Concept/prototype of a
FAQ section on the
MACC-III website
Date:
04/2015
Lead Beneficiary:
BENEFICIARY (#33)
Nature:
R
Work-package
65 (Project training)
Deliverable
D65.2
Title
Concept/prototype of a FAQ section on the
MACC-III website
Nature
R
Dissemination
PP
Lead Beneficiary
UPMC (#33)
Date
MM/YYYY
Status
Draft version
Authors
Claire Granier
(UPMC), Thomas Holzer-Popp (DLR)
Approved by
Thomas Holzer-Popp (DLR)
Contact
[email protected]
[In case the deliverable is not a report: provide a description of it inside this
box.]
This document has been produced in the context of the MACC-II project (Monitoring Atmospheric Composition and Climate - Interim Implementation). The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7 THEME [SPA.2011.1.5-02]) under grant agreement n° 283576. All information in this document is provided "as is" and no guarantee or warranty is given that the information is fit for any particular purpose. The user thereof uses the information at its sole risk and liability. For the avoidance of all doubts, the European Commission has no liability in respect of this document, which is merely representing the authors view.
Executive Summary / Abstract
This document summarizes several discussions that took place during MACC-II
and MACC-III on the development of a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
section on the MACC-III website. The document summarizes the motivation for
designing a FAQ, how the FAQ could be designed, the topics that could be
covered by the FAQ together with details on each of these topics, and a few
ideas on how to present and start the FAQ pages.
Table of Contents
1. Why a FAQ
5
2. How the FAQ could be designed
5
3. Topics covered by the FAQ
5
4. A few details on each topic
6
1. Why a FAQ?
The purpose of designing and developing FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) for the Copernicus Atmospheric Monitoring Service for is to help users who want to understand and use the CAMS system, for agencies/reviewers/providers to understand what CAMS is about, for CAMS participants to find what they need for each service and for a better citation of CAMS work and products in the literature.
The goal of the FAQ is not to provide very detailed information for each service, but to provide the most important information and the correct link in the system where the required detailed information can be found.
2. How the FAQ could be designed
Several principles could guide the development of the FAQ. Some of them are listed below: • The whole FAQ should be designed so that it is easy to maintain, to find topics and to
have an automatic control of the different links.
• Items should be clickable, so that the FAQ home page could just display the main topics, with details in other pages.
• There should be links in the answers to the FAQ, to direct the users directly to products or information on the system.
• The FAQ should have a system that checks automatically and regularly that the links indicated in the FAQ are valid.
• Content for each topics could be written by CAMS participants, and then reviewed by a panel of users.
• The FAQ will include one item that could be called "wish list" or something equivalent, where CAMS participants/users could propose new items for the FAQ.
• The FAQ will be used in CAMS and other summer schools/training sessions, and comments/suggestions will be implemented afterwards.
• We could use web tools that analyze (every day/every week) the most frequently accessed items and put them at the top of each item section.
• The CAMS helpdesk will help design the FAQ. It will also identify the most frequently asked questions and coordinate with the person/group who will write to appropriate answer.
3. Topics to be covered by the FAQ
A list of 10 topics has been identified for now. They are listed below: this list will be revised regularly, to take into account the requests by the different users of the services provided by CAMS.
1. General: what CAMS is about, Copernicus, …
2. The main components of the CAMS system: including an overview of the products available
3. Input data: satellite, aircraft and surface observations, … 4. Input emissions: anthropogenic, fires and natural emissions
5. How the global system works: models, data assimilation techniques, runs, meteorological data, …
6. How the regional system works: the regional models, data assimilation, boundary conditions, …
7. Evaluation of the products: evaluation reports, observation used, metrics used, … 8. How to access the CAMS products: location, conditions for use, formats, tools for
reading the data, …
9. User support: how to become a user, how to get in contact with partners, policy tools, …
10. Users groups: How to get in contact with other users, how to get access to examples from users, …
4. A few details on each topic
Several discussions on the detailed content of the FAQ took place during the MACC-II summer school, and they were followed by discussions with different users of the services. For each of the 10 topics listed in Section 3, more details on the content of the FAQ are given below:
4.1 General Information on CAMS • What CAMS is about? • How is CAMS organized?
• What is the Copernicus Program? • General view of the products available? • Who are the groups developing the system? • How is CAMS managed?
