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Re: [iaoa-education] [iaoa-council] proposal about next steps: IAOA Summ

To: Werner Kuhn <kuhn@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Cc: Fabian Neuhaus <fabian.neuhaus@xxxxxxxx>, "iaoa-education@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx" <iaoa-education@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
From: Werner Kuhn <werner.kuhn@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 5 Oct 2010 14:43:25 +0200
Message-id: <153A440D-4FE6-4980-9B74-F8D73589927C@xxxxxxxxx>
Dear all,    (01)

 in the absence of feedback so far, let me propose the following:    (02)

- topic: Environmental Ontology
- Monday and Tuesday: prep course, Wednesday to Saturday: regular Vespucci style
- facilitators: to be nominated until Oct 10 
- timing: a week in July, to be agreed with facilitators and sites.    (03)

Please object to anything you do not like or want to discuss further. 
Otherwise, please nominate  facilitators in the next few days.    (04)

Thank you all for moving this forward!
Werner     (05)

Sent from my iPad    (06)

On 26.09.2010, at 11:39, Werner Kuhn <kuhn@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:    (07)

> Leo,
> 
> we have always been in the Florence area, though never stayed in the
> city, but in Fiesole (the Etruscan town in the hills toward Bologna,
> overlooking Florence and the Arno valley, former home of Roberto
> Casati!). Fiesole works very well for accommodation, dinners, hanging
> out in the piazza etc., we have good relations with restaurants and
> hotels.
> 
> For course locations, we have recently been twice at Villa La Pietra,
> at the outskirts of Florence: http://www.nyu.edu/lapietra/. It is an
> ideal and very impressive location for a summer school, owned by New
> York University.
> 
> Before, we were most often at Fattoria Montebeni, a beautiful olive
> oil farm from the family of our co-founder Cristina Capineri's
> husband, just behind Fiesole in the hills. Most pictures on our web
> site are from there. It is also a fantastic location, but may be a bit
> small for us next year (limited to about 30 people).
> 
> I am also exploring another location in the area, a convent, but we
> are not sure yet whether the EC has it on its list of "fundable"
> places.
> 
> best,
> werner
> 
> On Sat, Sep 25, 2010 at 10:04 PM, Obrst, Leo J. <lobrst@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> Werner,
>> 
>> Where is the Vespucci summer school actually held? Does it vary? It looks 
>like it has taken place at or near Firenze in recent years.
>> 
>> Thanks,
>> Leo
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: werner.kuhn@xxxxxxxxx [mailto:werner.kuhn@xxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of 
>Werner Kuhn
>> Sent: Saturday, September 25, 2010 11:20 AM
>> To: Nicola Guarino
>> Cc: iaoa-education@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx; Galton, Antony; Stefano Borgo; Fabian 
>Neuhaus; Robert Hoehndorf (leechuck@xxxxxxxxxxx); Obrst, Leo J.; John Bateman
>> Subject: Re: [iaoa-council] proposal about next steps: IAOA Summer School 
>2011
>> 
>> Dear all again,
>> 
>> I promised to give you some flavor of typical Vespucci weeks. At the
>> web site, there is a section on our aims and scope
>> (http://vespucci.org/aim-and-scope) that should give you some ideas.
>> You can also click on the link at the bottom of that page ("Find out
>> more about the Vespucci style") to read our "slow food for thought"
>> analogy and, in fact, describing our first Ontology week (in 2007,
>> with Nicola Guarino) as a prime example of the style.
>> 
>> To summarize some of the elements of Vespucci style (which are applied
>> with quite some variety each year):
>> 
>> - get the best scientists on the topic as "facilitators" and let them
>> shape the program
>> - suggest to them a limit of 5 slides for a 90 minute session, to
>> emphasize discussion and focus on essential ideas rather than "stuff"
>> (which can be read in books)
