Presentation
Ask.CI, the Q&A Site for Research Computing - Year 1 Lessons Learned, Plans for Year 2
Event Type
Birds of a Feather
BoF
Technical Tools
TimeMonday, July 295:15pm - 6:15pm
LocationAtlanta
DescriptionIn September, 2017, the Northeast Cyberteam began a project to build a Q&A site to optimize dissemination of knowledge for research computing. The site was launched at PEARC18, and a naming contest at the conference yielded Ask.Cyberinfrastructure.org (Ask.CI).
The goal of Ask.CI is to aggregate answers to a broad spectrum of questions that are commonly asked by the research computing community. As researchers, staff, students, and other users ask and answer questions on Ask.CI, they are creating a shared knowledge base for the larger community, and alleviating the burden of a central resource to provide support to a user base. For smaller institutions, this provides a wealth of knowledge that was not previously available in an easily searchable Q&A form. For larger institutions, this novel, self-service model frees up time for facilitators and cyberinfrastructure engineers to focus on more advanced subject matter, thereby elevating the practice.
Establishing a Q&A site of this nature requires some tenacity. In partnership with the Campus Champions, Ask.CI has gained traction, and continues to engage the broader community to firmly establish the platform as a powerful tool for research computing. In the year since launch, Ask.CI has attracted nearly 100,000 page views, hundreds of contributors, and a broad audience that spans the U.S., and parts of Europe and Asia.
At this BOF, the Ask.CI team will discuss strategies, key accomplishments, challenges, and plans for the upcoming year.
The goal of Ask.CI is to aggregate answers to a broad spectrum of questions that are commonly asked by the research computing community. As researchers, staff, students, and other users ask and answer questions on Ask.CI, they are creating a shared knowledge base for the larger community, and alleviating the burden of a central resource to provide support to a user base. For smaller institutions, this provides a wealth of knowledge that was not previously available in an easily searchable Q&A form. For larger institutions, this novel, self-service model frees up time for facilitators and cyberinfrastructure engineers to focus on more advanced subject matter, thereby elevating the practice.
Establishing a Q&A site of this nature requires some tenacity. In partnership with the Campus Champions, Ask.CI has gained traction, and continues to engage the broader community to firmly establish the platform as a powerful tool for research computing. In the year since launch, Ask.CI has attracted nearly 100,000 page views, hundreds of contributors, and a broad audience that spans the U.S., and parts of Europe and Asia.
At this BOF, the Ask.CI team will discuss strategies, key accomplishments, challenges, and plans for the upcoming year.
Authors
