Capacity Building in Geoprocessing

Manual used for the implementation of CDE's Geoprocessing courses in the South and East. Composed of 6 modules covering important aspects of GIS handling and implementation: 1) Introduction to GIS; 2) Management issues; 3) GIS data preparation; 4) GIS data presentation; 5) Vector data analysis; 6) Raster data analysis. At the moment the manual is designed for use with ArcGIS. Work on a manual for use with open source software is currently ongoing. This manual was successfully used during several GIS training events in Kenya and Tajikistan.

The Emergence of Open Hardware Phenomena in Different Technological Environments

Dannie Jost gave an introductory presentation on the emergence on open hardware phenomena, including synthetic biology and other technological environments at the HEPTech Workshop on Open Hardware on June 13 held at the GSI, Darmstadt (Germany). The workshop was organized by CERN and GSI. This event addressed the OSHW phenomenon and its implications for academia and industry with special attention to knowledge and technology transfer issues. Consideration was given to the various aspects of open source hardware development, and how these are dealt with in academia and industry. Presentations from legal experts, academics, practitioners and business provided input for the discussions and exchange of ideas.

Challenges to the Patent System in face of Open Hardware

Dannie Jost gave a presentation outlining some of the challenges to the patent system presented by open source hardware at the "Open Knowledge Festival", under the topic stream treating open design, hardware, manufacturing and making; September 19, 2012; Helsinki, Finland. This topic stream generated considerable discussion, and it serves to educate an audience that is usually very adverse to patents and copyright, and helps the researcher understand the issuing conflicts surrounding emerging technologies, in particular digital technologies, and the maker movement (digitally enabled).