<html><body><div style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000"><div>Dear NAGC,</div><div><br data-mce-bogus="1"></div><div><span>Thank you for your valuable suggestions and comments, which we have carefully considered. </span></div><div><span><br data-mce-bogus="1"></span></div><div><span>We have revised the introduction, reorganized the order in the application form, updated the FAQ (including today's comment from James), and added more details in the email: </span></div><div><span><a href="https://nextcloud.ifca.es/index.php/s/95t5LFatgHoHE75">https://nextcloud.ifca.es/index.php/s/95t5LFatgHoHE75</a></span></div><div><span><br data-mce-bogus="1"></span></div><div><span> We have decided to send this email to the entire current Athena community today to provide an extra working day for those who are hesitant to apply. Additionally, we will publish a news update on the community portal and distribute the announcement through the Spanish Astronomical Society. </span></div><div><span><br data-mce-bogus="1"></span></div><div><span>Best regards,</span></div><div><br></div><div>Silvia.</div><div><br></div><div><span id="zwchr" data-marker="__DIVIDER__">----- On 12 Mar, 2025, at 11:24, James Aird <James.Aird@ed.ac.uk> wrote:<br></span><br><style><!--
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt">Hi Thomas and NACG,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt">That’s some really useful feedback. On a related note, I’m a little worried about this in the FAQs:</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">“How much time will be involved for an active membership on average?”
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal">One can estimate that those members contributing most actively to a WG should count with a ~5-10% time investment until the delivery of the Red Book (autumn 2026).</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt">10% of one’s time for people who are not somehow part of funded NewAthena activities is a *<b>lot</b>*. That’s half a day per week. I agree, someone actively contributing to the
Redbook may start to approach such a level of contribution as that deadline approaches (or if they wish to lead an A&A paper), but I don’t think it’s a sensible expectation for a standard WG member and could certainly put people off. In fact, I think a 10%
commitment for someone acting as a CHAIR may even be on the high side as to what people could be able to contribute, given it’s essentially a voluntary role.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt">I think we might expect ~monthly telecons of each WG at most, and attending those to provide input to science activities would be more than enough as a contribution for an “active”
WG member in my mind. Even this may seem on the high side for a project still 12 years away (even if the important activity of mission adoption is coming up sooner). I feel the old Athena WGs/TPs maybe had telecons ~every 6 months at most, and there was perhaps
an ~annual meeting (mainly for chairs) + maybe WG get-togethers within other conferences such as X-ray Universe on Athena science meetings themselves (so ~twice over a three year period).</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt">If it looks like a commitment much higher than that then I think we’ll put people off. (I appreciate that is says “</span>those members contributing most actively to a WG”
<span style="font-size:11pt">but there are lots of words elsewhere about seeking active members).</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt">Cheers,</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt">James</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt"> </span></p>
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<b><span style="font-size:12pt;color:black">From: </span></b><span style="font-size:12pt;color:black">Newathena-cg-telecon <newathena-cg-telecon-bounces@lists.mpe.mpg.de> on behalf of Thomas Dauser <thomas.dauser@fau.de><br>
<b>Date: </b>Wednesday, 12 March 2025 at 07:25<br>
<b>To: </b>Newathena-cg-telecon <Newathena-cg-telecon@lists.mpe.mpg.de><br>
<b>Subject: </b>[Newathena-cg-telecon] NewAthena Community Call</span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:36pt"><span style="font-size:11pt">This email was sent to you by someone outside the University.<br>
You should only click on links or attachments if you are certain that the email is genuine and the content is safe.<br>
<br>
Dear ACO, dear Matteo, dear all,<br>
<br>
<br>
after our discussion yesterday in the telecon on the NewAthena community<br>
call, I had a lengthy discussion today with a larger group of people at<br>
our institute (lots of them PhD students).<br>
<br>
Their main message why they did not sign up, yet, was that the<br>
application "looked scary" to them. They want to support Athena and also<br>
help within their time they have available in the Working Groups.<br>
However, to basically all of them the call (so meaning mainly what is<br>
written on the form you have to fill out) sounded like they have to<br>
devote a significant fraction of time for the Working Group. And in<br>
order to be able to join any of the working groups they have to provide<br>
a strong motivation, otherwise they may even be rejected. The majority<br>
of the PhD students here who were in principle interested thought hard<br>
about the motivation (scared of being declined the membership) and then<br>
just gave up.<br>
<br>
<br>
Re-reading all of this myself I have to say I understand this. And I<br>
don't think this is what people should think when they try to sign up<br>
the the NASC.<br>
<br>
A few possible suggestions that could help:<br>
<br>
- Can we make the text of the call sound a bit more open and friendlier,<br>
to make it obvious that we care for everyone to sign up and that this is<br>
not a competing call (except for the chairs). If you can still change<br>
the text of the application form, I would add more advertising thoughts<br>
at the beginning. What we want is to get people who think they can<br>
contribute to a science working group. And not make is sound that this<br>
is a strict and competing selection process. Linking the FAQ right at<br>
the beginning would also help, because most people here were not aware<br>
it exists, as they only clicked on the link for the form (and it<br>
explains a lot of things nicely).<br>
<br>
- Name clearly what you expect as written "motivation" and that (only)<br>
under certain circumstances the NASST reserves its right to reject an<br>
application. I think this scared off most people I talked to who did not<br>
sign up.<br>
<br>
- If still possible change the order to the sign up. First make the box<br>
a "I want to be part of the NewAthena Community", then secondly the sign<br>
up for an active member of a working group, and only lastly as a chair.<br>
<br>
<br>
I hope these thoughts and feedback help writing the next reminder email<br>
and possibly update the form such that more people sign up.<br>
<br>
Thanks everyone for putting so much effort into this.<br>
<br>
<br>
Cheers,<br>
Thomas<br>
<br>
<br>
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