RAVI KUMAR wrote:
The ground realities of the complex needs of developing world may be given a thought. The catch 22 situation in countries like India needs a solution, by giving incentives to students and education institutes of Geo informatics alike.
Ravi, Forgive me for retitling this thread ... I'm interested in hearing what the catch 22 for developing countries is, and what sort of incentives students and educational institutes need. On the face of it, developing countries, especially those with educational and scientific establishments as advanced as India, would seem to have strong incentives to use free software in the GIS field. Popular proprietary GIS platforms often have per-seat costs that dwarf the salary of a GIS practitioner, so spending some time learning free software would seem to be an easier to justify than in developed nations where the cost of proprietary GIS software is not particularly high compared to salaries. In developed countries we often hear that educational institutions want to teach using proprietary software packages because that is what is used in industry. While this is no doubt somewhat true in developed nations as well, it seems that relatively speaking they are "green fields" where proprietary software is not as firmly entrenched in industry. Certainly, from what I have heard, there are many opportunities to bring GIS to projects in India where there is no entrenched solution because GIS software has not yet been formally applied (for instance some municipal level planning and mapping applications). Perhaps the reasons why free GIS software is particularly well suited in developing countries are really reasons why it can snowball once effectively rooted, but that there is still some spark missing. Would you say that is the case? I, for one, see great opportunity in the developing world - both for individuals and firms as well as for governments and society as a whole. At it's core, I see the opportunity to turn human capital into expertise, local capability and exportable capacity. One model of this that I'm interested in fostering is encouraging consulting organizations to get established in the developing world using free software. These will hopefully be aiming to provide local needs but might also be seeking contracts in the international marketplace. OSGeo can hopefully play a small role in this through the OSGeo "Service Provider Directory" which will hopefully make it easier be considered for international opportunities. Certainly I've been impressed with the geographic diversity of service providers already registered (http://www.osgeo.org/spd_help). I also have this theory that GIS software developers in the developing world should be encouraged to participate in core development and maintenance on free software projects. The Google Summer of Code program is one opportunity for this to occur at the student level. I would also like to think that "maintainer contracts" based on OSGeo project sponsorship could be an avenue for up and coming software developers in the developing world to contribute to projects, gain experience and develop an international reputation that could make future contracting efforts easier. In the case of the Google Summer of Code, quite attractive pay is available (by developing world standards) to spend a summer participating in a free software project. I was rather disappointed to get less proposals for this program from the developing world than I would have liked this year. I hope next year OSGeo local chapters can help us get out the word to promising software development students interested in the geospatial field. I would add, one compelling way to strengthen a voice for the developing world is to get involved! OSGeo has lots of need for volunteers in a wide variety of capacities. Software development, testing and documentation for projects. System administration, the OSGeo journal, developing/testing educational materials, conference organization and all the other committees. Most activities can be done by anyone the ability to community in written English, enthusiasm and some technical skills. As has been frequently pointed out to me, I have a rather insular view of the world. So please see this as a request to be educated on the unique challenges faced in India and elsewhere in the developing world and a call for concrete actions that the organization can pursue (within our volunteer time and financial constraints). Best regards, -- ---------------------------------------+-------------------------------------- I set the clouds in motion - turn up | Frank Warmerdam, [EMAIL PROTECTED] light and sound - activate the windows | http://pobox.com/~warmerdam and watch the world go round - Rush | President OSGeo, http://osgeo.org _______________________________________________ Discuss mailing list Discuss@lists.osgeo.org http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss