[Ica-osgeo-labs] BOF in Portland: Some Ideas of certification

Tue Jan 13 07:36:55 PST 2015

(I've mentioned this to Phil already.)

On my end, over the next 6 months I plan to work on a grant proposal to
support our GeoForAll\OSGeo efforts at the university-level that would look
to implement a "flipped classroom" model, where the MOOC content is used by
the students outside of class and the in-class experience is more project
and team-based. I'd like to include a webinar component of this as well.
I'm still looking for the right funding program but it would be great to
offer such a program in coordination with other institutions.

I also will be working with Maria Brovelli to hold a GeoForAll meeting
co-located at FISS4G EU in July, and hopefully we can devote some time to
the certification issue with many of us face-to-face.

Cheers,
Charlie Schweik

On Tue, Jan 13, 2015 at 9:26 AM, Phillip Davis <pdavis at delmar.edu> wrote:

> I will speak with Bill Hodge, Executive Director of GISCI this week to see
> if they are interested in taking lead in assisting OSGeo in developing
> certifications along the lines proposed by Arnulf with his Metaspatial
> Institute.  One major barrier will be to make certain this is recognized as
> a global effort, not just US-based, if it is to have credence outside North
> America.
>
> Phillip Davis
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: ica-osgeo-labs-bounces at lists.osgeo.org [mailto:
> ica-osgeo-labs-bounces at lists.osgeo.org] On Behalf Of Suchith Anand
> Sent: Tuesday, January 13, 2015 7:41 AM
> To: Arnulf Christl; ica-osgeo-labs at lists.osgeo.org
> Subject: Re: [Ica-osgeo-labs] BOF in Portland: Some Ideas of certification
>
> Hi Arnulf,
>
> Thanks for all your efforts that you put in for the certification ideas
> and inspite of good ideas and discussions it is disappointing that we had
> not made  progress in implementing this. One of the reasons why Proprietery
> vendors are running successful certification programs for their software is
> that they invest lot of time and effort for this as they see the importance
> of this for their business and expansion.
>
> I think, as a group we have a strong educational programs now in place for
> starting this. For example, the Geo Academy program that Phil and others
> are offering which is based on essential curriculum of  Geospatial
> Technology Competency Model (GTCM) covering  both the background theory of
> geospatial science as well as the hands-on application using Open Source
> GIS software should be used to launch the Certification program for Open
> source GIS. Any student who successfully completed all the five courses of
> this program should be offered the Open Source Geospatial Certificate  or
> similar along with the university certificate offered by GeoTech.
>
> So i suggest that Phil should take the lead on this and contact GISCI for
> this. Hopefully GISCI can advise us on the best way to move forward. We can
> provide  Letter of support from Geo for All for this.
>
> Phil and all - please let us know your thoughts and how we can help you
> for this.
>
> Suchith
>
> ________________________________________
> From: ica-osgeo-labs-bounces at lists.osgeo.org [
> ica-osgeo-labs-bounces at lists.osgeo.org] On Behalf Of Arnulf Christl [
> arnulf.christl at metaspatial.net]
> Sent: Wednesday, January 07, 2015 11:04 AM
> To: ica-osgeo-labs at lists.osgeo.org
> Subject: Re: [Ica-osgeo-labs] BOF in Portland: Some Ideas of certification
>
> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
> Hash: SHA1
>
> Folks,
> I have been following the long and broad discussion around certification
> last year. Again. Lots of fantastic ideas and then - nothing. It feels a
> bit like "same procedure as every year" [1] mixed with Groundhog Day[2].
> Which is why this time round I did not bother to join the choir.
>
> Ah, admittedly, I am somewhat frustrated.
>
> So where do we go from here? I have spent considerable time and effort