>> - give participants a list of readings to prepare themselves, as well
>> as opportunities to present very briefly (5 minutes) on a paper they
>> liked
>> - spend most afternoons on group work, which has proven to provide a
>> more intense learning experience (from each other as well as from
>> facilitators, including multi-cultural skills)
>> - fit in 1-2 skill development sessions (e.g., on abstract writing)
>> - run "full immersion" weeks, but with enough time for participants to
>> talk to peers and seniors
>> - make participants feel at ease, in beautiful locations and with
>> excellent (healthy) food.
>> 
>> Having said all this, the Vespucci Initiative evolves all the time and
>> is happy to explore new ideas, as long as they do not lead to one-way
>> learning and passive, intimidated participants.
>> 
>> cheers
>> Werner
>> 
>> On Sat, Sep 25, 2010 at 4:55 PM, Werner Kuhn <kuhn@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>> Dear all,
>>> 
>>> I apologize for the delay and am now back in Muenster, ready to move
>>> the summer school forward. Thanks to everybody for their support of a
>>> joint IAOA-Vespucci event. I hope we can quickly settle the most
>>> important issues and then proceed to advertise.
>>> 
>>> I am addressing this message to the iaoa-education mailing list plus
>>> the individuals who participated in the discussions so far. Those who
>>> would like to be on the subcommittee organizing the summer school,
>>> please let me know. Organizational emails will then be limited to this
>>> subcommittee. I took the liberty to add John Bateman to the list, who
>>> has previously expressed interest.
>>> 
>>> The first issue to resolve is the following: The European Commission
>>> (through its Joint Research Center) has supported Vespucci summer
>>> institutes for many years and is ready to do so again in 2011.
>>> Essentially, they pay for the site, which may or may not include
>>> lunches (an issue to be discussed later). This is a great deal, though
>>> there are two strings attached:
>>> 1. a lengthy process to pick the site (in Tuscany, as proposed),
>>> requiring bids from multiple competitors
>>> 2. a preference for a topic that links to JRC research (which is
>>> mainly targeting INSPIRE, the European infrastructure for spatial
>>> information).
>>> 
>>> With (1), we have nothing to do, except to tell them our preferred
>>> dates. Thus, I suggest we first and foremost discuss the length and
>>> timing of the school.
>>> 
>>> With (2), we may not be too constrained after all, as long as we find
>>> a twist to the topic that is relevant to environmental information.
>>> This could simply be "Environmental Ontology" (a topic that is dear to
>>> non-geographic communities as well, for example biologists or
>>> physicists). Or it could be "Process Ontology" or anything else.
>>> 
>>> Of course, we can opt out of JRC support, though they have the money
>>> in their budget already. If we go for it, my questions to you all are:
>>> 
>>> ad 1: what weeks should be avoided in the previously discussed
>>> June-July window? On my list are, so far:
>>> - June 6-11 (the other Vespucci week in 2011, on Volunteered
>>> Geographic Information)
>>> - June 13-18 (the week following Whitsunday, also the week of the
>>> Geoinformatics conference at Muenster)
>>> - June 27 - July 2nd (the planned dates for the EC INSPIRE conference)
>>> 
>>> ad 2: would "environmental" or "process" be acceptable modifiers for
>>> ontology? Are there better ideas?
>>> 
>>> Finally, regarding length, I have taken note of (and share) the
>>> concerns against 2 full weeks, but also of the option to add 2 or 3
>>> days of basics before a more in-depth week. We have often run 8-9 day
>>> events, where the weekend before a regular Vespucci institute was a
>>> "specialist meeting" on the topic (that is, even more in depth). It
>>> would be an interesting idea to use the weekend for establishing
>>> basics instead. So, my third question is whether this is desirable or
