Nice read. Thanks for sharing Dr. Suchith, see you in Ghana sometime soon. :)
Best, - Enock 2016-10-30 22:25 GMT+00:00 Suchith Anand <[email protected]>: > Dear colleagues, > > Since GeoForAll was started, i had the opportunity to visit all continents > (except Antartica!) spreading our ideas and meeting and learning from our > amazing colleagues globally. The biggest personal happiness for me was > getting the opportunity to meet our amazing colleagues and students > worldwide all working together as a "global brain" for ensuring that we > take steps to bring down the digital divide and ensuring that quality > education opportunities are available for all. > > > Our students worldwide are doing a great contribution by a genius work > that they are doing now silently as the biggest donors of GIS software. > They have been actively sharing software and educational materials to > everyone by actively forwarding the urls of free and open source software > like QGIS download from http://qgis.org/en/site/ (there is also lot of > documentation for learning at http://www.qgis.org/en/docs/index.html > and free online materails produced by GeoForAll colleagues at GeoAcademy > with comprehensive QGIS tutorials at http://spatialquerylab.com/fos > s4g-academy-curriculum/ and also the freely available training > materials at http://www.geoforall.org/training > > Talking with students in India and many other developing countries (where > internet is relatively expensive) i understand that they all (esp. in > developing countries) download QGIS usually from their university network > (where there is good internet connection) 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. Caring and sharing are important values in > education . Details of why this is important at > http://opensourcegeospatial.icaci.org/2016/07/sharing-is-car > ing-why-openness-is-key-for-true-empowerment-and-sustainability/ > > > I am also very happy that free and open source software like QGIS havenow > fully 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 proprietary GIS vendors and rapidly bringing > down the walls of digital divide. I was joking to some students in India > that if they were a proprietary 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 , SMEs, startups , government organisations etc in Africa and the > developing world did not benefit from the opportunities of geospatial > science because of high GIS software costs but now they themselves are > changing it so everyone benefits from the opportunities of digital economy > and they are rapidly bringing down the artifical barriers created by > proprietary GIS vendors. The academics and students are now writing the > rules of the game not any vendor. > > > GeoForAll’s mission is to 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. I thank all teachers and > students in Africa and worldwide for your dedication and efforts. We are > proud to honour you all as the Biggest donors of GIS software. > > Best wishes, > > Suchith > > Dr. Suchith Anand > > http://www.geoforall.org/ > > Geo for All - Building and expanding Open Geospatial Science > > 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 > [email protected] > http://lists.osgeo.org/mailman/listinfo/geoforall > >
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