> trying to push this forward as a privately funded initiative but to no
> avail. So I am closing this project as failed and try not to mourn the
> loss. It will not work in the way I though it would. Shit happens.
>
>
> The last question before this thread died was whether OSGeo would give its
> blessing to approach GISCI to lead such an effort. Answering Phillip's
> question: Please go ahead.
>
>
>
> But. Without somebody taking the lead nothing will happen (Q.E.D.). Who
> will step up and finally get this going? I am happy to support anybody who
> can push the right buttons but will not continue on my own account.
>
>
>
> Have fun,
> Arnulf
>
>
> [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boisQwkK7rs
> [2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groundhog_Day_%28film%29
>
>
> On 27.09.2014 15:33, Phillip Davis wrote:
> > My feeling to. The new executive director of GISCI that manages US
> > GISP is fellow Texan Bill Hodge.  He's one of the easiest people to
> > work with ever. Bill served on my advisory board for GeoTech when we
> > assisted US DOL in completing GTCM now used to create the 2015 GISP
> technical exam.
> > Bill currently serves on our Business Industry Leadership Team for the
> > NISGTC that funded the QGIS courses so he knows our work intimately.
> >
> > With OSGeos blessing we could approach GISCI to lead such an effort?
> >
> > On Sep 27, 2014 8:25 AM, Chris Pettit <cpettit at unimelb.edu.au> wrote:
> > Hi All
> >
> > Interesting discussion.
> >
> > I have had quite a bit to do with certification in Australia and you
> > might be interested to know that we have GISP-AP (Asia Pacific) which
> > is linked directly to GISP so there is a model for GISP to work
> internationally.
> >
> > In my humble opinion I think we should further explore working with
> > URISA and GISP and see if can  get something that meets our needs but
> > is delivered in an existing certification program like GISP.
> >
> > Cheers
> > Chris
> >
> > On 25/09/14 5:08 AM, "Phillip Davis" <pdavis at delmar.edu> wrote:
> >
> >>I would like to add Mr Bill Hodge of GISCI into the conversation.
> >>
> >>-----Original Message-----
> >>From: Maria Antonia Brovelli [mailto:maria.brovelli at polimi.it]
> >>Sent: Wednesday, September 24, 2014 11:36 AM
> >>To: Phillip Davis; Alex Mandel; Strobl Josef;
> >>ica-osgeo-labs at lists.osgeo.org
> >>Subject: RE: [Ica-osgeo-labs] BOF in Portland: Some Ideas of
> >>certification
> >>
> >>Phil, 89 labs as of today!
> >>I agree with you.
> >>Maria
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>----------------------------------------------------
> >>Prof. Maria Antonia Brovelli
> >>Vice Rector for Como Campus and GIS Professor Politecnico di Milano
> >>
> >>FOSS4G ASIA - Don't miss it!
> >>http://www.foss4g-asia.org/2014/
> >>
> >>ISPRS WG IV/5 "Web and Cloud Based Geospatial Services and
> >>Applications"; OSGeo; ICA-OSGeo-ISPRS Advisory Board; NASA WorldWind
> >>Europa Challenge; SIFET
> >>
> >>Via Natta, 12/14 - 22100 COMO (ITALY)
> >>Tel. +39-031-3327336 - Mob. +39-328-0023867 - fax. +39-031-3327321
> >>e-mail1: maria.brovelli at polimi.it
> >>e-mail2: prorettrice at como.polimi.it
> >>
> >>
> >>________________________________________
> >>Da: ica-osgeo-labs-bounces at lists.osgeo.org
> >><ica-osgeo-labs-bounces at lists.osgeo.org> per conto di Phillip Davis
> >><pdavis at delmar.edu>
> >>Inviato: mercoledì 24 settembre 2014 18.23
> >>A: Alex Mandel; Strobl Josef; ica-osgeo-labs at lists.osgeo.org
> >>Oggetto: Re: [Ica-osgeo-labs] BOF in Portland: Some Ideas of
> >>certification
> >>
> >>Correct Alex except the EU and other representatives at the meeting
> >>stated flatly the GISP and our US DOL GTCM are not going to be widely
> >>recognized beyond our own geographical borders.  I agree.  What I
> >>would say is the Process and Procedure that was used to arrive at
> >>them, the DOL Competency Model and the DACUM or Developing a
> >>Curriculum, methods are easily applicable to any workforce in any
> >>nation.  I recommended URISA be the international organization to
