Hi Suchith, This is great news indeed. On the same token I will be presenting GeoForAll during the Pacific GIS/RS Users Conference http://gisconference.gsd.spc.int/ on Thursday 1/12/2016 10:20am-10:40am Fiji Time.
Will totally appreciate it if there is a presentation template that I can use, and also do I have permission to put the OSGeo logo and GeoForAll on t-shirts for me and my team to wear on the day :) Best regards, Edwin On Mon, Oct 31, 2016 at 7:12 AM, Suchith Anand <suchith.an...@nottingham.ac.uk> wrote: > Thank you Bridget for sharing the experiences from South Africa and i fully > agree with your insights on this. Talking to students in India and many > other developing countries, i understood that they all (esp. in developing > countries) download QGIS usually from their university network and then > share it in USBs. So in fact one student who downloads one copy of QGIS is > making thousands of copies later. So scale of expansion and impact is huge. > I am so impressed by innovative thinking of digital natives. No problem is > big for them. In areas where internet is expensive they come up with simple > solution of downloading QGIS in thier university networks (where they have > good connection) and then sharing QGIS in USBs to thier fellow students. The > values of sharing and caring that our current students globally have are > more important than thier technical skills or knowledge and they inspire me > every second. They are all true global citizens. Knowledge without compassion > is useless. > > I am also very happy that free and open source software like QGIS have > empowered our students and by sharing the software , students are now the > biggest donors of GIS software. They are breaking down the artifical barriers > created by properitery GIS vendors and bringing down the walls of digital > divide. I was joking to some students in India that if they were a > properitery GIS vendor they would be doing big press releases that they are > now donating 100 billion USD! > > This week i was at Nairobi and had the opportunity to meet and discuss ideas > with many government organisations , educators and students in Africa. I was > also invited by colleagues at Kenyatta University to deliver an open lecture > to staff and students on Friday evening after my main meetings just before i > left Kenya . Kenyatta University also offers Geo-related courses. There > were also students from Technical University of Kenya, Nairobi University, > Jomo Kenyatta University etc who came for my open lecture . The students > also live streamed the lecture for the benifit of others worldwide . It was a > pleasure to share ideas with excellent students from different universities > and i learned a lot from them . I was really impressed by the scientific > abilities of the students but more importantly thier interest and dedication > for contributing for the betterment of others. I really see the potential > for all these students to be the future leaders in their respective > professions. For decades students in Africa and the developing world did not > benifit from the opportunities of geospatial science because of high GIS > software costs but now they themselves are changing it so everyone benifits > from the opportunities of digital economy and they are rapidly bringing down > the artifical barriers created by properitery GS vendors. The students are > now writing the rules of the game not any vendor. > > GeoForAll’s mission is make geospatial education opportunities open to all > and to make sure we all work together to create global citizens contributing > to the betterment of humanity. Having colleagues like Bridget, Serena lead > our African expansion and Teacher training education is a great privilage > for us. Now the whole OSGeo Foundation and OSGeo community (cc in) stands > strongly behind education and we will rapidly accelerate our expansion. I > thank all teachers and students in Africa and worldwide for your > dedication and efforts. > > Best wishes, > > Suchith > > > ________________________________________ > From: GeoForAll <geoforall-boun...@lists.osgeo.org> on behalf of Bridget > Fleming <fleming.brid...@gmail.com> > Sent: 29 October 2016 12:08 PM > To: geofor...