>>> whether we go only Sunday night to Saturday morning.
>>> 
>>> So much for today. I still owe you some background on Vespucci and its
>>> style, which I will provide in a separate mail.
>>> 
>>> kind regards
>>> Werner
>>> 
>>> On Wed, Sep 15, 2010 at 12:02 PM, Nicola Guarino <guarino@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>>> Dear all,
>>>> 
>>>>        I think that Leo's list of steps is pretty good. What's important 
>now is to start working, aiming at having a concrete draft proposal by mid 
>October, I would say. I think we should plan for an early announcement to the 
>world in early November, followed by an official call for participation around 
>the end of January. Let's put the approval of this plan in today's agenda, 
>especially concerning:
>>>> 
>>>> - the school's name: IAOA Summer School in Applied Ontology
>>>> - the organizational chair: Werner Kuhn
>>>> - the program chairs: Fabian Neuhaus and Antony Galton
>>>> 
>>>> Best,
>>>> 
>>>> Nicola
>>>> 
>>>> On 14 Sep 2010, at 23:08, Obrst, Leo J. wrote:
>>>> 
>>>>> Antony,
>>>>> 
>>>>> I think our window is just June-July 2011, at this point.
>>>>> 
>>>>> Thanks,
>>>>> Leo
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>>> From: Galton, Antony [mailto:A.P.Galton@xxxxxxxxxxxx]
>>>>> Sent: Tuesday, September 14, 2010 3:23 PM
>>>>> To: Obrst, Leo J.; IAOA Executive Council; Stefano Borgo
>>>>> Cc: Fabian Neuhaus; Robert Hoehndorf (leechuck@xxxxxxxxxxx); Antony 
>Galton (apgalton@xxxxxxxx); Werner Kuhn
>>>>> Subject: RE: proposal about next steps: IAOA Summer School 2011
>>>>> 
>>>>> Do we have dates for the summer school yet, or is this still to be 
>decided?
>>>>> Antony
>>>>> ________________________________________
>>>>> From: Obrst, Leo J. [lobrst@xxxxxxxxx]
>>>>> Sent: 14 September 2010 19:58
>>>>> To: IAOA Executive Council; Stefano Borgo
>>>>> Cc: Fabian Neuhaus; Robert Hoehndorf (leechuck@xxxxxxxxxxx); Antony 
>Galton (apgalton@xxxxxxxx); Werner Kuhn
>>>>> Subject: proposal about next steps:  IAOA Summer School 2011
>>>>> 
>>>>> All,
>>>>> 
>>>>> I think this is a good idea too, i.e., first 2 days of intro tutorials, 
>second 3 days of advanced Vespucci-style courses. Do we think that relative 
>beginners who take the tutorials will have enough of a background for the 
>final 3 days? Perhaps this is not so important.
>>>>> 
>>>>> Werner, are there any issues with making this a 2-part structure, with 
>part 1 optional? It means that there will two different costs.
>>>>> 
>>>>> For next steps, I would suggest that we:
>>>>> 1) Establish that the initial IAOA Summer School in Applied Ontology (or 
>some other name -- suggestions?) will be at the Vespucci location in 2011, and 
>invite participation from the membership in the organization/content of the 
>summer school.
>>>>> 2) Compose a description about IAOA summer schools, i.e., that they occur 
>every 2 years, alternate with FOIS, and will be "traveling" events, meaning 
>that they will be hosted at different locations across the world.
>>>>> 3) Establish Werner as overall Summer School 2011 Organizational Chair 
>(this is in addition to his more general role as Summer School sub-committee 
>chair of the Education Committee). First steps probably will be to investigate 
>further Vespucci requirements, set dates, and invite others to help organize. 
>But Werner will provide guidance on these.
>>>>> 4) Establish a Summer School 2011 Content Chair, possibly with Fabian and 
>Antony as co-Chairs. First step probably will be to develop an initial list of 
>content (both introductory and advanced), perhaps using the Ontology Summit 
>2010 as a basis. But Fabian, Antony, and Werner will provide guidance on this.
>>>>> 5) Establish a dedicated mailing list for the summer school, and perhaps 
>establish periodic telecons -- dependent on the view of the organizational 
>chair Werner, who will organize these.
>>>>> 6) Once these details are established, develop a brief 
>description/announcement about the summer school, and disseminate it to the 
