[Ica-osgeo-labs] OGC Schools at GitHub

Tue Aug 6 07:54:09 PDT 2013

Alex,

Good points.

On Aug 3, 2013, at 4:56 PM, Alex Mandel wrote:

> 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.

I can add collaborators in the interim. Then we can move it somewhere else later.

> 
> 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

Yes RST ad Sphinx are the best combination. I have tried others but his one seems much better. Also I feel there is support from the community for RST ad Sphinx, since other important projects are using it (Pyhton, MapServer, Geoserver..) 

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

Il'l say yes. It is harder than rst.

> 
> 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.
> 

When you are not a software developer, version control can seem complicated at the beginning. GitHub and in particular the web interface, allows for example to edit via the web, which is beyond what  other version control systems interfaces offer. This makes is easy to add and edit content

> ----
> 
> 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.

A repository is important. GitHub makes it easier to fork, add content via the web, and render the files that are in rst nicely. But it can be any other.

> 
> 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.

Yes. I have provided the style sheet for creating pdf slides. The hard part is to install the software in your computer and create the pdfs. Ideally in the future we can have a web interface where you can select what slides, form a repository, you want to create and then create your own pdf. This might be a good idea/project to fund.

Best Regards

- Luis

---------------------------------------------------
Luis Bermudez, Ph.D.
Director Compliance Program
Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC)
The OGC: Making Location Count

Skype: bermudez_luis
Twitter: @berdez
Tel: +1 301 760 7323
http://www.opengeospatial.org/ogc/organization/staff/lbermudez

> 
> -- 
> 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
>>>> 
>>>> 
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>>>> 
>>>> 
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