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Hello people at the Free Technology Academy, (CC OSGeo Education
Committee)<br>
<br>
I'm writing on behalf of the education committee of the Open Source
GeoSpatial Foundation, (OSGeo). [1] <br>
<br>
Among other things, OSGeo has been building a Live DVD for
GeoSpatial Open Source which contains consistent marketing material
for all our key software, and also some inconsistent training
material. [2]<br>
<br>
I'd like to move to the next step by providing templates and
guidelines for creating training material that the developers can
follow in order to create integrated training courses. Raw material
created by developers will then be refined by the 40 or so education
professionals we have lurking on our email lists.<br>
<br>
What we are missing is:<br>
* A template that can be used for creating documentation, which is
as easy to use for a non-techie as Open Office, or media wiki, and
which is linked into a publishing pipleline which can produce HTML
and PDF.<br>
<br>
* Writing guidelines which include heading structures, writing tips
for generic sections, writing style tips, definition of target
audience, licence guidelines etc. (We have provided such steps for
our Project Overview and Quick Start documentation - and have
successfully had 40 projects create material for us from these
guidelines [3])<br>
<br>
Do you have such core templates and guidelines for material creation
that we can make use of?<br>
<br>
[1] <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://osgeo.org">http://osgeo.org</a><br>
[2] <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://live.osgeo.org">http://live.osgeo.org</a><br>
[3]
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Live_GIS_Add_Project#Application_Overview">http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Live_GIS_Add_Project#Application_Overview</a><br>
<br>
On 27/10/2010 4:06 AM, Tyler Mitchell wrote:
<blockquote
cite="mid:63328861-0DA6-4647-BA83-6F99D5AFFEA4@osgeo.org"
type="cite">Sorry if many of you have seen this already.
Wondering if OSGeo Edu folks might be interested in pursuing a
similar relationship with this Master's program. Food for thought
anyway...
<div><br>
<div><br>
<div>Begin forwarded message:</div>
<br class="Apple-interchange-newline">
<blockquote type="cite">
<div style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family:
'Helvetica'; font-size: medium; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><b>From:
</b></span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica';
font-size: medium;">Peter Brown <<a
moz-do-not-send="true" href="mailto:info@fsf.org">info@fsf.org</a>><br>
</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family:
'Helvetica'; font-size: medium; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><b>Date:
</b></span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica';
font-size: medium;">October 26, 2010 9:45:25 AM PDT<br>
</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family:
'Helvetica'; font-size: medium; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><b>To:
</b></span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica';
font-size: medium;"><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:info-fsf@fsf.org">info-fsf@fsf.org</a>, <a
moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:info-press@fsf.org">info-press@fsf.org</a><br>
</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family:
'Helvetica'; font-size: medium; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><b>Subject:
</b></span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica';
font-size: medium;"><b>[FSF] Fostering free software
education: Free Technology Academy and Free Software
Foundation partner to expand access to Master's
Program in Free Software and Free Standards</b><br>
</span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family:
'Helvetica'; font-size: medium; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"><b>Reply-To:
</b></span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica';
font-size: medium;"><a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="mailto:info@fsf.org">info@fsf.org</a><br>
</span></div>
<br>
<div>Fostering free software education: Free Technology
Academy and Free<br>
Software Foundation partner to expand access to Master's
Program in Free<br>
Software and Free Standards<br>
<br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://www.fsf.org/news/free-technology-academy">http://www.fsf.org/news/free-technology-academy</a><br>
<a moz-do-not-send="true"
href="http://ftacademy.org/announce/fsf">http://ftacademy.org/announce/fsf</a><br>
<br>
<br>
AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands -- Tuesday, October 26, 2010 --
The Free<br>
Technology Academy (FTA) and the Free Software Foundation
(FSF)<br>
announced today their partnership in the FTA's Associate
Partner<br>
Network. The Network aims to expand the availability of
professional<br>
educational courses and materials covering the concepts
and applications<br>
of Free Software and free standards
(<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://ftacademy.org/standards">http://ftacademy.org/standards</a>).<br>
<br>
The FTA consists of an advanced virtual campus with course
modules which<br>
can be followed entirely on-line. The learning materials
are all<br>
published under a free license and can be accessed by
anyone, but<br>
learners enrolled in the FTA will be guided by
professional teaching<br>
staff from one of the three participating universities.
