<html><head></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">Cameron,<div><br></div><div>I like this approach. Extending the excellent work on the OSGeo-Live disk can also be used as a metric for incubation of our leading projects. Tyler and I had a really good discussion in Denver a couple of weeks ago on how we might work towards improving the sponsorship/funding efforts - giving us more resources to move forward. More funding sponsors will be critical to enhancing these types of projects.</div><div><br></div><div>Additionally, our group has been working with US government agencies over the years encouraging them to adopt open source geospatial solutions. The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) is working an open source initiative that will be announced at foss4g in Denver. </div><div><br></div><div>My opinion is that OSGeo has accomplished our initial goals and it is time to start thinking about financially securing its future. I look forward to discussing this further.</div><div><br></div><div>Mark Lucas</div><div>Principal Scientist<br>RadiantBlue Technologies Inc.<br><a href="mailto:mlucas@radiantblue.com">mlucas@radiantblue.com</a><br><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; "><br>-------------------<br>http://www.radiantblue.com<br>http://www.ossim.org<br><br><br></span></span></div><div><br></div><div><br><div><div>On Jun 11, 2011, at 4:16 PM, Cameron Shorter wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><div>I do believe that we as a community have the potential to collaboratively build quality, comprehensive training material, which will provide the key backbone required to support comprehensive, internationally recognised training.<br><br>(I've already mentioned this to the education and discuss email lists, as well as a few others).<br><br>The idea:<br>We already collaboratively build the OSGeo-Live DVD by tapping into targeted expertise from a wide range of domain experts.<br>Packagers have written step by step instructions and templates for packaging, and tech writers have provided writing instructions and documentation templates, which are followed by application developers. Once developers have finished, the installers and documents are passed back for review.<br><br>Why do applications contribute to OSGeo-Live? Because we have built a highly valuable marketing pipeline, (including translations, web pages and a DVD handed out at conferences and workshops). This pipeline is available with a relatively low amount of effort.<br><br>We can extend this OSGeo-Live build process to also include the development of consistent training documentation.<br>It requires:<br>* educators to create writing guidelines and a template on how projects should write training material.<br>* This is to be provided to developers to fill out.<br>* We then need a technical writer / educator to review all provided material<br>* All this needs to be coordinated<br>* And we need supporting wiki style tools and infrastructure to be put in place<br><br>This is actually very achievable, but is a bit more than a volunteer can typically take on as a hobby activity, and so I believe that a key to the success is also a funding sponsor.<br><br>I have quite a bit more to say on this, but will keep it brief for the moment.<br><br><br>On 11/06/11 00:13, Phillip Davis wrote:<br><blockquote type="cite">Charles, the GeoTech Center will be at FOSS4G this September offering the following workshops:<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">1. FOSS4G for Educators (Monday)<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">2. GTCM Course Development (Tuesday)<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">3. Remote Sensing DACUM (Wednesday-Thursday)<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">to promote two goals: a) FOSS4G for higher ed and b) alignment of geospatial industry needs and academic GIS program curriculum. Our ongoing effort is the help higher education better align with the new Dept. of Labor's Geospaital Technology Competency Model (GTCM). You can see our work on building SCORM-compliant, GTCM-aligned course packs with curriculum modules here: <a href="http://www.geotechcenter.org/Education-Training/GTCM-Faculty-Development-Workshop-Summer-2011">http://www.geotechcenter.org/Education-Training/GTCM-Faculty-Development-Workshop-Summer-2011</a>.<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">In regards to certification, we fully support the GISCI's effort in improve their GISP certification with a competency-based exam, something they've committed to doing last week, over the next three years. Researchers with GeoTech assisted the GISCI working group that investigated the question over the past 18 months, offering our extensive research into the precise skills required by GIS technicians (and now Remote Sensing Specialist). You can view this research here: <a href="http://www.geotechcenter.org/Resources/Publications">http://www.geotechcenter.org/Resources/Publications</a>.<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">Finally, we would like to offer our SCORM-compliant, GTCM-aligned course packs for OSGeo to help us vet and eventually disseminate beginning next May, 2012 when the results of our 2011 workshops have been properly vetted and created. The Center would offer to sit with yourself and the OSGeo board at the forthcoming FOSS4G to discuss collaboration.<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">Phil Davis<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">Director and PI<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">________________________________________<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">From: <a href="mailto:edu_discuss-bounces@lists.osgeo.org">edu_discuss-bounces@lists.osgeo.org</a> [edu_discuss-bounces@lists.osgeo.org] On Behalf Of Charlie Schweik [cschweik@pubpol.umass.edu]<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">Sent: Friday, June 10, 2011 8:31 AM<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">To: <a href="mailto:discuss@lists.osgeo.org">discuss@lists.osgeo.org</a><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">Cc: OSGeo-edu<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">Subject: [OSGeo-Edu] Re: [OSGeo-Discuss] Training and certification<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">I'm not going to weigh in on the certification question -- I don't<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">understand the companies out there doing training and the issues raised<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">by Cameron and others. Apologies in advance for a long posting.<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">But I find myself puzzling about how this is linked to universities (our<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">edu group) and the discussions about more formal relationships with<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">universities. I teach in an Environmental Conservation department and<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">also in a Public Policy and Administration program. I sometimes have<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">undergrad and grad students interested in going beyond the traditional<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">"Intro to GIS" course, and would love to be able to somehow offer a more<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">advanced course that would utilize open source technologies and<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">especially training on web-based GIS (currently we have none in our<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">curriculum). Or "enterprise-level" desktop GIS that might be utilized in<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">small local government settings (that often do not have GIS because of a<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">lack of staffing) -- like small "hilltowns" in Western Massachusetts, or<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">local governments in developing world contexts. Right now we offer both<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">Intro to GIS courses using ArcGIS and also desktop open source, but we<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">don't have the ability to teach the next level -- an enterprise GIS or<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">web-based GIS.