> >>perhaps lead this effort, but that too was poo-pooed as not being
> >>truly internationally representative of the global FOSS
> >>community...which sorta leads back to GeoForAll under OSGeo as the
> >>only recognized organization to pull this off, globally.  With 85
> >>nodes in every continent, no other organization has such broad
> representation.
> >>
> >>-----Original Message-----
> >>From: ica-osgeo-labs-bounces at lists.osgeo.org
> >>[mailto:ica-osgeo-labs-bounces at lists.osgeo.org] On Behalf Of Alex
> >>Mandel
> >>Sent: Wednesday, September 24, 2014 11:16 AM
> >>To: Strobl Josef; ica-osgeo-labs at lists.osgeo.org
> >>Subject: Re: [Ica-osgeo-labs] BOF in Portland: Some Ideas of
> >>certification
> >>
> >>Without the "Open" part these already exist and we don't want to
> >>compete
> >>with:
> >>GISP  http://www.gisci.org/
> >>Master of GIS Science
> >>
> >>The issue from the community has been that neither of these indicate a
> >>person has any experience with more than a single software, or that
> >>any of that software is OpenSource by an opensource.org approved
> license.
> >>
> >>So yes one way to go would be a Certificate in OGC standards. Another
> >>is to push/recommend that other orgs require demonstrated competency
> >>in more than 1 GIS technology.
> >>
> >>Now from the software industry side, there are certifications is just
> >>about everything, down to specific software.
> >>MS Exchange Cert
> >>Oracle Cert
> >>Postgres Cert
> >>
> >>So I see a few ways forward, 1. a general FOSS4G cert or 2. Specific
> >>subproject certs, or 3. If you do enough project specific certs you
> >>become FOSS4G certified.
> >>
> >>The role of OSGeo playing the standards body that issues the
> >>certificates or accredits institutions to do so.
> >>
> >>
> >>Questions to think about:
> >>What about an OSS cert is different from just any old cert on a
> >>particular software?
> >>
> >>
> >>Thanks,
> >>Alex
> >>
> >>
> >>On 09/24/2014 08:50 AM, Strobl Josef wrote:
> >>> Interesting discussion, and I am glad to see it popping up again - a
> >>>good indicator that it might not just turn into a fluke ...
> >>>
> >>> My view is that a certification with 'open' as a defining criterion
> >>>is hard to argue and justify - the only area where I could see this
> >>>to work is in open specs like in OGC. Overall, individuals might be
> >>>certified in software-specific competences (of course these can be
> >>>FOSS), or in generic geospatial skills, knowledge and competences
> >>>(this already is being done, though). Thus individual products,
> >>>technologies and architectures, or workflows (implementation of
> >>>services-based workflows, integrated portals etc) could be suitable
> >>>targets for certification, but not so much their 'open' characteristics
> per se ...
> >>>
> >>> Avoiding 'open' as _the_ defining characteristic also would help
> >>>navigating a terrain with sometimes fuzzy boundaries.
> >>>
> >>> .josef
> >>>
> >>> Prof. Dr. Josef Strobl | Josef.Strobl at sbg.ac.at University of
> >>> Salzburg
> >>> | Department of Geoinformatics - Z_GIS
> >>> Phone: +43 (0)662 8044 7503 | http://jstrobl.zgis.net
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> -----Ursprüngliche Nachricht-----
> >>> Von: ica-osgeo-labs-bounces at lists.osgeo.org
> >>> [mailto:ica-osgeo-labs-bounces at lists.osgeo.org] Im Auftrag von Dr.
> >>> Franz-Josef Behr
> >>> Gesendet: Mittwoch, 24. September 2014 15:28
> >>> An: ica-osgeo-labs at lists.osgeo.org
> >>> Betreff: [Ica-osgeo-labs] BOF in Portland: Some Ideas of
> >>> certification
> >>>
> >>> Dear colleagues,
> >>>
> >>> during the BoF meeting in Portland we discussed the topic of FOSS4G
> >>> certification and Arnulf shared some of his thoughts and insights
> >>> (see also his talk/discussion [2] which I unfortunately missed, the
> >>> slides at
> >>> [3].)
> >>>
> >>> After the BoF meeting I had a further informal discussion with
> >>>Philip Davis.
> >>>
> >>> One idea:
> >>>
> >>> ***
