I have always wondered how many people are using FDS and Smokeview, and where in the world are they? Maybe you wonder the same thing? Well, to help answer this question, I have started a Google Map that can be edited by anyone, so that members of the community can add a place marker for where in the world they use FDS and Smokeview.
Link to FDS-SMV User Community Map
There is no requirement to do this, but I hope that everyone will take a few minutes to visit the map, click the edit button to the left of the map, and add a marker for where they are using the software. In the marker title and description, feel free to include as much information as you like. Some suggestions would be your Name, Google Group username, email address, company name, how or why you use FDS-SMV, links to papers written about your use, etc.
Some interesting features of using the map, is you can view the markers and user contributed information on Google Earth, and/or you can subscribe to the RSS feed for the map, so that you can monitor new additions to the map as they happen.
Please feel free to share this map with others who you know use FDS-SMV so that they can be added too. I will be watching the feed and look forward to seeing your markers.
-Bryan Klein
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Monday, April 20, 2009
Fire Modeling Workshop Live Blog and Video Feed.
During the Fire Modeling Workshop at the NIST Annual Fire Conference, we will be live streaming the event. You can find the page for the stream on the FDS-SMV site: http://fire.nist.gov/fds/FireModelingWS2009.html
Before the event, feel free to respond to the information form at the bottom of the live stream page.
There are two components to the stream, a live blogging system and a live video stream. Both components will be integrated and accessible through the same page. The live blog will allow participants, not at the event in person, to post comments or questions to be asked during the workshop, a moderator will be watching the comments stream and selecting some to be asked during the Q&A portion. Attendees who are there in person with a laptop, can also connect to the NIST visitor wireless network and comment and ask questions through the same system.
The video and live blog will be archived and made available on demand after the conference for review by those who cannot participate in real time. Information about how to access the archives will be made available after the event on the same page linked to above. We will then create new threads in the FDS-SMV discussion group to discuss issues raised during the workshop.
We hope that these services lower barriers to the information presented during the conference, and at the same time increases the ability for the Fire Modeling community to participate in the event, even if they cannot attend in person.
Before the event, you can test your computer's connection to the services at a demo site.
http://sites.google.com/site/playgroundforsites/
-Bryan
Before the event, feel free to respond to the information form at the bottom of the live stream page.
There are two components to the stream, a live blogging system and a live video stream. Both components will be integrated and accessible through the same page. The live blog will allow participants, not at the event in person, to post comments or questions to be asked during the workshop, a moderator will be watching the comments stream and selecting some to be asked during the Q&A portion. Attendees who are there in person with a laptop, can also connect to the NIST visitor wireless network and comment and ask questions through the same system.
The video and live blog will be archived and made available on demand after the conference for review by those who cannot participate in real time. Information about how to access the archives will be made available after the event on the same page linked to above. We will then create new threads in the FDS-SMV discussion group to discuss issues raised during the workshop.
We hope that these services lower barriers to the information presented during the conference, and at the same time increases the ability for the Fire Modeling community to participate in the event, even if they cannot attend in person.
Before the event, you can test your computer's connection to the services at a demo site.
http://sites.google.com/site/playgroundforsites/
-Bryan
Friday, April 10, 2009
NIST Annual Fire Conference
This is just a reminder that the NIST Annual Fire Conference is taking place April 28-30, 2009, in Gaithersburg, Maryland. The workshop agendas have been posted to the web site:
http://www.bfrl.nist.gov/info/fireconf/
The last day for registration is Wednesday, April 22. There is no fee, but all who attend must register to enter the NIST grounds.
The workshop on fire modeling is Wednesday, April 29.
http://www.bfrl.nist.gov/info/fireconf/
The last day for registration is Wednesday, April 22. There is no fee, but all who attend must register to enter the NIST grounds.
The workshop on fire modeling is Wednesday, April 29.
Friday, April 3, 2009
FDS-SMV Project 'Public Domain' License.
Google Code Project Hosting, which we use for our development process, updated their licensing options to include 'Public Domain' as a valid type. This is applicable for US Federal Government Agencies like NIST who by US Copyright law, are required to release their works as Public Domain. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_domain
Chapter 1 of Title 17 of the United States Code states:
When we first setup the fds-smv project we had to select a license option to get the project in the system. At the time the MIT license was the most liberal from those we had to select from. But, still even though we picked MIT for Google Code Hosting requirements, we were careful to clearly state where relevant that everything we are creating and releasing is Public Domain according to US Copyright Law. It took some time in limbo, after some online and offline discussions with the Google Code Hosting Developers, but eventually it all worked out. This additional license option is great news for US Government Open Source Software (OSS) developers, as now we can select the correct option and use these tools without any confusion as to the type of license applied to the work product.