@lists.osgeo.org > Subject: Re: [Geo4All] [OSGeo-Discuss] Sharing sad news from the web... > > To add my bit from South Africa. Online GIS software is not a solution as > internet access for us is expensive and most of our schools do not have > connectivity. I’ve written a short paper on my GIS experiences in our local > Journal for SA Geography Teachers: http://sagta.org.za/JoGESA-V2.php > > QGIS ‘power lessons’ work best where GIS practioners come in and give short > courses directly to the students. Even the most IT-savvy teachers are too > fearful to give GIS classes. We have started a GIS Olympiad which is being > rolled out nationally. My colleague will be presenting a paper at the > upcoming AAG conference in Boston and I’ll do similar at the FOSS4G > conference, also in Boston in August next year. I’m looking forward to > meeting like-minded geographers in education as we need to pool our ideas. > Gavin Fleming, my long-suffering husband has helped build a tangible > landscape using GRASS GIS. My kids/ grade 8 to 12 love it. GIS has taken > geography to another level. Keeping it simple works and Open Source does the > trick! > > Kind regards > Bridget Fleming > > [cid:image001.jpg@01D231E5.8CA04070] > > -------- Forwarded Message -------- > Subject: > > Re: [Geo4All] [OSGeo-Discuss] Sharing sad news from the web... > > Date: > > Fri, 28 Oct 2016 13:56:47 +0000 > > From: > > SERGIO ACOSTAYLARA > <sergio.acostayl...@mtop.gub.uy><mailto:sergio.acostayl...@mtop.gub.uy> > > To: > > Jeff McKenna > <jmcke...@gatewaygeomatics.com><mailto:jmcke...@gatewaygeomatics.com>, > discuss@lists.osgeo.org<mailto:discuss@lists.osgeo.org> > <discuss@lists.osgeo.org><mailto:discuss@lists.osgeo.org> > > CC: > > geofor...@lists.osgeo.org<mailto:geofor...@lists.osgeo.org> > <geofor...@lists.osgeo.org><mailto:geofor...@lists.osgeo.org> > > > > Thank you Jeff for your great answer to my ¿call? It's a pity the Geo4all > Teacher Training and School Education Thematic Group > (http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/GeoForAll_TeacherTraining_SchoolEducation) isn't > as active as I think it should be as I find it's the group that can best > answer to this "huge opportunity" as you call it. Sure Bridget is doing great > work and we need to publicise it much more. We here are also doing hard work > in order to disseminate the use of FOSS4G in schools (post -in Spanish- about > last news: > https://gvsigbatovi.wordpress.com/2016/10/25/jornada-taller-en-ceibal-y-creacion-de-equipo-de-seguimiento-gvsig-batovi/) > but we surely need to work harder. It is not an easy task but it deserves > doing the effort. It`s scaring to know that "youth -only- learn what ESRI > means". We all know this provision of free ArcGIS online organization > accounts to all K-12 schools in the US (note this: ALL K-12 SCHOOLS) is not > at all philanthropic. Cameron, I agree with your idea and I can help with it. > > Regards, > > > > Sergio Acosta y Lara > > Departamento de Geomática > > Dirección Nacional de Topografía > > Ministerio de Transporte y Obras Públicas > > URUGUAY > > (598)29157933 ints. 20329/20330 > > http://geoportal.mtop.gub.uy/ > > > > ________________________________________ > > De: Discuss > <discuss-boun...@lists.osgeo.org><mailto:discuss-boun...@lists.osgeo.org> en > nombre de Jeff McKenna > <jmcke...@gatewaygeomatics.com><mailto:jmcke...@gatewaygeomatics.com> > > Enviado: jueves, 27 de octubre de 2016 21:34 > > Para: discuss@lists.osgeo.org<mailto:discuss@lists.osgeo.org> > > Asunto: Re: [OSGeo-Discuss] Sharing sad news from the web... > > > > Maybe what we are missing are the existing OSGeo-led education labs > > inside highschools - I was cooking now and thought of the great work > > being done by Bridget Fleming with the South African highschool > > geography teachers. How can we publish and share this great work, and > > spread that out to other highschools around the world - can OSGeo's > > Geo4All committee make that its focus now? > > > > Anyway, 'food' for thought! :) > > > > Thank you again Sergio for bringing this to everyone's attention. > > > > Night all, > > > > -jeff > > > > > > > > > > On 2016-10-27 6:04 PM, Jeff McKenna wrote: > >> Hi Sergio, > >> > >> Thank you for sharing this news. > >> > >> I'd like to take this opportunity to take a moment for us, our > >> foundation, to look in the mirror. Like this article points out > >> strongly (yet indirectly), we still have much work to do to reach the > >> youth of today and tomorrow. And I don't mean the United States or any > >> one country, as I see this in my own backyard in Canada and everywhere I > >> travel for OSGeo: a focus on universities and industry (where the money > >> and funding is), and a pure lack of focus on those fresh energetic and > >> unbiased minds of youth in highschool and middleschool. I see it each > >> year in the Geo4All day (or PostGIS day, or GISDay, whatever we all call > >> it) where events are held for university students and