> >>> The participating Universities (faculty members) could elaborate a
> >>>set of prerequisites to award an FOSS4G certification and try to
> >>>achieve an agreement amongst the academians as well with the OSGeo
> foundation.
> >>> ***
> >>>
> >>> The certificates could point out that they are acknowledged by the
> >>>faculties/Unviersities who joined the Ica-osgeo-lab movement plus OSGeo.
> >>>
> >>> The certificate could be granted by these Universities (for their
> >>>respective students/for participants in courses9 and by other
> >>>acknowledged institutions (i.e. MetaSpatial).
> >>>
> >>> I found some keywords for Postgres certification [1], see below.
> >>>Such keywords could be transfered easily to our aimed fields of
> certification.
> >>>
> >>> Arnulf lists some types of certification [4]:
> >>>
> >>>      Open Source Geospatial Software Developer
> >>>      Open Source Geospatial Software Professional
> >>>      Open Geospatial Standards Expert
> >>>      Open Geospatial Data Expert
> >>>      Open Geospatial Consultant
> >>>
> >>> Further/other types could be:
> >>>
> >>>      Certified OS GIS Technologist
> >>>      Certified QGIS/... developer
> >>>      Certified Web GIS solution architect
> >>>      Certified PostGIS Associate ...
> >>>
> >>> We could start with one of them...!?
> >>>
> >>> Regards
> >>>
> >>> Franz-Josef
> >>> --------------------------------------------------------------------
> >>> --
> >>> ------------------------------------------------------
> >>> Postgres Plus Associate Certification
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>      PostgreSQL System Architecture
> >>>      Installation
> >>>      Configuration
> >>>      Creating and Managing Databases
> >>>      Introduction to PSQL
> >>>      pgAdmin III
> >>>      Security basics
> >>>      SQL
> >>>      Backup and Recovery
> >>>      Point-in Time Recovery
> >>>      Routine Maintenance
> >>>      Postgres Data Dictionary
> >>>      Moving Data
> >>>
> >>> Postgres Plus Professional Certification
> >>>
> >>>      PostgreSQL System Architecture
> >>>      Transactions and Concurrency
> >>>      Performance Tuning
> >>>      Table Partitioning
> >>>      High Availability & Replication
> >>>      Connection Pooling
> >>>      Monitoring
> >>>      Procedural Languages
> >>>      Add on Utilities - Contrib
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> [1] http://www.daseq.de/schulungen/enterprisedb/edb-pgac/
> >>> [2] http://vimeo.com/106231984
> >>> [3]
> >>> http://www.metaspatial.net/conferences/metaspatial-institute.html#/3
> >>> [4]
> >>> http://www.metaspatial.net/conferences/metaspatial-institute.html#/8
> >>> _______________________________________________
> >>> ica-osgeo-labs mailing list
> >>> ica-osgeo-labs at lists.osgeo.org
> >>> http://lists.osgeo.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/ica-osgeo-labs
> >>> _______________________________________________
> >>> ica-osgeo-labs mailing list
> >>> ica-osgeo-labs at lists.osgeo.org
> >>> http://lists.osgeo.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/ica-osgeo-labs
> >>>
> >>
> >>
> >>--
> >>Alex Mandel
> >>
> >>Geography Graduate Group
> >>University of California, Davis
> >>http://geography.ucdavis.edu
> >>_______________________________________________
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>
> - --
> Arnulf Christl (Director)
> The metaspatial Institute Certification:
> Open Source - Open Data - Open Standards
> http://www.metaspatial.net/en/institute
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-- 
Charlie Schweik

Associate Professor, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Dept of Environmental Conservation and Center for Public Policy and
Administration

Personal website: http://people.umass.edu/cschweik
Publications: http://works.bepress.com/charles_schweik/

Author, Internet Success: A Study of Open Source Software (MIT Press, 2012)
- see http://tinyurl.com/d3e4545

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