[OSGeo-Edu] OSGeo Live DVD - ELOGeo

[Charlie Schweik]

On 8/8/2011 8:09 AM, Mr. Puneet Kishor wrote:
>> But what I believe is required is:
>>
>> 1. A vision of what a full set of course material will look like, along with a definition of end users and links back to training goals (like the Body of Knowledge and University training courses).
>>
>> 2. Writing templates and guidelines, and supporting tools.
>>
>> 3. Associated processes and workflows for document creation.
>>
>> 4. A dedicated editor/technical writer charged with providing the technical review.
>>
>> 5. A project coordinator / champion who will help attract authors, and help authors write funding proposals for their external organizations.
> I fully concur with the above, in particular with #5 above. The only way to make this happen is to have someone spearheading the effort with funds to back the initiative. Without it, it ain't going nowhere.
>
> Puneet.
>
I agree with these statements too, mostly. And as I've said in the past, 
Cameron has provided a model on how this can be successfully done with 
his coordination of the Live DVD.

However, the list above is really broad and is perhaps some of the 
challenge of what we are trying to do. I think the OSGeo edu group is an 
eclectic group of educators (different higher ed programs, different 
levels of education, etc.) and it is quite difficult for us to get to #1 
(vision of a full set of course material).

But I think we need to try and collaborate in some other way than what 
we've been trying over the last several years. It's like we're a car, 
with wheels spinning in the sand.  It is not easy to move us forward 
based on volunteer time, alone. So I do agree that we should try and go 
after some funding to get #5 above established (a dedicated project 
coordinator) -- but I don't think that is enough.

A key question is "how to attract the authors?" in #5? What are their 
incentives to participate? In academia, often the incentive is "to 
publish." But are some of our potential authors non-academics (e.g., 
people in software groups or service organizations)? What are their 
incentives to participate in collaborative training materials?

One idea I think we've passed around before in the Edu group is the idea 
of an edited volume or something on training material. Maybe what we 
should be trying to do is develop a vision for an "edited textbook" on 
open source geospatial concepts and technologies?

In short, perhaps our next collaborative steps should be:

1) Go after some funds to get subset of people together in a workshop 
format to try and formulate what the "full set of course material 
(Cameron's #1) is and/or what supporting textbook(s) would look like?

2) Either (A) try and get one or more people to be the "editors" of this 
volume under the traditional academic incentives of "publish" or (b) go 
after some funding to hire someone to undertake the coordination efforts 
Cameron describes above?

Where might we go for funds to support #1? Can a subset of us try and 
write a proposal to go after those funds to bring us together for a 
multiple day work session? Or should this be the topic for an Edu Sprint 
on the last day of FOSS4G in Denver?

Charlie




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