Many CSEG members are aware of the "Calgary phenomenon" in the world wide perception of where one ought to look for a good geophysicist. The phenomenon is that in view of the size of our city we seem to have more than our share compared to other cities in which one might be inclined to look.
Leadership has had a lot to do with this. In the past we have benefited greatly from individuals like Lindseth, companies like Western, politicians like Lougheed and institutions like the U. of C.. But underpinning the quality of leadership which we have enjoyed has been the reality that a remarkable number of local men and women have done geophysics because they love to do it. The vibrancy, the enthusiasm, and even the joy with which they have done their work has been the grounds upon which this reputation was built.
The principal concern of the CSEG is to make geophysics a labour which people love to do, for all of our membership. In working towards this goal we have not found workstations to be the aphrodisiacs we had hoped for. Operating systems have to be learned, sign up sheets have to be used to book limited time in which to be creative, and disk space has to be juggled or made by eliminating yesterday's work.
In an appropriate environment, workstations can add greatly to the process of understanding the subsurface and to the creative output of geophysicists. But when unrealistic expectations are imposed by supervisors or by the workers themselves, the damage to that worker's attitude towards geophysics can be catastrophic.
The CSEG user development program (UDP) is expanding and seeking to offer the opportunity for members to become comfortable with a variety of geophysical computer products. Through the generosity of companies whose logos appear on the UDP add in this issue, an increasing cross section of software may be worked with on a PC, a Silicon Graphics, or a Sun workstation.
The UDP is for you if you are between job or contracts and want to learn unix, play at autotracking, parameter design, stratigraphic modeling etc., on your own time so you can do better geophysics for your employer or client to be.
The UDP may be for you if you are considering the purchase of software and want to follow up on a vendor's claims about an application or discover for yourself the variety of applications which are there. The UDP is not for you though if you are comparing performance criteria from one workstation to another as significant hardware differences exist on site which would make your comparison unfair.
So join us at the CSEG office by calling Heather at 262-0015 to book a session and we'll see you there.
Share This Column