>IAOA and other email lists. This is probably decided and best done by the 
>Summer School 2011 chairs, in collaboration with the IAOA EC.
>>>>> 
>>>>> Also, initially, Stefano and I will participate as additional members of 
>the Summer School 2011 committee. Also I invite others to participate. Once we 
>settle on (1-5), we should open participation up to the membership, as soon as 
>possible.
>>>>> 
>>>>> Does this proposal sound reasonable to you all?
>>>>> 
>>>>> Thanks,
>>>>> Leo
>>>>> 
>>>>> _____________________________________________
>>>>> Dr. Leo Obrst        The MITRE Corporation, Information Semantics
>>>>> lobrst@xxxxxxxxx     Information Discovery & Understanding, Command & 
>Control Center
>>>>> Voice: 703-983-6770  7515 Colshire Drive, M/S H305
>>>>> Fax: 703-983-1379    McLean, VA 22102-7508, USA
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>>> From: iaoa-council-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 
>[mailto:iaoa-council-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Galton, Antony
>>>>> Sent: Wednesday, September 08, 2010 5:29 AM
>>>>> To: Stefano Borgo; IAOA Executive Council
>>>>> Cc: Fabian Neuhaus; Robert Hoehndorf (leechuck@xxxxxxxxxxx); Antony 
>Galton (apgalton@xxxxxxxx); Werner Kuhn
>>>>> Subject: Re: [iaoa-council] Welcome, IAOA Education Committee chairs, and 
>organization of IAOA Summer School 2011
>>>>> 
>>>>> I quite like that idea.
>>>>> Antony
>>>>> 
>>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>>> From: Stefano Borgo [mailto:borgo@xxxxxxxxxx]
>>>>> Sent: 08 September 2010 10:16
>>>>> To: IAOA Executive Council
>>>>> Cc: Fabian Neuhaus; Werner Kuhn; Antony Galton (apgalton@xxxxxxxx); 
>Robert Hoehndorf (leechuck@xxxxxxxxxxx)
>>>>> Subject: Re: [iaoa-council] Welcome, IAOA Education Committee chairs, and 
>organization of IAOA Summer School 2011
>>>>> 
>>>>> ...
>>>>> 
>>>>> What do you think about having the first 2 days for real beginners (intro 
>to logic, definition of ontology, the notion of class, property, inheritance, 
>instance-of, parthood, typical use cases and other initial stuff) and the real 
>Vespucci style from the 3rd day?
>>>>> Students may join the school from the first day or from the third day 
>depending on their knowledge/interest...
>>>>> ...
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>> _________________________________________________________________
>>>>> To  Post: mailto:iaoa-council@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>>>> Msg Archives: http://ontolog.cim3.net/forum/iaoa-council/
>>>>> List Info: http://ontolog.cim3.net/mailman/listinfo/iaoa-council/
>>>>> Community Portal: http://iaoa.org
>>>>> 
>>>>> _________________________________________________________________
>>>>> To  Post: mailto:iaoa-council@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>>>> Msg Archives: http://ontolog.cim3.net/forum/iaoa-council/
>>>>> List Info: http://ontolog.cim3.net/mailman/listinfo/iaoa-council/
>>>>> Community Portal: http://iaoa.org
>>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> 
>>> --
>>> Werner Kuhn
>>> Institute for Geoinformatics
>>> University of Muenster
>>> Weselerstr. 253
>>> D-48151 Muenster
>>> kuhn@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>> http://ifgi.uni-muenster.de/~kuhn
>>> Vespucci Summer Institutes: http://www.vespucci.org
>>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> --
>> Werner Kuhn
>> Institute for Geoinformatics
>> University of Muenster
>> Weselerstr. 253
>> D-48151 Muenster
>> kuhn@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> http://ifgi.uni-muenster.de/~kuhn
>> Vespucci Summer Institutes: http://www.vespucci.org
>> 
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Werner Kuhn
> Institute for Geoinformatics
> University of Muenster
> Weselerstr. 253
> D-48151 Muenster
> kuhn@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> http://ifgi.uni-muenster.de/~kuhn
> Vespucci Summer Institutes: http://www.vespucci.org    (08)

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