Feature - iSGTW’s mid-term report card: results from our latest Reader Survey, so far

Remember mid-term exams back at university, which gave you an idea of where you stood half-way through the semester?

Well, by now we are halfway through our latest iSGTW Reader Survey, which closes on the 27th of January. We had many, many positive and enthusiastic responses, along with some suggestions to make it better.

Curious to know what your colleagues thought? Think our publication should be more accessible, or more technical? Then read below a random collection of highlights from anonymous comments (the numerals refer to the order in which they were received on our survey software):


1  Your topics and reports/links on your email newsletter always have something of interest for me.

2  if I have time (rarely) to read an article it is usually quite good, but I am not interested in too deep IT articles, I have this already elsewhere and better. Thanks.

3 I find the most satisfying and successful issues are those with one slightly longer piece and lots of quarter-page news and reports to give me the feeling I am keeping up to date (which I hope is not fooling myself).

10  The articles should be peer-reviewed before publication. I saw more than one in my field that was pure PR . . . which makes me question the trustworthiness of the ones in other fields.

12  I had to google iSGTW to learn what is was. may be my fault, but please expand the term in your communications

14  The articles are generally great summary information. It would be nice if some more focus were placed on linking to other web resources with more detail on 3 or 4 key points of each article.

A MODEST SUGGESTION

20  pay editors and writers more (Editor’s note: Thanks, Mom!)

22  Wish it all was more accessible (grid . . . and material on it)

23  I visit the website when there is a new issue of the newsletter. A facebook fanpage would also be helpful.

27  This is the best source I known for general information about the link between sciences and grid technology. Great job!

28  Go go go :-)

30  It would be interesting to have a section about science books related to grid.

36  More info on computing schools offering grid education. Grid certification courses - a discussion rolled out . . .

37  please make a user-friendly alias for your URL. It is impossible to remember!

38  Generally like the publication. I think some readers are confused about the definition of “grid,” whether it refers to research or computing, and cloud computing confuses things even more. I am hoping you and your writers can clarify the issue.

39  Can you post the feedback for this survey?

We’re considering all the ideas sent in — which reflect a lot of the thinking of ourselves, our contributors and our editorial board.

If you want to add your two-bits, fill out our reader survey in your email, or click on this link. You can also add comments on our iSGTW Nature Forum, or on our Facebook Fanpage. (Yep, we do have these social media, but it seems we need to get the word out more!)

Finally, to the person who said you had trouble viewing the email version in Pine, and to those who said it did not load properly on your browser, be sure to contact [email protected] with the details so that we can pass the information on to our webmaster.

—Dan Drollette, iSGTW