[Ica-osgeo-labs] Defining criteria for REL membership

Tue Jun 2 06:18:46 PDT 2015

Hi Cameron, all

(VERY sorry for a long note -- not sure how else to do this)

1. Cameron - Your points are well taken as well -- and your work leading
the Live DVD is a one of the best examples of positive example of global,
productive collaboration. You weren't asking for this but you and your
collaborators deserve a huge 'GREAT JOB' and I know rules and structure and
standards drives what you've been able to do. Your insight is really
valuable and you've got proof of concept.

2. Regarding rules for GeoForAll lab creation, we have some here [1] and
the question is are they enough or well-defined enough. I think Demitris
and I and others are arguing to keep them light or as 'frictionless' as
possible, with some regular check like Helena has been doing (thanks
Helena!).

3. Turning to your 'want to achieve more collaboratively' question, I think
we do.

The challenge is how to do this. I don't know the history of the Live DVD,
but clearly you were able to create a vision, and find people who were
motivated to contribute to it under the rules you crafted (this is an art,
and you do it well).

Under Suchith's leadership, we've made great progress identifying
people/labs worldwide. Now we need to move beyond the simple listing of
labs toward something more collaborative that moves us all forward. It's
here that I think Eric von Hippel's [2] ideas of 'user-innovation' or
'user-centered need' is so important. We need to find things to collaborate
on (educational material, research) that motivates people to contribute
*because they need it* and it helps them in their own
careers/work/leisure... whatever.

This is why I believe the Urban Science/Cities effort led by Patrick Hogan
and Chris Pettit is so important [2b]. On the *Research side*, we've
identified an area that a subset of labs want to collaborate. It's not as
clear as the Live DVD, but it is a step closer. One next step is to find
some funding to help us begin to get more clarity as a community, which we
are trying to do right now. My hope is that through this process others in
the group will build on or refine our collaborative ideas on Smart City
research and go after funds they have access to through their own
countries, but with an eye to continue to move our entire group forward.
This is why I like the 'grant sprint' idea.

Suchith's offered up another research collaboration focal area --  Agri-GIS
-- which hopefully will gain some traction with some people from some labs.

*On the Education side*, this has been a tough nut to crack, and you and I
have had conversations about this years ago. Just my postings on Web-GIS
has identified at least 4 efforts of educational content that I was not
aware of.

But following your Live DVD example, what we really need is to define a
curriculum and then try and line up faculty in our network who all are
already teaching or want to teach some of that curriculum in their own
institutions (user-centered need). I think this is bigger than the Live DVD
production process, but perhaps I am wrong. Perhaps the accreditation
discussion will help us toward such a curriculum. The GeoAcademy folks [5]
provide one important example.

Another step forward is what we've tried in the past -- first inventorying
what people are doing. Our old OSGeo educational inventory with simple
course metadata and links [3] generated the most sharing I think we have
seen, and I think that is because it was easy to do in short time for
people. *I personally believe we need to get the input page [4] operational
again*. It's not sharing of content, but it is at least a place for us to
store links to what people are doing. I've put a ticket in to get this
fixed, but haven't heard anything.

Moving forward, we need to get a repository for storage of educational
source material that would allow people to place them there and others to
create new derivatives. We have two options here currently -- the ELOGeo
system that Suchith and others have implemented [6, link is not working...,
we need to fix that], and a GitHub system that Rick Smith at Texas A&M has
created.

*My hope is that in the short time some of us will have in FOSS4G EU, we'll
be able to make some progress on this education side collaboration*.

My two pence. I hope I don't sound like I'm preaching! I just continue to
puzzle over how to create deep collective-action in our community.

Charlie

[1] http://www.geoforall.org/how_to_join/
[2] http://web.mit.edu/evhippel/www/books/DI/DemocInn.pdf
[2b] http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/GeoForAll_UrbanScience_CityAnalytics
[3] http://www.osgeo.org/educational_content
[4] https://www.osgeo.org/node/add/edu-content
[5] http://fossgeo.org/2015/04/10/announcing-the-new-geo-academy/
[6]
http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/ngi/research/geospatial-science/projects/elogeo.aspx

