Web Specialist Maura Barone is focusing on implementing the Electronic Document Management System for the ILC.

In the beginning of September, the International Linear Collider gained its very own Web Specialist, Maura Barone. Dedicated to implementing the ILC's Electronic Document Management System and maintaining the project's web site, Barone joins the Global Design Effort after spending the past few years as a Research Assistant at INFN in Frascati, Italy, collaborating on the ATLAS experiment at CERN.

Prior to collaborating on the ATLAS experiment, Barone taught physics at the University of Urbino in Italy and was also a Guest Scientist on the CDF experiment at Fermilab. While at INFN, Barone focused on the analysis and tuning of the muon reconstruction software and maintained the ATLAS Frascati web site. "I have always enjoyed working as a physicist, but at the same time I always had an interest in computer programs, particularly how to use computing technology for physics," she said.

Barone's strong physics background and enthusiasm for applying computing technology to scientific projects makes the ILC Web Specialist position an ideal opportunity for her to combine her interests. "Working on systems such as the ILC EDMS is something that I like to do but never really had the opportunity as a full-time job," Barone said. "While doing research, I always tried to incorporate more computing technology into the job. This is a real opportunity for me to use the latest advanced technology."

Building and implementing the ILC's EDMS is a challenging task for Barone and the EDMS Sub-Committee. The EDMS will be an essential tool for a virtual organisation like the ILC, giving each collaborator online access to the entire project's published documents, including engineering drawings and specs. Using three different systems, the EDMS project suite will consist of CDS InDiCo for meeting management, the CDS Invenio for general documentation and UGS Teamcenter for engineering drawings. Barone is now working on categorising and organising all of the documents that will go into the system to make it easy for the user to find needed materials. The EDMS sub-committee plans to give a progress report at the November GDE meeting in Valencia, Spain.

"This is not just any system," Barone said. "It is a system that will work for physics, and it is the first time that a system of this scale will be internationally developed for such a project. That makes it very nice for me."

-- Elizabeth Clements