industry > >> professionals, all over the world - the problem is those attendees of > >> the events already know the thrill of the Open community, of geospatial, > >> of our passion. We miss the focus on today's youth. > >> > >> I always tried to speak to the back row of the theatre, to sing to those > >> at the very back too shy to come forward yet so eager to be part of the > >> spotlight, part of the community, and I put much focus on those rarely > >> heard of communities and countries around the world, giving them the > >> spotlight and the microphone to shine and grow and be seen and heard on > >> the world stage - well, the time is now for us to give that spotlight to > >> the youth as well. > >> > >> Now that Geo4All is the official education committee for the OSGeo > >> foundation, we can use that committee to tackle this huge hole, or > >> rather this huge opportunity. Maybe the Geo4All committee feels that > >> they are indeed handling this already, in the highschools etc, and this > >> message can help Geo4All promote and recruit more champions for their > >> existing work. Great! I'd like to hear of our equivalent for this > >> ConnectED initiative by Esri, focusing on the youth (and not directly on > >> universities), of how youth learn what "OSGeo" is, what "OSGeo" means - > >> as this article strongly points out, youth learn what "Esri" means, > >> indeed Esri continues to do great work and focus on that huge future > >> market of youth. But what are we doing as the OSGeo foundation? Talking > >> here about that can help build this momentum. > >> > >> Just how many highschools and middle schools are involved in our Geo4All > >> initiative by OSGeo's education committee? Can someone come up with a > >> total from the list of current labs? > >> https://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Edu_current_initiatives What does that > >> total tell us? How can we improve on that total? > >> > >> I actually was on the stage and handed an award to about 4 highschool > >> students in person at the FOSS4G-Europe event in Como last year, on > >> behalf of OSGeo; I saw their passion and spoke with them right after the > >> session, they were thrilled to be included in this community. > >> This was an award led by the Geo4All committee, so, this is an example > >> of their great work with the youth of today - but I bet few knew of that > >> award, well we can hopefully change that here through Sergio's wakeup > >> message. > >> > >> I hope this message brings all those passionate leaders out there in > >> OSGeo's Geo4All committee here, with their great examples of their work, > >> and we can use this news shared by Sergio to help change this myth that > >> OSGeo isn't a part of the youth activities today, get more press on the > >> great work by the Geo4All committee of OSGeo (as mentioned by Cameron), > >> and gather more champions to keep spreading our passion to the youth of > >> tomorrow - as I've said many times, we're currently hiring champions :) > >> > >> -jeff > >> > > _______________________________________________ > > Discuss mailing list > > Discuss@lists.osgeo.org<mailto:Discuss@lists.osgeo.org> > > http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss > > _______________________________________________ > > GeoForAll mailing list > > geofor...@lists.osgeo.org<mailto:geofor...@lists.osgeo.org> > > http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/geoforall > > > > > > This message and any attachment are intended solely for the addressee > and may contain confidential information. If you have received this > message in error, please send it back to me, and immediately delete it. > > Please do not use, copy or disclose the information contained in this > message or in any attachment. Any views or opinions expressed by the > author of this email do not necessarily reflect the views of the > University of Nottingham. > > This message has been checked for viruses but the contents of an > attachment may still contain software viruses which could damage your > computer system, you are advised to perform your own checks. Email > communications with the University of Nottingham may be monitored as > permitted by UK legislation. > > _______________________________________________ > GeoForAll mailing list > geofor...@lists.osgeo.org > http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/geoforall -- Edwin Liava'a CheSpatial Lautoka, FIJI http://www.chespatial.com _______________________________________________ Discuss mailing list Discuss@lists.osgeo.org http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
