Development of a Course Material Package and Marketing Strategy
for the Geospatial Data Community
A proposal submitted under UCGIS RFP 9801
to the UCGIS Research and Management Committee
by
Jeffrey D. Hamerlinck and Margo E. Herdendorf
Spatial Data and Visualization Center
September 18, 1998
Introduction
Many advantages have been identified and realized in the implementation of metadata
development in various sectors of the geospatial community, especially metadata in a
standard form, such as the FGDC-endorsed standard. However, because of the complex
and variable nature of geospatial data, the standard developed to document this data is
necessarily complex and can be time-consuming to learn. This proposal is in response to
the identified needs to: (a) identify target audiences and existing constraints on the
adoption and use of the metadata standard; (b) develop strategies to address existing
constraints; and (c) design courseware adapted to the needs of target audiences.
Current Status of Metadata education/training efforts and materials:
Considerable effort has already been invested in methods to help the geospatial
community "get started" in using the metadata standard. Since 1994 FGDC has
conducted over 100 metadata training workshops and the NSDI Cooperative Agreements
Program (CAP) has provided funding to assist many organizations across the country in
documenting their data and establishing nodes to the NSDI clearinghouse. Several of
these CAP grants also involved metadata education and outreach initiatives, such as
Montana's Local Government GIS Coalition Project, the Tahoe-Northern Sierra Nevada
Internet Project and the National States Geographic Information Council's Educational
and Research Program in Support of Content Standards for Digital Geospatial Metadata.
Education activities implemented by these programs and others included hands-on
training workshops, development of Internet-based resources such as the Metadata
Primer and various flavors of hyper-linked tutorials, and a nationwide satellite downlink
education program with video tape production. Evaluation of these past and current
methods of metadata education/training will be incorporated as part of the background
research for this project.
Scope of Work
The proposed Scope of Work addresses these activities as defined in UCGIS RFP 9801:
- Facilitation of an FGDC-sponsored Scoping Meeting involving metadata trainers
representing all major segments of the geospatial data community;
- Preparation of a metadata course and accompanying materials, with an emphasis on
use in the university/community college and professional society arenas; and
- Development (and delivery to FGDC) of a marketing strategy promoting adoption
and use of the training course by universities, community colleges and professional
societies, as well as federal, state and local government entities.
Task One: Review past and current methods of metadata training activities as point of
departure for new training materials development.
Task Two: Organize and facilitate a scoping meeting to bring together metadata trainers
from several segments of the geospatial data community.
A key characteristic of the scoping meeting will be to address issues in two major
areas. The examples outlined below could serve as a "jumping off" point with the
flexibility to evolve based on input from FGDC and invited participants.
- Issues associated with training:
- Identifying audiences and tailoring needs to specific audiences
- Identifying general and specific educational modules to meet needs of different
audiences
- Pros/cons and costs associated with various types of training methods
- Incentives for organizations to provide metadata training
- GIS certification requirement
- Issues associated with content of training materials:
- FGDC standard, ISO standard, "core" metadata, and metadata profiles
- Types of metadata tools for entry, management, and display/query
- Creation of discrete metadata documents versus metadata databases
- Series level, data set level and feature level metadata
- Communicating/distributing metadata
Task Three: Synthesis of Scoping Meeting input and development of course framework
for FGDC review (January-February 1999)
Task Four: Development of Draft Training Materials Package (March-May 1999)
This task would include:
-
distribution of draft material to meeting participants and other identified reviewers, for
comments and feedback; and
- delivery of a pilot training course at a regional GIS users conference (e.g., 1998
Idaho/Montana/Wyoming GIS Users Conference) using draft materials.
Task Five: Revision of training materials package, incorporating reviewer comments and
trial workshop feedback (June-August 1999)
Task Six: Development of Marketing Strategy (April-August 1999)
It is anticipated that the marketing strategy will target universities, community colleges,
and professional societies, utilizing such avenues as the University Consortium for
Geographic Information Science and sponsoring organizations of such cross-disciplinary
events as GIS/LIS, as well as organizations representative of state and local end-users of
the training products (e.g., NSGIC, NaCo).
Project Personnel
Jeffrey D. Hamerlinck is a Research Scientist and Technical Coordinator for the Spatial
Data and Visualization Center at the University of Wyoming. In the role of Principal
Investigator on this grant, Mr. Hamerlinck will be responsible for overall project
management and completion of deliverables, in addition to serving in a lead capacity in
facilitation of the scoping meeting and development of the marketing strategy.
Margo Herdendorf is an Assistant Research Scientist with the Spatial Data and
Visualization Center, where she serves as a metadata specialist and clearinghouse
manager. As Co-PI on this grant, Ms. Herdendorf will take the lead role in development
of the training materials package, in addition to assisting with preparation of the
marketing strategy.