<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">The other thing I am seeing is a movement away from standard lecture<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">format to one where the prof might use YouTube videos or other open<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">access content outside of class and then use class time to be more<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">hands-on. Also there is a push at our university to try and use more<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">open access educational material to help reduce the costs of textbooks<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">and coursepacks on students.<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">This leads me to my questions regarding training and this discussion.<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">1) How can we collectively act and utilize the expertise within OSGeo<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">software groups and other affiliates to develop a set of training<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">material that could be connected to university classes? Could people on<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">this list with expertise develop "modules"? Could we develop,<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">collectively, workbooks along with data and exercises that we<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">instructors could use? If there are people out there willing to<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">contribute to this idea, who are you and what kind of material would you<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">be willing to contribute? For example, I would love to get some students<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">learning how to use technology like OpenLayers or other web-based GIS<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">technologies, but I don't have those skills so would want to offer a<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">"group independent study" under my direction, where students could try<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">and learn these kinds of technologies on their own and together, under<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">my direction and with the support of this OSGeo network.<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">2) Would it be possible to develop a network of classes in affiliated<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">institutions that are all teaching the same content in parallel, and<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">perhaps all using one Moodle course hosted by OSGeo? In other words,<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">have face-to-face classes running in parallel on several universities<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">during the same time frame (e.g., Sept-December or January-May) where<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">these classes are meeting face-to-face but then we have the ability to<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">tie expertise and he classes together via Moodle or maybe hold some<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">webinars by technical experts that all classes in all universities<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">(timezones will be an issue here)?<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">This would at least work for universities in locations where they have<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">decent Internet connection. But the idea might be the start of the<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">content for a proposal to educational funding agencies or<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">foundations.... and I greatly appreciate the approach Cameron has done<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">for the Free DVD in terms of having an editor who coordinates these<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">things. Some proposal for funding would need to put forth that model.<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">I hope these ideas are helpful and not noise....<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">Cheers<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">Charlie Schweik<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">UMass Amherst<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">Confidentiality Notice: The information contained in this email, including attachments, may be<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">privileged, proprietary, and/or confidential as provided by law. The information in this email is intended<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">only for the use of the individual or entity to whom it is addressed. If you have received this<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">communication in error, please notify the sender by replying to the email message and immediately<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">return the email, attachments, and any and all copies to the sender. If you are not the intended recipient<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">of this email and received it in error, please be advised that you may be subject to civil liability for any<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">use of privileged, proprietary, and/or confidential information contained herein.<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">_______________________________________________<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">Edu_discuss mailing list<br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><a href="mailto:Edu_discuss@lists.osgeo.org">Edu_discuss@lists.osgeo.org</a><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><a href="http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/edu_discuss">http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/edu_discuss</a><br></blockquote><br><br>-- <br>Cameron Shorter<br>Geospatial Director<br>Tel: +61 (0)2 8570 5050<br>Mob: +61 (0)419 142 254<br><br>Think Globally, Fix Locally<br>Geospatial Solutions enhanced with Open Standards and Open Source<br><a href="http://www.lisasoft.com">http://www.lisasoft.com</a><br><br>_______________________________________________<br>Discuss mailing list<br>Discuss@lists.osgeo.org<br>http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss<br></div></blockquote></div><br></div><br><br><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; ">
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