Date: Thu, 12 Sep 1996 19:48:27 -0500
Subject: Re: Report from SX-users meeting at MAS 8/13/96
From: claudio
X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0b -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas
Status: OR

First of all, I'd like to say thank you to John for his reporting of the
Minneapolis SX-users meeting under Cameca's auspices. I hate to take
notes, so it did not even cross my mind I should have.
This has reminded me of an earlier suggestion that some
tangible reward (enticement?) could be given to the individual(s) who would
organize and systematize the email exchanges between SX users. I think
that would be quite appropriate and fair. A trip to Paris was suggested,
but I cannot go along with that because it might induce me to start taking
notes, or do something even more demanding. Instead I propose to invite
John to dinner, the next time we meet.

Concerning our group, these are two things I learned in Minneapolis:

Cameca will not respond to the requests for advice/help that we SX
users exchange. To do otherwise would not be practical for them, and I
have come to appreciate some of the difficulties involved. If we want
their help we must ask them directly .

Cameca would also prefer it if we organized ourselves in a more formal way,
like, for example, Cameca ion probe users have done, in North America
and, I think, in Europe. I do not have details, but the one thing
mentioned to me is that they have regular meetings, and John Fournelle's
suggestion ("Planning for future SX-user meetings") seems to move in the
right direction. This should make it easier for Cameca to deal with our
needs and requests.

I am now reconciled with Cameca's silence while it reads about our
difficulties, and I am encouraged by the signs I have seen of Cameca's
efforts to improve communication with and response to us. I was
particularly pleased by the hiring of Pierre Staub who seems to have
moved quickly to address a number of quite old software bugs.
It also has become clearer to me that we can and should make better use
of our collective knowledge, for the very reason that Cameca will not
reply to each and all of the requests we commit to email. This, of
course, is not a new idea and in fact I know I have, somewhere, messages
by Bruce Robinson and John Donovan (and probably others) making
suggestions on hows and whats on the matter. One thought that occurred to
me is that we could define general topics relevant to SX maintenance,
repair and operation (i.e., what I mostly worry about) and that we could
all contribute what we know on the various subjects. The information
could be gathered and organized by one or more individuals per each
general topic (the ones who take good notes, of course) so as to make the
task less daunting. For example, 'spectrometers', 'stage', 'BSE detector'
could be general topics, with subtopics like 'basic
theory' (where applicable), 'common problems and fixes', etc.
This does not have to happen overnight, in fact I expect it would take
some time, since we all are quite busy and most of us are not good at
taking notes, anyways.
And why should these suggestions stir us into action, while the previous
ones did not? For the simple reason that I am ready to receive and
organize your comments and suggestions, as a first step towards the
ultimate goal. One step at a time. As for myself, I shall start by
retrieving Bruce's and John's letters.