Welcome to the first edition of the BSD Certification
monthly newsletter. Published on the 15th of each month, the newsletter
contains a summary of questions and suggestions from the BSD Certification
mailing list as well as updates and announcements regarding the progress of
BSD Certification.
The BSD Certification website was officially announced
on Feb. 15 (http://www.bsdcertification.org/media.htm) and the initial response has been tremendous. Within the first
two weeks over 500 members had subscribed to the public mailing list
(http://lists.nycbug.org/mailman/listinfo/bsdcert) and over 100 persons completed the website contact form
volunteering their talents to the effort. The website itself received over
250,000 hits during the first 2 weeks after the announcement.
Such statistics speak of the importance of
certification within the BSD community.
Within the first day it became apparent that
internationalization of the certification process is very important. So
far, there have been offers to translate into 21 different languages.
However, each language requires a minimum of 3 translators and the
following languages still require at least one additional team member:
- Turkish
- Latvian
- Romanian
- Ukranian
- Argentine Spanish (es-ar)
- German
- Venezuelan Spanish (es-ve)
- Indonesian (bahasa)
- Dutch
- Spanish (es-es)
- Czech
- Lithuanian
- Mexican Spanish (es-mx)
- Estonian
If you can translate into any of these languages and
have some spare time each month,
The website is in the process of being
internationalized into the 6 languages which have complete translation
teams. An announcement will be made once the translated sites becomes
available.
The mailing list is now available through gmane:
The Announcement list will contain periodic
announcements regarding the progress of the BSD Certification, as well as a
copy of the monthly newsletter. If you wish to discuss BSD Certification,
please continue to do so at the discussion list:
Everyone is encouraged to download and distribute
printed copies of the brochure.
If there's enough interest, we'll create a shared
calendar of events.
The mailing list had several good discussions in the
past 30 days. Many points were raised and discussed, much more than can be
summarized within a short newsletter. However, we've included a brief
hyperlinked synopsis so you can review the threads that interest you and
which you perhaps missed first time round.
"The Study Material Question" thread brought
up several good points. One was a suggested reading list from Nikolas Britton
Siju George
reinforced that many certification candidates would benefit from a
comprehensive course outline and a list of specific suggested resources.
Frans Haarman
suggested an RDF-like1 info system with all the topics for BSD certification and Lucas suggested a
material-reviewing team to review and 'certify' certain books.
There was also a lengthy thread on what should be
covered on a BSD Certification exam. Ioan Nemes gave a list of system
administration tasks.
Louis Bertrand
stressed the importance of a practical test and suggested a modular
approach to the multiple flavours of BSD question.
Discussion on cost and how to deliver the exam
internationally brought up many excellent points ( Ideas on Certifications ).
As with any project, there are several activities
taking place all at the same time. This note hopes to clarify some of the
things that are going on in the public list and among the members of the
BSD Certification Group (BSDCG). This should lead to better understanding
of how the certification process is being constructed, how ideas are
channeled, how decisions are being made and what everyone is doing.
First, an update on what is happening:
1) A task
analysis survey is nearing completion. This survey is an effort to
determine what activities are important in the daily life of a BSD
administrator. It will also help determine what activities are appropriate
to different skill levels. The results from this survey will provide
valuable information which will be considered as the exam objectives and
testing methodology are developed. Once the survey is ready, it will be
announced on the public email list and website. Everyone should take the
time to complete it. As soon as the results are finalized, they will be
available on the public website.
2) A
Non-Disclosure Agreement is being prepared to facilitate working with
translators and curriculum developers. As discussed on the mailing list, a
certification project can not be totally open unlike other open source
projects. For obvious reasons, details about test questions and answers can
not be publically disclosed. The NDAs will provide protection against
disclosure and the BSDCG will be vigilant in observing and responding to
any discrepancies. Details on the test objectives however are public
knowledge, and will be disclosed as soon as they are finalized. In
addition, a certification roadmap which includes projected dates for the
Group's milestones is being created; it will be announced as soon as it has
been finalized.
3) The
BSDCG is in the process of contacting an attorney to help facilitate
transition into some form of legal entity. This is required to enter into
negotiations with testing centers, sponsors, and others about concrete
commitments for time, space and other facilities. The type of legal entity
is not determined at this time. Full disclosure of any change in legal
status will be made to the public email list and website.
4) A
quick note on commercialization: there is no interest among the BSDCG
towards making the BSD Certification into a fast-cash-quick-buck machine.
All BSDCG members have indicated that the main goal is a solid, respected
certification.
1 RDF = Resource Description Framework (RDF) / W3C Semantic Web
Activity
