[OSGeo-Edu] Fwd: Re: [Ica-osgeo-labs] OGC Schools at GitHub

Sat Aug 3 14:08:37 PDT 2013

fwd with subscribed address...

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: [Ica-osgeo-labs] OGC Schools at GitHub
Date: Sat, 03 Aug 2013 13:56:12 -0700
From: Alex Mandel <aimandel at ucdavis.edu>
To: Charles Schweik <cschweik at pubpol.umass.edu>
CC: Maria Brovelli <maria.brovelli at diiar-topo.polimi.it>,
"ica-osgeo-labs at lists.osgeo.org" <ica-osgeo-labs at lists.osgeo.org>,
edu_discuss at lists.osgeo.org

There are several layers of complexity here, some of which the OSGeo edu
committee has discussed somewhat in depth before.

1. Picking a markup language/toolset for writing documents. Examples
include Markdown, Latex, RST, etc ....

2. Managing a catalog and tracking resources. Debate over where the
happy medium is between distributed and centralized systems.

3. Making it easy for others to create derivative works.

I see this github discussion as breaking down into:
1. A github org account under which people can add material, if you
don't do it under an org account it will be fairly impossible to
comprehensively list all the submissions. This might not be necessary if
everyone submits to http://elogeo.nottingham.ac.uk/xmlui/handle/url/99
I'm not sure this tool can handle linking to repos instead of actual files.

2. Picking a markup language or at least suggesting the best choices.
RST used in combination with Sphinx is quite popular, you host the files
on github (*.rst) and the use Sphinx yourself or ReadTheDocs.org to
generate human readable stuff.
Example:
Rendered Content
http://www.qgisworkshop.org/html/workshop/index.html
Original Source
https://github.com/cugos/qgisworkshop_org

2a. Is a markup language too hard to use? to hard to convert to pdf for
printing needs?

3. Is version control too complicated? We hit this before in the OSGeo
Edu group. The advantage of just using github, bitbucket or any other
hosting platform is that each repo is one lesson or closely related set
of lessons initiated by the author. They don't need to take fixes
(anyone can fork the source), but can if they want.

----

My opinion, do not create a new system. If you want a central place to
list materials, OSGeo Edu has already created that. I do think it needs
to be modified to include urls to web versions and source repos.
http://elogeo.nottingham.ac.uk/xmlui/handle (note this is slated to
replace http://www.osgeo.org/educational_content)

Want to use github, yes we can write a short explanation of how to go
about doing it... rather use bitbucket, sure use it, sourceforge, google
code etc.... what version control system is used is personal preference.
Rather go the pure github way, people are probably thinking of
http://pages.github.com/ which would use Github flavored markdown or
pure html. I think the other feature people are really interested in is
the forking support directly on github that makes derivates easier to
track. Can we recommend a platform? Sure, but I hesitate to state it's
the only way.

Can we suggest a preferred markup language? Yes, I suggest rst, so many
OSGeo projects are already using it (e.g. OSGeo Live, Geoserver,
Mapserver, etc), it is considered simpler than latex however it is
somewhat trickier to make pdf/printed material since it's a web 1st
technology. That said some good pdf templates are possible and we could
collaborate on those.

-- 
Alex Mandel

Geography Graduate Group
http://ggg.ucdavis.edu
Information Center for the Environment (ICE)
http://ice.ucdavis.edu
University of California, Davis

On 08/03/2013 05:40 AM, Charles Schweik wrote:
> This is great, Luis. Thanks for your efforts.
> 
> 1) I think what we should try and do net is try and test a GitHub
> implementation as a system for new derivative work management for ICA-OSGeo
> educational material.  One idea might be to use the COST proposal as a test
> case?
> 
> 2) I think for our group -- for people like me who have never used GitHub,
> we need a document or video that describes GitHub fundamentals. Can anyone
> familiar with the latest GitHub point us to something useful for all of us
> to review?
> 
> 3) While I've got everyone's attention -- If you are preparing a new course
> or training related to open source geospatial right now or in the next 6
> months, can you let us know what the topic is? What I'm trying to do with
> this question is identify whether there are potential opportunities for
> sharing educational material or possible new derivative situations.
> 
> Cheers
> Charlie
> 
> 
> 
> On Sat, Aug 3, 2013 at 5:18 AM, <maria.brovelli at diiar-topo.polimi.it> wrote:
> 
>> Terrific, Luis!! Thanks!
>> Maria
>>
>> Def. Quota Luis Bermudez <lbermudez at opengeospatial.org>**:
>>
>>  Dear Suchit and all
>>>
>>> Following the wise words to "release early ",  I have committed all the
>>> educational material, basically slides, related to OGC standards. It is not
>>> perfect and of course needs improvement.
>>>
>>> This is the GitHub:
>>> https://github.com/bermud/ogc_**school<https://github.com/bermud/ogc_school>
>>>
>>> Here are the instructions about the organization and how to build
>>> https://github.com/bermud/ogc_**school/blob/master/README.rst<https://github.com/bermud/ogc_school/blob/master/README.rst>
>>>
>>> Example of the pdf  (174 slides) that is created with all the current
>>> content is here:
>>> https://portal.opengeospatial.**org/files/?artifact_id=54845<https://portal.opengeospatial.org/files/?artifact_id=54845>
>>>
>>> We are going to have some servers that can be used for training. We only
>>> have one so far:
>>> https://github.com/bermud/ogc_**school/blob/master/**
>>> implementations/metaspatial.**rst<https://github.com/bermud/ogc_school/blob/master/implementations/metaspatial.rst>
>>> We will update this documentation very soon.
>>>
>>> I will follow up with some of you that have shown interest about how to
>>> move it forward.
>>>
>>> @Suchit,
>>> Maybe I can talk more about this at the next telecon.
>>>
>>> Best Regards.
>>>
>>> ---
>>> Luis
>>> http://www.opengeospatial.org/**ogc/organization/staff/**lbermudez<http://www.opengeospatial.org/ogc/organization/staff/lbermudez>
>>> The OGC: Making Location Count
>>>
>>>
>>> ______________________________**_________________
>>> ica-osgeo-labs mailing list
>>> ica-osgeo-labs at lists.osgeo.org
>>> http://lists.osgeo.org/cgi-**bin/mailman/listinfo/ica-**osgeo-labs<http://lists.osgeo.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/ica-osgeo-labs>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------**------------------------------**----
>> This message was sent using IMP, the Internet Messaging Program.
>>
>>
>>
> 
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> ica-osgeo-labs mailing list
> ica-osgeo-labs at lists.osgeo.org
> http://lists.osgeo.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/ica-osgeo-labs
> 