-Bryan
Chapter 1 of Title 17 of the United States Code states:
§ 105. Subject matter of copyright: United States Government works37
Copyright protection under this title is not available for any work of the United States Government, but the United States Government is not precluded from receiving and holding copyrights transferred to it by assignment, bequest, or otherwise.
When we first setup the fds-smv project we had to select a license option to get the project in the system. At the time the MIT license was the most liberal from those we had to select from. But, still even though we picked MIT for Google Code Hosting requirements, we were careful to clearly state where relevant that everything we are creating and releasing is Public Domain according to US Copyright Law. It took some time in limbo, after some online and offline discussions with the Google Code Hosting Developers, but eventually it all worked out. This additional license option is great news for US Government Open Source Software (OSS) developers, as now we can select the correct option and use these tools without any confusion as to the type of license applied to the work product.
-Bryan
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
FDS Configuration Management Plan
Some of you who participate in the FDS/SMV Discussion Group might have noticed an interesting thread lately that concerned the process that we use to update versions of FDS and Smokeview:
http://groups.google.com/group/fds-smv/browse_thread/thread/95ad8e8e35734db3#
In the US and worldwide, there are various standards used to evaluate the process by which engineering software is developed and maintained. For example, NQA-1 and ISO 9001 come to mind. Just do a search on these terms for more information.
The "process" that I speak of goes beyond the technical description of the model algorithm and the Verification and Validation (V&V) work that is documented in the FDS Technical Reference Guide, volumes 1, 2 and 3. It involves everything we do on a daily basis to develop and maintain the model and the software -- this blog, the Discussion Group, the Issue Tracker, the repository, and so on. Because questions like those in the discussion thread above need to be answered, we have issued volume 4 of the FDS Technical Reference Guide:
http://fds-smv.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/FDS/trunk/Manuals/All_PDF_Files/FDS_5_Configuration_Management_Plan.pdf
"Configuration Management" is the term that is commonly used to describe the process of developing and maintaining software.
For those of you who have an interest in this aspect of our work, please let us know what we can add to this Guide to make it easier for you to use. If there is information missing, let us know and we'll add it. We'd prefer that this Guide not get needlessly filled with useless information and excessively bureaucratic language. It should be a straight-forward description of what we do to maintain FDS and Smokeview.
Also, if you or your organization have put FDS/SMV through some sort of "process evaluation" and you are at liberty to share your experience, please do. One of the most important aspects of these process evaluations is peer review, and that term is used in the broadest sense. For example, our experience with the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission is a good example of peer review in that this organization has evaluated our models for certain types of applications. It is a bit tedious to do one of these evaluations starting from scratch. It would be far better to refer to what others have done already.
http://groups.google.com/group/fds-smv/browse_thread/thread/95ad8e8e35734db3#
In the US and worldwide, there are various standards used to evaluate the process by which engineering software is developed and maintained. For example, NQA-1 and ISO 9001 come to mind. Just do a search on these terms for more information.
The "process" that I speak of goes beyond the technical description of the model algorithm and the Verification and Validation (V&V) work that is documented in the FDS Technical Reference Guide, volumes 1, 2 and 3. It involves everything we do on a daily basis to develop and maintain the model and the software -- this blog, the Discussion Group, the Issue Tracker, the repository, and so on. Because questions like those in the discussion thread above need to be answered, we have issued volume 4 of the FDS Technical Reference Guide:
http://fds-smv.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/FDS/trunk/Manuals/All_PDF_Files/FDS_5_Configuration_Management_Plan.pdf
"Configuration Management" is the term that is commonly used to describe the process of developing and maintaining software.
For those of you who have an interest in this aspect of our work, please let us know what we can add to this Guide to make it easier for you to use. If there is information missing, let us know and we'll add it. We'd prefer that this Guide not get needlessly filled with useless information and excessively bureaucratic language. It should be a straight-forward description of what we do to maintain FDS and Smokeview.
Also, if you or your organization have put FDS/SMV through some sort of "process evaluation" and you are at liberty to share your experience, please do. One of the most important aspects of these process evaluations is peer review, and that term is used in the broadest sense. For example, our experience with the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission is a good example of peer review in that this organization has evaluated our models for certain types of applications. It is a bit tedious to do one of these evaluations starting from scratch. It would be far better to refer to what others have done already.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
