[OSGeo-Edu] Summary of edu BOF discussion at FOSS4G

[Alex Mandel]

On 09/20/2011 12:24 PM, Ari Jolma wrote:
> On 09/20/2011 07:05 AM, Charlie Schweik wrote:
>>
>> 1) To develop an educational version of the live DVD with a focus on
>> educational needs that would be ready for next year’s FOSS4G
>> conference. This would mean we should coordinate with the Live DVD
>> folks and it provides us with something really tangible to work on as
>> a group. A key issue will be identifying one or two people who would
>> act like Cameron Shorter does in the coordination of the LiveDVD.
> 
> IMO, a goal to set would be a workflow from open and shared development
> of edu material to packages that are easy to pull in to a OSGeo virtual
> machine / live system (usb stick, dvd, ...).
> 
> The making and technology of that could be a subject of a few days edu
> sprint - I'd be interested in such. There are several technical options
> (svn, git, docbook, sphinx, publican, deb packages, install scripts, etc
> etc) and perhaps we can't stick to one only. But the end product is a
> single system with matching software, data and written materials.
> 
> Even the end product can be made on demand to include just those
> packages that are needed for a certain course.
> 
> (above is based on my chats with Massimo, Daniel, Alex and others --
> I'll invest some time into a version of the workflow I mention above)
> 

I am on this list and can help facilitate any questions about how to get
a DVD/usb built. In case some don't know OSGeo Live uses Sphinx (many
other OSGeo projects also recently moved to Sphinx). A deb package of
written materials would make it easy to then list the software
dependencies - assuming you want to use software that's already packaged
(That's one of the Live project's goals). If that's too hard a single
bash script similar to the current install_gisdata.sh (I think that's
the name) would also be simple.
FYI, OSGeo Live has now become part of my dissertation.

>>
>> 2) To work toward building a network of OS GIS labs in universities.
>> (This idea was actually something Suchith suggested to me in an email,
>> and I think it is a great goal.) I’d like to hear from people
>> interested in trying to develop this.
> 
> I'm interested in this but I need to think what would be best way to do
> it institution-wise -- what would be the institution within my
> university that is a part of the network (department, professorship,
> institute, ...?)
> 

At my university the GIS lab is managed by a specific department IT.
We've gotten them to load Virtual Box and the OSGeo Live virtual machine
for several courses. Our general campus computing labs (Managed by
campus IT) will install anything requested by an instructor if it's for
a course. The 3rd option which I haven't had time to pursue yet is our
library has several machines with GIS software loaded and are more than
happy to put Open Source GIS on if it means more people will get to use
the tools.


> Ari
> 
> ps. Dan, a special issue in that journal seems a good idea -- it would
> need an editor (or two) and ~12 papers ~6 pages each -- that's the
> impression I got by looking at it quickly. I'm not sure I could download
> a paper because of the location I'm in or is it a free access to all(?).
> Free would be good.
> 
I'd be interested in submitting to that.

Thanks,
Alex