[OSGeo-Discuss] From “Geo for Some” to “Geo for All”

[Suchith Anand]

Dear colleagues,


I first came across GIS by serendipity. More than twenty years back (in 1994) , I was a student in Civil Engineering in India and by pure chance I came across a short article in a magazine in my college library on the amazing Geographic Information System that is used by town planners. That was the first time I heard about the wonderful technology called GIS! At that time there was no GIS in the college where I did my undergraduate degree. My dream that time was to get opportunity to do my final year undergraduate project using GIS. I still remember the struggles  I faced to just get access to learning GIS as very few universities had GIS that time in India. I spend nearly two years going around different universities and places knocking so many doors to just to get access to GIS .  Unfortunately in spite of all my best efforts I failed  that time....


I was disappointed but I carried on working with hope and faith. I did my final year undergraduate project in design of a hospital building! (structural engineering ). Still I kept looking for opportunities to get access to GIS. Years later (after I finished my undergraduate degree), I finally got opportunity to learn GIS through another project and my search for learning  GIS lead me to so many new opportunities . As some wise people said, Fail stands for First Attempt In Learning. So when I think back, even though my  efforts  to get access to GIS in my undergraduate years failed, I learned lot of things from those experiences. In fact, if I had not gone though those experiences , I might not have got the determination to do everything in my abilities to keep the doors of GIS education open to all so that no student anywhere should go through what I went through.


Some years ago one of the Nottingham University staff asked me a question when we were talking that I still remember “Is GIS special if everyone becomes GIS Professional? “ I was bit taken back by the question esp. as it came from an educator and I replied “There is nothing special about GIS if it is for few rich people only but if it the learning opportunities for GIS are made available for everyone it is truly special ... “.


When GeoForAll was started , I faced lot of ridicule and opposition from some folks but I also got lot and lot of amazing support and help from so many amazing colleagues at Nottingham and globally. Thanks to all our amazing colleagues, we have now truly made GIS education opportunities open to all. Please share our resources with all https://www.osgeo.org/foundation-news/please-share-geoforall-teaching-research-resources-colleagues-students/


I am requesting all colleagues to keep the doors of education opportunities  open for all.  There should be no place for Nepotism in  education. For me, Openness is not just about open source , open standards or open data … It is about the Open mindsets  to help make education opportunities inclusive to students from  all economic and social backgrounds.


Best wishes,


Suchith




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