each other.  It is also to
be truly bilingual - messages in Spanish or English or anything in between
will be welcome.  We may be naive in this approach, but at least it's a
strategy of some sort.

I apologize to the current listserver administrator as this is not to be
taken as knock at you. The fact that no one was using the site drove our
decision to go forward with one of our own as just being simpler.  In
hindsight, we should have checked in with you anyway.  We did let Alex know
of our plan.  But it may not be bad to have a additional listserver from
the current one - it will be addressing a different audience.  We are
flexible and it still early enough to change paths.  But I can't give up
the newer generation's features as I need to entice people into using it.
Whether this is a splintering of or enhancement to the Earthworm community
is open to discussion.

A final comment - I am pushing Earthworm technology into the non-seismic
areas that volcano monitoring involves: strain, geodetic, chemical,
hydrologic, etc.  A project at Mt. Rainier involves no seismic data
whatsoever. I see it is an easy-to-use method for real-time geophysical
data collection and distribution and a way to integrate all the different
data streams together.  It's quite possible that Earthworm could take off
in a much larger community than it now serves.

