FOSS4G'13: Delivering on Geo4All: Scholarships and Widening Participation

Delivering on Geo4All: Scholarships and Widening Participation

Posted by Mark Iliffe on January 30, 2013

I was speaking to a friend earlier about inclusivity and diversity in conferences. They wrote "If going to a conference is 25% of your yearly salary how on earth can you afford it?". I think it's a valid point and one worthy for discussion. So how are we going to deliver scholarships to make this Geo 4 All?

Comments

Suchith Anand on January 30, 2013:

Good point Mark. This is definitely something we need to look into and work hard.

Some suggestions

1. We can contact potential sponsors to provide bursaries (atleast we should aim for 10 scholarships) for those with accepted papers to help them attend FOSS4G 2013. In return we will advertise the Bursaries in the name of the sponsors. We can setup a panel with members of FOSS4G 2013 committee and the delegates from the sponsors to select the bursary applicants.

2. We can make available as much presentations and video recordings online through ELOGeo, so that wider community (not just conference participants) has access to this.

Any other ideas please let us know.

Mark Iliffe on January 30, 2013:

I don't think we should just include those submitting papers. I think we should cast a wider net. Bursaries should of course be included, I'm thinking how to widen participation to those potentially not enfranchised and empowered by a university. There are a lot of people using FOSS and the OSGEO suite which aren't fortunate to be in the position of submitting papers, but should be included, to just attend. I'm thinking of the Kiberians, Tandaleans, Haitians etc.

Barry Rowlingson on January 30, 2013:

How about encouraging giving bursaries to those who commit to passing on Open-source geo knowledge to "the next generation". Evangelising individuals who might make a case that they are planning to setup a user group, or change their teaching from proprietary to free GIS. Or as Mark keeps yelling, people from developing nations such as those that are getting heavy ESRI educational discounts...

Addy just posted a GIS for Digital Humanities course at Lancaster to GoGeo. And its using ArcGIS. I feel I have failed here... :(

Addy Pope on January 30, 2013:

No, you havent failed. ArcGIS still has it's place so lets not become ESRI bashers. At least the course is free ;)

Bursary wise. Could we look to get sponsorship from some NGO's or other companies that are perhaps not geo-centric but operate, or make money, in the countries we are trying to provide bursaries to?

We need to sort out the academic bursaries as well at asome point.

Steven Feldman on January 30, 2013:

The academic bursaries could be targeted in part at students/teachers from countries that cannot afford to send delegates.

We can also seek some NGO or other sponsorship to enable us to offer some non academic bursaries to those outside of the formal academic loop.

Of course EDINA could authorise us to take a broader view on bursaries if they wished (hint)

On bursaries - getting someone to Nottingham for a week, accommodating them and feeding them and giving them a conference pass is going to run out at £1,000 - £1,250 or even more depending on flight costs. This is a serious commitment

I realise that I still have to sketch out my personal vision of "Geo for All" no doubt others will want to chip in.

Rollo Home on February 1, 2013:

Ambassadors for using OS tools is a very good idea. MapAction undertake humanitarian visits (i.e. not emergency response) to strengthen local skills (DfID funded?). Perhaps some form of 'inverted' scheme could be undertaken where individuals are brought to the UK for training? The advantage of this? They could present and inform us of the difficulties they face in their work - and where we can help effectively (and not just how we think it helps). The benefit of the exchange could be two ways.

Antony Scott on February 2, 2013:

Rollo, the MapAction thing is something I've been involved in (yes, DFID provide a good chunk of funding). Interesting idea about getting people over here - particularly as disaster response is one of the themes. ITC also have strong links with some of the organisations (ie Disaster Management Agencies) that MapAction works with, so their network could be useful too. But cost could be an issues as Steven says - we are talking up to a couple of grand I guess. We need to flesh this out in terms of budget and scope, but I would certainly favour going beyond academia and paper-submitters if we can.
Antony

Mark Iliffe on February 2, 2013:

Rollo, Anthony thanks for your comments. I'm agreeing with Steven and seemingly the others in recognising that this could be expensive. However, I think it's a very worthwhile endeavour. Something to discuss as an item in the team call this Friday?

Antony Scott on February 2, 2013:

Will be interested to hear Barend and Franz-Josef's views too, I know this is an area they've both got some knowledge of.

Franz-Josef Behr on February 3, 2013:

I'd like to second Antony's suggestion. I hope that OS can be a benefit
especially for developing communities / countries.

One thing to consider is (if feasible): Is the applicant really in need
of funding? It was always a liittle strange for me if people, for
example, receive funding to come to Stuttgart (from the German tax
payer), but the applicant is able to continue his travel to Cote D'Azur :-(

Regards