Date | Version |
13/3/2024 | 1.0 |
1. Introduction
In this document we distinguish three forms of information transmission:
Communication (C): Non-members of the community who may be interested in the work. This is the responsibility of WG6.
Dissemination (D): Members of the community. This is the responsibility of WG6.
Valorisation/Exploitation (V): End users, e.g. researchers/companies, etc. This is the responsibility of WG5.
2. Where, how and when
There will be several sources and methods of communication and dissemination. They are listed below, with the responsible party in parentheses:
Branding and logo creation (WG6)
Website creation (WG6)
Dynamic (Wiki-style)
Static
Test case and code repositories (SCC)
Workshops (CG)
Video training (WG6)
Handbook (WG4/SCC)
Open access journal publications (SCC)
Fun marketing (WG6)
Social media presence: LinkedIn/YouTube (WG6)
e-Learning Management system (WG4)
Newsletters (WG5/6)
Web/Cloud solution for software (WG5)
Mentoring program (WG6, WG5)
Outreach: Science fairs and public engagement (WG5/6)
Training and certification (WG5)
3. Target Groups (Who, why, what)
We are planning to communicate with the following groups (note UR indicates a currently Under-Represented group):
Current members (D)
Industrial DEM potential users: Especially SMEs, their participation needs to be increased. (V)
Computer scientists / Software architects (D)
Other academics i.e. academics who are not members of the network but may be interested in the output. (D)
(UR) Female researchers (D)
(UR) ICT countries (C)
(UR) Young academics (C)
Undergraduate students and programme coordinators (C)
General Public (C)
Open-source community in general (D)
Policy makers and standardisation bodies (V)
Characterisation machine manufacturers (V)
Detailed description of Where/How and When
1 Branding
Logo and brand will be created with the ON-DEM word in mind and will be integrated to all our social media accounts, websites, events, email signatures and other forms of advertisement/marketing materials. The means of creating the brand will be decided within WG6. Note, the logo in various formats will be downloadable from the website and slide templates will be provided for future presentations.
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When: The branding should be created at the beginning of the network and used throughout and beyond.
Website creation
We are intending to create a wiki-style website that will be constantly updated. This wiki-style website will be used to disseminate the academic results in detail and will be a repository for action generated findings and will include links to the open-source data produced. It is anticipated that the wiki will live beyond the lifetime of the COST network and remain an up-to-date and relevant central resource for knowledge, features and abilities of open-source codes, and best practices in particle simulations.
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When: As soon as possible. The Wiki should outlive the project.
Test case repositories
Tutorials to prepare simple experiments (e.g., for calibration/validation) would be great, which are being discussed as part of WG4 scope. This science dissemination and communication plan will create guidelines on what tools are preferred for uploading data and how to link this data to the websites in the upcoming versions. We will not dictate a certain data repository tool, and provide a central wiki for linking all the repositories together. The aim is to prevent forcing people to use tools that they are not familiar with and make the data sharing as easy as possible.
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When: As soon as test cases are created by relevant Working Groups and should outlive the project.
Workshops
There were several ideas regarding under-represented groups’ mentoring and workshops in the kick-off meeting. These include young researchers, female participants, network members affiliated to Inclusiveness-Target-Countries (ITC) and under-represented scientific fields. These kinds of additional workshops could be organised for these groups, which would also increase our visibility in the field. The aim of these workshops would be recruitment and training new researchers.
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When: At least one per year during the action.
Video training
Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) (that are linked to our wiki-style website), recordings of previous live training sessions of the action and small Youtube videos on interesting findings or research questions can be a good way to both disseminate to academic peers, train new researchers and communicate with other interested parties. We will investigate the possibility of creating smaller lead roles for managing these multimedia products.
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When: At regular intervals during the action within 6 months of the creation of training material.
Handbook
We will also develop training materials and courses for young researchers and write a handbook
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When: Draft version used and tested for training events and a final version published towards the end of the action.
Open access journal publications
We are intending to use both Open Research Europe (ORE), exploring the creation of bespoke and focused publications, and aim to publish on well-respected open access peer-reviewed journals.
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When: As and when materials are in a state it can be published.
Fun marketing
Some of the fun marketing strategies could be a good way to make action members' participation sentimentally better along with improved advertising for the Action. Such examples are: beer mats, stickers (especially to emphasise the logo), overall patches and training school attendance t-shirts. We are intending to investigate the possibility of creation of such products after logo creation is complete based on the budget available.
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When: As soon as possible and ends with the Action.
Social media presence
We are intending to have a LinkedIn page for communicating and advertising our Action to non-members (such as potential industrial partners). Using LinkedIn pages, all people would have the chance to follow the page and see the major updates of our action, but not inner detail and dialogue that would normally happen within exclusive communication channels of the Working Groups.
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When: This will be done during the Action; however, the ON-DEM brand and social channels may be extended beyond the end of the Action.
10) e-learning management system
The idea is to create an online interactive e-learning system to teach all skill levels about DEM. We will seek out help regarding e-learning from within and outside the network. There are network members with expertise in this area.
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When: This should be setup by the end of the Action and will be maintained beyond the action.
11) Newsletters/Blog
We should have a mailing list for a newsletter and blog. Also we can and should use a server like mailchimp for looking after subscribers. This may also help with assessment of policy as it provides the number of recipients who opened the email or clicked on the links.
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When: Regularly during the lifetime of the Action
12) Web cloud solution for software
Development of an easy to use interface for different DEM codes, with access to cloud deployment examples which are fully documented and published in a repository. The idea is to allow people on demand access to simulation without the need for installing or even owning the hardware. This could either be via command line or potentially even a web application. Current the network members have some experience developing such tools for industry use. However, these could be improved and extended such that they are useful for academics.
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When: Setup and tested during the action and designed to outlive the Action.
13) Mentoring program
We should try arranging mentoring connections between experienced users and less experienced users of DEM by grouping people that are interested in having career coaching or technical workshops or work shadowing. This could also involve professionals from industry to be matched with academics for certain programmes.
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When: Starting in the second year and running to the end of the Action.
14) Science fairs and public engagement (outreach)
We plan to arrange a public engagement event at least once a year, to create a positive image of the granular community and the open-source movement. It will help inspire the next generation of students and engineers to take up the methods we develop. This can be done as part of the ON-DEM workshops, which usually take place at a partner university. Examples are
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When: At least once a year during the Action.
15) Training and certification
A key part of the network is both creating training material and giving on training courses to teach the next generation of researchers and academics. Secondly, we plan to use the brand to create an internationally recognised certification to show someone is qualified in simulations.
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