FOSS4G 2013 - GIS for All
Posted by Suchith Anand on September 17, 2012
Hi All,
FOSS4G 2013 will be happening next year this time (Sep 17th). One of the things i would like all of us to think and discuss ideas is on the legacy of FOSS4G 2013 .We didnt get to discuss this in our F2F because of very packed schedule.
I am confident that we will have an excellent conference with biggest participation, excellent workshops etc but what i am thinking is how we can use the event to kickstart bigger aims which benifit not just the participants but wider community globally.
It is a sad fact that very few universities in developing and poor countries have GIS courses until recently. There are many factors: high cost of software, lack of trained staff, good course materails etc etc. But things are slowly changing thanks to Free and Open Source Software.
Personally i think it is not just about having a conference showcasing technical qualities/merits of FOSSGIS etc but more importantly demonstating the importance of how Free and Open Source software is transforming the provision of education to everyone esp students in poor countries. There are many good examples of this in OSGeo community . For example gvSIG Association's participation with CEIBAL initiative in Uruguay http://www.gvsig.org/web/home/projects/gvsig-educa
The bigger vision of ICA-OSGeo MoU is to help enable more universities and schools in developing and poor countries to be able to start courses in GIS. For this we need both good quality training materails (we are doing that with ELOGeo) and establishment of Open Source Geospatial Labs in more universities and educational institutes globally. The good news is that by FOSS4G 2013, we will have around 15 labs established globally which will become nodes for future expansion and FOSS4G 2013 will be an excellent opportunity to accelerate things in our objective to provide GIS Education for All.
We need to make use of FOSS4G 2013 to accelerate efforts for this. My suggestion for theme and legacy for FOSS4G is "GIS for ALL - FOSS4G 2013"
Suchith
FOSS4G 2013 will be happening next year this time (Sep 17th). One of the things i would like all of us to think and discuss ideas is on the legacy of FOSS4G 2013 .We didnt get to discuss this in our F2F because of very packed schedule.
I am confident that we will have an excellent conference with biggest participation, excellent workshops etc but what i am thinking is how we can use the event to kickstart bigger aims which benifit not just the participants but wider community globally.
It is a sad fact that very few universities in developing and poor countries have GIS courses until recently. There are many factors: high cost of software, lack of trained staff, good course materails etc etc. But things are slowly changing thanks to Free and Open Source Software.
Personally i think it is not just about having a conference showcasing technical qualities/merits of FOSSGIS etc but more importantly demonstating the importance of how Free and Open Source software is transforming the provision of education to everyone esp students in poor countries. There are many good examples of this in OSGeo community . For example gvSIG Association's participation with CEIBAL initiative in Uruguay http://www.gvsig.org/web/home/projects/gvsig-educa
The bigger vision of ICA-OSGeo MoU is to help enable more universities and schools in developing and poor countries to be able to start courses in GIS. For this we need both good quality training materails (we are doing that with ELOGeo) and establishment of Open Source Geospatial Labs in more universities and educational institutes globally. The good news is that by FOSS4G 2013, we will have around 15 labs established globally which will become nodes for future expansion and FOSS4G 2013 will be an excellent opportunity to accelerate things in our objective to provide GIS Education for All.
We need to make use of FOSS4G 2013 to accelerate efforts for this. My suggestion for theme and legacy for FOSS4G is "GIS for ALL - FOSS4G 2013"
Suchith
Comments
Rafael Moreno on September 17, 2012:
Great idea!
Good vision.
Rafael
Steven Feldman on September 18, 2012:
Suchith Anand on September 18, 2012:
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Jo Cook on September 18, 2012:
FOSS4G 2013: GIS for All
to ensure that the FOSS4G element is the first and most important. Other than that, I think it's a really good title, and the freedom aspect is implicit in the idea of "gis for all" IMHO.
Jo
Barry Rowlingson on September 18, 2012:
FOSS4G 2013: GIS for All, and All for GIS!
[although that's the Three Musketeers and not Robin Hood]
Perhaps the 'freedoms' can be worked into the idea of 'All'.
Freedom for All People (no restriction on distribution)
Freedom to do All Things (no restriction on usage)
Freedom of All Choice (interoperability)
etc? Am I writing Steven's intro talk here?
I've tried coming up with a few other brainstormy-type slogans, some of
which probably exist in other contexts, but probably nothing better than
GIS for All...
"Projecting Freedom"
"The Power of Projection"
"Latitude with your longitude" (latitude being a synonym for freedom.
Crossword puzzlers only)
Barry
Steven Feldman on September 18, 2012:
Please do write my opening speech with perfectly selected colons, semi-colons, hyphens and commas.
"GIS for all" is growing on me. I can still do a "Freedom to ..." intro
Peter Batty on September 18, 2012:
Steven Feldman on September 18, 2012:
Suchith Anand on September 19, 2012:
Peter Batty on September 19, 2012:
Antony Scott on September 20, 2012:
Steven Feldman on October 2, 2012:
FOSS4G 2013 - Geo for All
or even
FOSS4G 2013 - Geo4All
Speak now or forever hold your peace
Mark Iliffe on October 2, 2012:
Jeremy Morley on October 3, 2012:
Rollo Home on October 4, 2012:
What's wrong with 'for'
I'm getting old before my time.....
Steven Feldman on October 4, 2012:
Antony Scott on October 4, 2012:
Geo for All
[sic]
Suchith Anand on October 5, 2012:
We will also announce "Geo for All Declaration" at FOSS4G 2013 welcoming all interested to join and support our mission of providing geospatial education and opportunities for everyone which will be the long term legacy of our FOSS4G conference.
Suchith