[Showme-devel] Catch up: Background research

[Siri Reiter]

Hi,

A short sprint is probably the simplest and also most fun and
buzz-provoking way to go.

I'm wondering if the competition can take place at DebConf16, maybe
during the last day(s) of DebCamp, where there is less people around
than at the actual conference. The winning team can then stay for the
rest of the conference. On the other hand, I can also imagine that it
might be "too much" at that time. What do you think?

Does "start small, grow from there" mean initially contacting a handfull
of schools, then improving the approach? Otherwise I don't get it.

Teacher involvement is super relevant in my opinion. Teachers are
advocates and drivers of extra curriculum activities, so I see a point
in addressing them (as well as the young).

The now diffuse impression reflects our own current undecided and
half-informed state, and we will hopefully overcome that. The diffuse
nature of the subject of the competition can be turned into a sense of
freedom, similar to for example an art competition.

I simply see no "save Africa" element any more, just a local project,
where local help designing the competition definitely is very relevant,
as well as any information about the "model" competition and Beaker
tutorials (and possibly tutors, too).

Love,
Siri


On 19-10-2015 05:43, Kristoffer Rose wrote:
> Dear Bernelle and everyone,
> 
> Thanks for the thoughtful comments. The "diffuse competition" came out
> of the initial proposal for finding a use of an ARM box (Graham and me
> at DebConf), leading to the ShowMeBox proposal. It is certainly not final.
> 
> I am glad to go with any proposal you can enthuse local educators about
> - that is in some sense the most critical aspect of the entire exercise.
> Also do not hesitate to think about having two categories (like
> "pre-college" and "college"), and whether we can involve other countries
> (like Kenya where, for example, the AkiraChix are probably game).
> 
> On my TS side, there is enthusiasm but we are basically waiting on a
> resolution of the beaker port, as that affects how the proposal is
> presented internally.
> 
> In the meantime it will really help if you can get a feel for where your
> local teachers may need instruction in data science and whether you have
> locals or we can help from over here (by sending someone), as that needs
> to be included in the proposal. We also have access to support
> organizations dedicated to education here but I have not investigated
> that yet.
> 
> Having the competition later gives us more time, which is good.
> 
> 'nuff rambling from me: I have not been very active (that is a story for
> another time) but have not dropped this.
> 
> Best,
>    Kris
> 
> P.S. Yes, having GIS information in-system is good.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> On Thu, Oct 15, 2015 at 4:53 PM, Bernelle Verster
> <bernelle at indiebio.co.za <mailto:bernelle at indiebio.co.za>> wrote:
> 
>     Hi all
> 
>     I added some links that may provide open data for analysis on the
>     website.
> 
>     I also spoke to a few people who are teachers, their feedback:
>     * Don't try to target many schools, start small and grow from there
>     * Having a diffuse competition many months ahead of DebConf is not a
>     good idea. Try for one day only. Thinking about this makes me feel
>     more and more strongly that we should stay with the rough 24h format
>     of the past Beaker competition, rather than a many month thing.
>     * From Gavin (friend and at [2]):  I do recommend that you consider
>     installing QGIS and other tools from DebianGIS [1] on it as standard.
> 
>     I am gearing up to contact people who may be able to help design the
>     competition appropriately for high school students - how
>     simple/complicated it should be, how not to be too 'lets save africa'
>     but add actual real value, etc. I have some leads but at the moment
>     this is still fuzzy.
> 
>     Then, I was wondering if we should advertise this project to
>     Developers to grow the team - do you feel you need more personpower?
>     Similarly, do we need other sponsors - if e.g. we want to bus the
>     students in to the conference or similar?
> 
>     [1] - https://wiki.debian.org/DebianGis
>     [2] - http://kartoza.com/
> 
>     --
>     Showme-devel mailing list
>     Showme-devel at lists.alioth.debian.org
>     <mailto:Showme-devel at lists.alioth.debian.org>
>     https://lists.alioth.debian.org/mailman/listinfo/showme-devel
> 
> 
> 
> 

-- 
Siri Reiter Grafisk Design
Stauninggårdsvej 25
DK-4300 Holbæk
Tlf.: +45 27145428
http://sirireiter.dk/

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