On Tue, Jun 2, 2015 at 1:10 PM, Cameron Shorter <cameron.shorter at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Dimitris and Charles,
> You have a valid point, simple is good. Yes, "hoops to jump through"
> hinders a project, but structure should be introduced if there is
> substantial value gained from its introduction. Structure helps achieve
> higher collaborative goals.  In the case of Open Source Software that
> includes setting up a code repository, developer accounts, releases, issue
> trackers, etc. Have a look at the OSGeo Incubation docs [1] if you want to
> see more.
>
> The REL community has successfully set up great collaborative
> communication channels. This is valuable, but there is more that could be
> achieved by introducing some structure and coordination. In particular, I
> think some structure and processes would significantly help to
> collaboratively create and maintain educational training material.
>
> I suspect it would also help institutions bid for funds to be involved.
>
> The processes should certainly be kept as simple as possible, but some
> process is required to collaborate effectively.
>
> So I ask, do educators want to try to achieve more collaboratively?
> * Maybe create training material?
> * Anything else?
>
> [1]
> http://www.osgeo.org/incubator/process/project_graduation_checklist.html
>
> On 2/06/2015 8:36 pm, Suchith Anand wrote:
>
>> Dimitris ,
>>
>> Thank you for these excellent points. (And thanks Charlie for the
>> interesting article reference).
>>
>> Yes, participation itself in a global network with excellent people is
>> the biggest benifit for all (those active and those not that active). We
>> need to find mechanisms to encourage  and help those not that active to be
>> more involved and active.
>>
>> I also agree that the very  simple reporting suggested is just for
>> understanding the bigger picture of the community and encourage more
>> collaboration opportunities but not to be used as a criterion to continue
>> someone's participation ( in fact, we can use this opportunity to help
>> those who need more support).  Cameron and others who have great experience
>> with success of OSGeo Live can give us more ideas to help us.
>>
>> Suchith
>>
>> ________________________________________
>> From: ica-osgeo-labs-bounces at lists.osgeo.org [
>> ica-osgeo-labs-bounces at lists.osgeo.org] On Behalf Of Charles Schweik [
>> cschweik at pubpol.umass.edu]
>> Sent: Tuesday, June 02, 2015 11:12 AM
>> To: Dimitris Kotzinos
>> Cc: ica-osgeo-labs at lists.osgeo.org
>> Subject: Re: [Ica-osgeo-labs] Defining criteria for REL membership
>>
>> +1
>>
>> One of my favorite quotes by open source advocate Eric Raymond is below,
>> and relevant:
>>
>> '... the number of contributors (and, at second order, the success of)
>> projects is strongly and inversely correlated with the number of hoops each
>> project makes a contributing user go through.' [1]
>>
>> [1] http://timreview.ca/article/645
>>
>> On Tue, Jun 2, 2015 at 10:53 AM, Dimitris Kotzinos <kotzino at gmail.com
>> <mailto:kotzino at gmail.com>> wrote:
>> Dear all,
>>
>> I followed the exchange of e-mails on "advancing" the requirements for
>> participating in the GeoForAll, beyond just checking for inactivity.
>> I think that we should try to keep things simple; actually I think that
>> one of the points of the unprecedented success and growth the network
>> has seen, is based on the fact that things have been kept simple and not
>> very demanding in terms of time. I think the important point is to keep
>> people interested and involved. The many good people that already
>> participate and are active guarantee the growth of the network. If
>> someone is not very active in my view should be encouraged and helped
>> (as Suchith suggested) and not be thrown out or e.g. in incubation. We
>> have to consider also how valuable such participation is for
>> universities from developing countries, both in terms of best practices
>> and materials.
>> For me the main benefit of participation, is ... participation itself in
>> a global network with excellent people submitting proposals like the
>> ones by Charlie or Maria and while as usual few people will drive the
>> initiatives the more that participate the better it is.
>> Needless to say that some simple reporting is more than welcome for
>> understanding the bigger picture of the community but not to be used as
>> a criterion to continue someone's participation. In practical terms we
>> can always poke people from time to time to understand if they want to
>> continue being part or not as Helena did now (thanks Helena).
>>
>> So let's try to hit the 100 members mark!
>>
>> Best regards to all,
>> Dimitris
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Charlie Schweik
>>
>> Associate Professor, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
>> Dept of Environmental Conservation and Center for Public Policy and
>> Administration
>>
>> Personal website: http://people.umass.edu/cschweik
>> Publications: http://works.bepress.com/charles_schweik/
>>
>> Author, Internet Success: A Study of Open Source Software (MIT Press,
>> 2012) - see http://tinyurl.com/d3e4545
>>
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>
> --
> Cameron Shorter,
> Software and Data Solutions Manager
> LISAsoft
> Suite 112, Jones Bay Wharf,
> 26 - 32 Pirrama Rd, Pyrmont NSW 2009
>
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-- 
Charlie Schweik

Associate Professor, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Dept of Environmental Conservation and Center for Public Policy and
Administration

Personal website: http://people.umass.edu/cschweik
Publications: http://works.bepress.com/charles_schweik/

Author, Internet Success: A Study of Open Source Software (MIT Press, 2012)
- see http://tinyurl.com/d3e4545

--------------------------------------------
Q: Why is this email five sentences or less?
A: http://five.sentenc.es
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