[Ica-osgeo-labs] FW: [Board] geo4all relationship

[Suchith Anand]

Thanks Jody . I have added more details into the wiki and forwarding to Geo4All advisory Board and community.



Dear Geo4All Advisory Board and Regional chairs,


Recently there had been  discussions on the future directions for Geo4All  .There were different opinions and hence we arranged a meeting at Como to discuss this and find a way forward. Following lot of discussions among our members in our mail lists  etc and the meeting at Como[1] that was led by Charlie Schweik ,the consensus was that OSGeo Education and Curriculum Committee and GeoForAll are the same and it is now GeoForAll: OSGeo's Education and Curriculum Effort as reflected in OSGeo website at http://www.osgeo.org/education . Venka has also presented this outcomes at FOSS4G Seoul [2]. Geo4All will continue to be inclusive and include all partners that OSGeo Board have MOUs with for expanding this OSGeo' Geo4All education initiative and warmly welcome everyone who are following the principles.


Geo4All initiative was started with the key aim to build up OSGeo's education aims by collaborating with like minded organisations and it is one of the most successful initiatives that we have undertaken. OSGeo Board has made separate MoUs with both ICA and ISPRS for expanding Geo4All and universities,SMEs, government organisations etc worldwide have trusted the MoUs that OSGeo provided and setup labs and joined the network , so it is important we provide strong continuity and focus. MoUs have to be respected and the momentum created need to build upon with clear direction and focus. It is important that proper structures are in place and steps need to be taken to ensure the smooth transition to GeoForAll as OSGeo's Education and keep collaborating with ICA, ISPRS and other organisations that OSGeo has MoU with. This will also make sure the efforts put in by lot of  volunteers for this is build upon for the future.


Geo4All had been working hard to expand OSGeo education activities globally .Members have been running courses,training events,workshops  using OSGeo software, MOOC programs (that benefitted thousands of students globally) etc have raised OSGeo education efforts globally. Geo4All members have been actively contributing to OSGeo Curriculum development effort and will continue to expand this by having more course materials in various OSGeo software added to the OSGeo education repository for everyone to make use of for their teaching and education.


We will welcome and include all partners that OSGeo Board have MOUs with for expanding this OSGeo' Geo4All education initiative and warmly welcome everyone who are following the principles. That way the OSGeo Board will be able to keep expanding the initiative and to make MoUs with other organisations etc as we are doing now (ICA, ISPRS) and also in future .


So steps need to be taken to ensure the smooth transition to GeoForAll as OSGeo's Education and keep collaborating with ICA, ISPRS and other organisations that OSGeo has MoU with. This will also make sure the efforts put in by lot of  volunteers for this is build upon for the future.


There are some steps that are outlined below and looking through the options - Scenario 1 seems to  be best option based on the Como discussions for ensure the smooth transition to GeoForAll as OSGeo's Education and keep collaborating with ICA, ISPRS and other organisations that OSGeo has MoU with.


In this case, the Geo4All Advisory Board would include representatives from our partners like ICA, ISPRS etc. Geo4All Advisory Board comprises of representatives from ICA, ISPRS, OSGeo and other organisations that join in future. As a partner in the Geo4All initiative, a Project Steering Committee (PSC) comprising of VP OSGeo Foundation (Education and Curriculum Project) and other representatives (e.g Regional Chairs of Geo4All) need to be constituted within the OSGeo Foundation. The PSC could liaise with Geo4All Advisory Board to evolve way and means to achieve mutual goals and objectives.


Charlie Schweik as VP OSGeo Foundation (Education and Curriculum Project) and other representatives (e.g Regional Chairs of Geo4All)  please let us know if you are happy to being  constituted within the OSGeo Foundation structure?


May i request all AB members and Regional Chairs to also send their suggestions on this, so we can  move forward. It is important that proper structures are in place and steps need to be taken to ensure the smooth transition to GeoForAll as OSGeo's Education and keep collaborating with ICA, ISPRS and other organisations that OSGeo has MoU with. This will also make sure the efforts put in by lot of  volunteers for this is build upon for the future.Please send your inputs before 30th Nov 2015 .Thanks.


Best wishes,


Suchith

[1] http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/FOSS4G_EU_Como_2015_Preconference_meeting

[2] http://www.slideshare.net/VenkateshRaghavan1/g4-a-newver2

________________________________
From: Board [board-bounces at lists.osgeo.org] on behalf of Jody Garnett [jody.garnett at gmail.com]
Sent: Monday, November 16, 2015 4:25 PM
To: board at lists.osgeo.org
Subject: [Board] geo4all relationship

I have added an entry to our wiki<https://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Board_of_Directors#Working_Groups> for:

Revised Education Committee mandate pending clarification of GeoForAll OSGeo Relationship<https://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/GeoForAll_OSGeo_Relationship> with Geo4All advisory board

Venkatesh Raghavan and Jeff McKenna are our representatives on the GeoForAll advisory board.

Thank you for taking taking on what is an important relationship for our foundation objectives.
--
Jody Garnett




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