Help Request Form Letter
Contents
Being a co-author of an increasingly popular package of XAS analysis software, I find that I receive a lot of mail from a lot of people asking for my help with their analysis problems. Indeed, if you are reading this page, you probably sent me just such an email and received my response directing you here.
I am genuinely concerned with helping the users of my software and with elevating the state of the art in the practice of X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy. I want everyone who needs a bit of help to get the answers to their questions. However, there is no way that I can provide individualized support for everyone who asks. The Ifeffit user base is quite large and I am quite busy with all the responsibilities of my job.
The purpose of this page, then, is to direct those who ask for help to the many resources that already exist on the web. I trust that you understand that I am not being mean-spirited by directing you here rather than simply answering your question, neither am I unhappy with your email. Quite the contrary, I want you to get your answers and I want you to be aware of how many resources are already available to you.
The Ifeffit mailing list
The single most valuable resource for learning about Ifeffit and the related software is the Ifeffit Mailing List. You can find information about joining the list and links to the archives by following this link.
The mailing list is the appropriate place to ask most questions about XAS, Ifeffit, Athena, and Artemis. Indeed, it is far better to ask your question on the list than to send mail to me personally. I often answer questions that are posted on the list. Even better, the list gives you access to a large number of experts and to the entire Ifeffit community. When you send you question directly to me, you may find me on travel, in the middle of an experiment, or simply unwilling to read and write email. When you send mail to the list, you are much more likely to get a useful answer from someone -- and that someone is often me. In fact, you may spark a discussion in which your question will be hashed out in much more detail than you would see in a response from a single person.
Don't believe me? Here is a nice example of a question asked which prompted answers from several different people. Follow the links that say "next message" to read the various answers to the question. After an interesting and useful discussion, the person with the original question [[http://millenia.cars.aps.anl.gov/pipermail/ifeffit/2011-September/010215.html|had this to say].
So....
If you are reading this page because I sent you email directing you here, please understand that I am NOT refusing to answer your question. I am merely asking that you ask your question on the mailing list.
Searching the mailing list archives
When you use the mailing list, you leave behind a record that can help other users who run into similar problems.
Here is a searchable archive of our mailing list.
You can also use google to search the mailing list archives. Google provides a very useful modifier to your search term. Using site: restricts the results of the search to URLs which match the site provided. Here is what you would type in the google search box when looking for information about cumulants:
site:millenia.cars.aps.anl.gov cumulant
Asking questions effectively
If you are asking for help, I encourage you to ask specific questions rather than vague ones. For example, "I don't understand multiple k-weight fitting. What does it mean to use more than one k-weight in a fit and why should I want to do so?" is a good question and is likely to get a detailed answer. On the other hand, "I have lots of data from the synchrotron on TiO2 doped with dysprosium. Can someone send me an atoms input file and tell me how to get coordination numbers?" is a really vague, open-ended question that is unlikely to garner much of a response from the extremely busy people who populate the mailing list. Remember that the people who answer questions on the list are doing so as volunteers.
For more hints about how to ask good questions "How to Report Bugs Effectively" by Simon Tatham and "How To Ask Questions The Smart Way" by Eric Raymond and Rick Moen are very useful. Please note that none of Tatham, Raymond, or Moen are associated in any way with this web site or the IFEFFIT software nor should they be contacted with questions about this software.
Reporting bugs
If you are reporting a bug, please read this web page before writing to the mailing list. Remember that if you do not provide enough information to reproduce the problem on my own computer, there will be little I can do to help you. As I explain on that page, you should send along a project file, a data file, a screenshot -- something that helps to explain your problem.
XAFS Resources on the Web
XAFS.ORG
The community web site, http://xafs.org, provides a wealth of information, educational materials, links to other sites of interest to XAS practitioners, and other community tools. The tutorials page contains links to educational materials written by a number of the luminaries of the XAS community. The workshops page contains links to several workshops and schools from recent years. Many of those workshops post PDF or PowerPoint files for the lectures given at the workshop. Go ahead and poke around http://xafs.org -- many of your questions will be answered.
This is an good overview of XAS: Kelly, S. D., Hesterberg, D. and Ravel, B. (2008). Analysis of soils and minerals using X-ray absorption spectroscopy. Methods of soil analysis, Part 5 Mineralogical methods. Ulery, A. L. and Drees, L. R. Madison, WI, USA, Soil Science Society of America: 367-463. (Amazon link)
My software
You can download Ifeffit from http://cars9.uchicago.edu/iffwiki/Downloads and information about Athena, Artemis, and Hephaestus can be found at http://cars9.uchicago.edu/~ravel/software/.
Documentation about Athena and Hephaestus can be found at http://cars9.uchicago.edu/~ravel/software/doc/Athena/html/. You can find a nice PDF version of the documentation there, should you want to print out hard copy. Be warned, though, that the PDF file is of a 150+ page, full color document.
The state of documentation for Artemis is quite a bit thinner than for Athena, but you can find lots of useful information at http://xafs.org or at http://cars9.uchicago.edu/~ravel/software/docs.html. Another useful lecture by me can be found here.
Feff
If your question pertains to Feff -- specifically in the area of using Feff for XANES calculations -- remember that I am but a minor contributor to Feff and may not in a position to answer your question authoritatively. The PI of the Feff project and his students all read the Ifeffit mailing list and often answer questions posted there.
The Feff homepage: http://leonardo.phys.washington.edu/feff/
The Feff8 document, in wiki firmat: http://leonardo.phys.washington.edu/feff/wiki/index.php?title=FEFF_Documentation