The FTA aims to<br>
enable IT professionals, students, teachers and decision
makers to<br>
undertake accredited professional education modules in
free software<br>
studies.<br>
<br>
One of the FTA objectives is to establish a strong
relationship with the<br>
free software community and to turn the FTA course
materials into an<br>
essential reference. The FTA seeks to educate and promote
the adoption<br>
of free technologies without losing sight of the free
software<br>
community's core purpose of freedom and social
transformation.<br>
<br>
Wouter Tebbens, president of the Free Knowledge Institute
and director<br>
of the FTA, explains: "We are building this master's
programme on free<br>
software with the support from relevant organisations and
community<br>
members. And in this sense it is an honour for us to have
the support of<br>
Richard Stallman and the FSF. We hope to be of use to the
community and<br>
we invite the community to participate in our courses and
review our<br>
materials."<br>
<br>
Richard Stallman, leader of the free software movement and
president of<br>
the Free Software Foundation, said, "The FTA course
materials teach<br>
people to use GNU/Linux; more than that, it teaches them
to recognize<br>
why this is important."<br>
<br>
Details of the Partnership:<br>
<br>
* The FSF will provide special video guest lectures in FTA
courses.<br>
* The FSF will encourage volunteers to collaborate in the
maintenance of<br>
existing materials and the production of new courses.<br>
* The FTA will provide the FSF Associate Membership<br>
(<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.fsf.org/associate/">http://www.fsf.org/associate/</a>) with 30 discount vouchers
for FTA<br>
courses each trimester.<br>
<br>
Enrollment for 2011 courses is now open, and students can
register at<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://ftacademy.org/registration-form">http://ftacademy.org/registration-form</a><br>
<br>
<br>
About the Free Technology Academy<br>
<br>
A Consortium formed by the Open University of Catalonia
(Spain), the<br>
Open University of the Netherlands and the University of
Agder (Norway)<br>
and led by the Free Knowledge Institute (FKI), the FTA has
started up -<br>
with support from the EC's Lifelong Learning Programme -
an<br>
international educational programme on Free Software. The
courses are<br>
taught completely online in a virtual campus based on the
Campus Project<br>
interoperability framework.<br>
<br>
Following the Free Software and Open Educational Resources
movements,<br>
all learning materials are freely available through the
Internet. The<br>
use of Free Software (also referred to as Open Source
software or Libre<br>
Software) is rapidly expanding in governmental and private<br>
organisations. However, still only a limited number of ICT<br>
professionals, teachers and decision makers have
sufficient knowledge<br>
and expertise in these new fields. The Free Technology
Academy aims to<br>
address this gap by providing high level courses that fit
into larger<br>
Master Programmes at the participating universities.<br>
<br>
* More information: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.ftacademy.org">http://www.ftacademy.org</a><br>
* Contact information: contact[AT]ftacademy.org<br>
* About FTA Associate Network:
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://ftacademy.org/about/associate-network">http://ftacademy.org/about/associate-network</a><br>
* FTA Study Programme 2011:
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://ftacademy.org/courses/programme/2011">http://ftacademy.org/courses/programme/2011</a><br>
* FTA Community Portal:
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://campus.ftacademy.org/community/">http://campus.ftacademy.org/community/</a><br>
<br>
<br>
About the Free Software Foundation<br>
<br>
The Free Software Foundation, founded in 1985, is
dedicated to promoting<br>
computer users' right to use, study, copy, modify, and
redistribute<br>
computer programs. The FSF promotes the development and
use of free (as<br>
in freedom) software -- particularly the GNU operating
system and its<br>
GNU/Linux variants -- and free documentation for free
software. The FSF<br>
also helps to spread awareness of the ethical and
political issues of<br>
freedom in the use of software, and its Web sites, located
at fsf.org<br>
and gnu.org, are an important source of information about
GNU/Linux.<br>
<br>
Media Contacts<br>
<br>
Peter Brown<br>
Executive Director<br>
Free Software Foundation<br>
+1 (617) 542 5942<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:peterb@fsf.org">peterb@fsf.org</a><br>
<br>
###<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
info-fsf mailing list<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:info-fsf@fsf.org">info-fsf@fsf.org</a><br>
Unsubscribe:
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://lists.fsf.org/mailman/listinfo/info-fsf">http://lists.fsf.org/mailman/listinfo/info-fsf</a><br>
</div>
</blockquote>
</div>
<br>
</div>
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</blockquote>
<br>
<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
Cameron Shorter
Geospatial Solutions Manager
Tel: +61 (0)2 8570 5050
Mob: +61 (0)419 142 254
Think Globally, Fix Locally
Geospatial Solutions enhanced with Open Standards and Open Source
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.lisasoft.com">http://www.lisasoft.com</a>
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