[OSGeo-Discuss] GeoAmbassador of the month – Nimalika Fernando

[Suchith Anand]

Dear colleagues,

It is my great pleasure to introduce Nimalika Fernando as our GeoAmbassador. I 
am grateful for this opportunity of introducing some of our amazing colleagues 
from different parts of our world each month as our GeoAmbassadors and this has 
also helped me also to learn and get inspired by their amazing work and 
contributions for the wider community. Nimalika established the OSGeo lab at 
Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology(SLIIT) , Sri Lanka in 2014. 
Though I have not yet got the opportunity to meet Nimalika , I am amazed by her 
teaching and contributions she made.We are proud to honour Nimalika as our 
GeoAmbassador and we are extremely grateful for her contributions to Geo for 
All.


Full details at 
http://opensourcegeospatial.icaci.org/2016/09/geoambassador-of-the-month-nimalika-fernando/


More details and other articles will be published in our newsletter later this 
month at http://www.geoforall.org/newsletters/

Best wishes,

Suchith






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Re: [OSGeo-Discuss] Geo4All - Empowering academics and educators globally - requesting colleagues to share Geo4All ideas at Geography Awareness Week

[Suchith Anand]

Hi Henrique,

Thank you for your mail. I am finding it difficult to understand your exact 
aims as in your previous mail you mention that there is some license fees for 
your tools [1] and now you mention they are free, open and libre. Will these 
conditions keep changing?   Also if what you are proposing is  a potential 
standard for orientation , then you should be talking to organisations like OGC.

So first please clarify what exactly is your aim ?

Geo4All is fully inclusive and welcome ideas for involving more user groups. So 
any opportunity to engage more with  visually impaired user groups will be 
greatly welcome. In fact, in ICA  there is a Commission on Maps and Graphics 
for Blind and Partially Sighted People?? [1]  which i think will be a really 
good way to proactively engage with the community. I will email the chair of 
this commission and explore how Geo4All can further world-wide co-operation, 
communication and education in the use of maps and graphics by blind and 
visually-impaired people.

For education it is important  that all tools that Geo4All  endorse are fully 
open and free. It is not just software, it is also the open educational 
materials, open data etc that we are interested. We will welcome any 
opportunity to make us more inclusive. You can email the Geo4All Advisory Board 
(cc in) your suggestions/ideas .

Best wishes,

Suchith

btw  Education is about true empowerment of young minds. It should not be aimed 
for getting new consumers!


[1] http://lists.osgeo.org/pipermail/discuss/2016-August/016476.html

[2] http://visualdisabilities.wixsite.com/icahome



From: Munich Orientation Convention 
Sent: 05 September 2016 8:34 AM
To: discuss@lists.osgeo.org; standa...@lists.osgeo.org; Anand Suchith
Subject: [OSGeo-Discuss] Geo4All - Empowering academics and educators globally 
- requesting colleagues to share Geo4All ideas at Geography Awareness Week

Hi Suchit,

nowhere in the world there are so many visually impaired people as in India.

For more than 100 years, most of them use imaginary clocks for orientation 
purposes and with this get GeoAwareness for directions and angles. Counting 
steps, they get additional GeoAwareness for locations and distances, having an 
alternative to lat/lon. The same tools use boy scouts, soldiers, pilots, 
children, people who can't read maps, illiterate etc.

The mentioned tools are doubtless free, open and libre, so why do OSGeo, 
Geo4all etc. insist on ignoring them?
Because it's not software?
Because digital clocks are trendy?
Because God dictated that the horizon has to be divided into 8 (see UN logo) or 
360 directions?
Because a convention for such imaginary tools could favor the merit principle?

The topic is Geo Awareness Week, that means, education for young consumers. 
Would you really recommend "here" 
www.volksnav.de/YouAreHere, Open Location 
Code www.openlocationcode.com and others just 
because they are free and open? Do they improve awareness for 1) locations, 2) 
directions, 3) distances and 4) angles? What about quality and excellence?

Now that you're spiritually recharged, I'm sure that we could find an open 
minded win/win/win level and show that OSGeo/Geo4all  aren't closed user groups 
but open user groups which e. g. also consider visually impaired people.

I affirm that the actual black/white criteria concerning openness can cause the 
following collateral damages:
- generate many win/lose products.   After 5 years, Munich thinks about 
abandoning the expensive Linux/Limux.
- demotivate to be creative A lose/lose situation.

Henrique






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author of this email do not necessarily reflect the views of the
University of Nottingham.

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[OSGeo-Discuss] Geo4All - Empowering academics and educators globally - requesting colleagues to share Geo4All ideas at Geography Awareness Week

[Munich Orientation Convention]

 

Hi Suchit,

 

nowhere in the world there are so many visually impaired people as in India.


 

For more than 100 years, most of them use imaginary clocks for orientation
purposes and with this get GeoAwareness for directions and angles. Counting
steps, they get additional GeoAwareness for locations and distances, having
an alternative to lat/lon. The same tools use boy scouts, soldiers, pilots,
children, people who can't read maps, illiterate etc.  

 

The mentioned tools are doubtless free, open and libre, so why do OSGeo,
Geo4all etc. insist on ignoring them? 

Because it's not software? 

Because digital clocks are trendy?

Because God dictated that the horizon has to be divided into 8 (see UN logo)
or 360 directions? 

Because a convention for such imaginary tools could favor the merit
principle?

 

The topic is Geo Awareness Week, that means, education for young consumers.
Would you really recommend "here" www.volksnav.de/YouAreHere, Open Location
Code www.openlocationcode.com and others just because they are free and
open? Do they improve awareness for 1) locations, 2) directions, 3)
distances and 4) angles? What about quality and excellence?

 

Now that you're spiritually recharged, I'm sure that we could find an open
minded win/win/win level and show that OSGeo/Geo4all  aren't closed user
groups but open user groups which e. g. also consider visually impaired
people. 

 

I affirm that the actual black/white criteria concerning openness can cause
the following collateral damages: 

- generate many win/lose products.   After 5 years, Munich thinks about
abandoning the expensive Linux/Limux. 

- demotivate to be creative A lose/lose situation. 

 

Henrique   

 

 

   

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