• Where can we access publications on CAMS? • Where is a list of all acronyms used in the system? • …
4.2 The main components of the CAMS system • Includes an overview of the products available • Include an image of the CAMS system components
• A few lines lines to describe each component of the system • …
4.3 Input data for the CAMS system
The goal of this item is to provide detailed information on all the observations (satellite, aircraft and surface observations) that are used in the assimilation system. For each type of observation, we could provide the following information:
• What are the data used in the assimilation system? • How can we access these data?
• Can we get information and data for the averaging kernels for satellite data? • Where can we find information on retrievals?
• - How are the data validated? Are there any information on flags/ uncertainties? • What means NRT data (how near, validation)?
• Where can we find information on the data coverage (spatial, temporal and corresponding resolution)?
• Where can we find information on units? • …
4.4 Input emissions
This item could be split into three sections, anthropogenic, fires and natural emissions) • What are the different emissions used in the system?
• Where can we find all the emission data?
• What are the time and spatial resolution of the emissions? • What are the emissions available in NRT?
• Which emissions are available as 3-d fields (injection height)? • What are the uncertainties on emission data?
• How are emissions evaluated? • …
4.5 How the global system works
• What is the global atmospheric model used in the simulations? • Where can we get details on the chemical/aerosol scheme ? • How does the assimilation system work?
• How does the greenhouse gases inversion system works? • How often are data assimilated in the system?
• How are the simulations of gaseous compounds and aerosols linked? • Where are the meteorological data coming from? Are they available? • What is a forecast, and what is an analysis?
• …
4.6 How the regional system works
• What are the main features of the regional models participating in CAMS?
• How does the regional data assimilation system work?
• What are the observations used in the regional data assimilation system? • …
4.7 Evaluation of the products
• This section could have a part on global evaluation, and one on regional evaluation • What are the observations used in the evaluation?
• Where are the stations providing data, together with detailed information on these stations?
• Which metrics are used for the evaluation of the different products?
• How are observations from aircraft/ground-based observations campaigns used in the evaluation?
• How are greenhouses gases emissions optimized by inverse modeling evaluated? • Where can we find the reports on the evaluation of the products?
• How are satellite data used for the evaluation of the products? • …
4.8 How to access and use the CAMS products • overview of the datasets available to all users • Where can we access the different CAMS products?
• Are there some users' guide for some of the CAMS products?
• Are there tools available to use CAMS products for policy assessments? • How to download the data? What is the format of the data?
• Are there any tools available to read the data? • How to get technical support?
• …
4.9 User support
• How to become a CAMS user?
• How to ask questions on the system?
• How to provide feedback on the data and products? • How to send a wishlist?
• Is there a helpdesk for the system?
• Can we contact directly the group managing the CAMS system? • Is there a list of users, so that users can contact other users? • …..
4.10 Users groups
• How to get in contact with other users
• Where can we find a list of users of the different products • How to get access to examples of work done by other users
5. A few ideas on how to present and start the FAQ
The FAQ could be presented as a list or as a more attractive way. It could be presented with images, logos, cartoons, clipart, etc., for each item, each if them being clickable.
A few ideas were discussed during the MACC-II summer school, which could be used as a starting point for the discussion.
In order to start the development of the FAQ, we propose first to make a review of currently available FAQs in different scientific/services websites. From this review, we will identify efficient/not-so-efficient ways for the presentation of the FAQ system.
The FAQ will be first designed for one service, and then extended to all CAMS services. This first service which will be used as a demonstration/test for the FAQ will be identified during the coming months.
This FAQ concept will be presented at the MACC-III user workshop 11 May 2015 and user feedback will be invited.
