Hi Doug,
I like the idea of weighting the shifts!
-----------------------
Octavian F Filoti
Nuclear Physics Group
Univ. of New Hampshire
9 Library Way
Durham, NH 03824
phone: (603)862-1691
FAX: (603)862-2998
email: ofiloti@unh.edu
On Tue, 17 Jun 2003, Douglas Hasell wrote:
> Hi,
>
> Okay I suppose it is time for a response to the recent flurry of
> messages concerning the distribution of shifts. I was planning to raise
> this at the collaboration meeting in a few weeks but maybe something is
> necessary now.
>
> Firstly, I agree that the distribution has been unfair. Keeping
> shift statistics was intended for exactly this purpose; so we could see how
> things balanced over time and take it into account. On the other hand I am
> trying to work within the constraints I am given. For the graduate
> students the constraint is generally when they are unavailable. And I must
> say the students have been very good about this (witness over 100 E-mails
> to this affect). For other members of the experiment I am often told only
> when they can take a shift so I am inclined to fill these in as given and
> then fill in the spaces as I can.
>
> Since we are still debugging one thing or the other I try to keep
> the people supervising or organising things on shifts which still allow
> them to be here during the day. This is unfair I know and hopefully can
> end soon when we are routinely taking data but I think this is necessary in
> order to get running.
>
> It would be very good if I received more responses from the
> non-graduate student group about when they can take shifts and if these
> could include some fraction of the less popular shifts.
>
> I think we should discuss this at the collaboration meeting 14
> July. Some things to consider are:
>
> 1. voluntary shifts - create a sign-up list an run it basically on
> the honour system with statistics and possibly a "wall of shame"
>
> 2. weight the shifts differently (e.g. weekday day = 1, weekday
> evening = 1.25, weekday overnight = 1.5, weekend day =1.25, weekend evening
> = 1.5, weekend overnight = 1.5) still need to agree how many points
> everyone must take)
>
> 3. divide total number of shifts by number of authors, assign
> uniformly, and then let groups decide how to distribute amongst their own
> students and post-docs.
>
> 4. determine which fraction of shifts should be born by students,
> post-docs, etc. and then let the graduate students manage it (Aaron's
> suggestion from last year)
>
> On another related topic it has been suggested that we stagger the
> shifts so there is better continuity of information from shift to shift. I
> agree but the amount of stagger is the question: 1, 2, or 4 hours?
> Personally I favour 2 hours say 01-09, 07-15, 09-17, 15-23, 17-01 as
> something approaching normal hours. 4 hours 00-08, 04-12, 08-16, 12-20,
> 16-24, 20-04 or 02-10, 06-14, 10-18, 14-22, 18-02, 22-06 seems too bizarre.
>
> Cheers,
> Douglas
>
> 26-415 M.I.T. Tel: +1 617 258 7199
> 77 Massachusetts Avenue Fax: +1 617 258 5440
> Cambridge, MA 02139, USA E-mail: hasell@mit.edu
>
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