Latest Contributions by WilliamTarpai

Thanks @ColleenRobledoGreeneMLISFTxSGS for tabling this discussion. - empowering students to hone and improve their mapping and spatial, while engaging in real-time SDG research definitely takes up space so it is an important question for a number of reasons. Last year at the United Nations Civil Society Conference held in Nairobi, Kenya - the importance of data commons for driving real change was a trending topic, especially related to involving more students and their universities in SDG research. see Monitoring our data use effectively  We have the evidence, but its scattered, invisible or locked away  ... View more

@SaraJL Much appreciated.   Now that I understand better, am hoping you get a techie to fix it soon.    Now back to back to the Civil Society Data Commons - https://csodata.ke ... View more

Sara has tabled an interesting question to be sure.  I have taken an interest of late in the work of librarians helping to ship books to rural Kenya supporting school and village library development, so I'll leave it to the experts to resolve this specific issue, but am clearly looking for ideas we can work with. I am also thinking about student and university collaborations, as well as possibly, community mapping joint exercises, and data  created to belong in the 'commons'.   So many possible topics for additional input and ESRI Community discussions. Where ownership begins and end has certainly been the subject of many court cases as I think of the legal wranglings that happened as Facebook was being created.  But I'm sure, somewhere in the fine print, that we sadly often do not read until matters come to court, is already an acceptable answer.    But, as Sara has noted, procedures are already in place, so the question for me becomes does a 'carve out' need to be made as an exception to the existing rules?    Kind of like lobbyist making tax policy exceptions....     ... View more

My Kenyan colleague Susan suggested I focus on"...  mobile data collection and field workflow best practices" as we prepare for our upcoming work as we plan for the "... arrival of the Books for Africa container' with 20,000+ books and equipment for rural development efforts.  We have found so many great resources here in ESRI COMMUNITY, and are thankful to members, especially related to "...design principles" for developing moble tools useful in areas where access to electricity and the internet are problematic.  We are especially interested in how we can make the apps intuitive and accessible, even in low-resource or offline environments. There’s so much potential to support local schools, libraries, and village leaders through this technology. ... View more

WHAT AN INCREDIBLE RESOURCE!    How do I raise my hand to volunteer as a GeoMentor for a student or highly motivated class of students (perhaps their school already has an ESRI SCHOOL BUNDLE?   With the 2025 ESRI USER Conference happening in July (a great month to be in San Diego by the way), I have been communicating with students about how "...the SDGs are highly dependent on geospatial information and Earth observations as the primary data for relating people to their location and place, and to measure where progress is, or is not being made".   Sadly, in the US, neither United Nations, nor the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) challenge are talked about, much less topics for mapping and analysis.  While these are topics, I have a level of expertise on, I would definitely like to volunteer my time and energies to help promote greater mapping of  scoial justice and rracial equity..... https://yoursdgstory-learngis3.hub.arcgis.com/pages/featured-sdg10  ... View more

How are we approaching public policies for children's rights?   During UN Behavioral Science Week, in April 2025, this was a topic of importance.  Applying behavioral science and trending context to data collection and analysis  By the time this post is widely read, the 2025 UN Sustainable Development Report will be made public.  I want to urge US students to open the US ranking.  Have we improved from 46th place ranking from 2024, or possibly have we dropped?    Classrooms and students interested in finding entryways for real-time mapping and spatial analysis of sustainable development efforts going on around the world today, or wishing to improve US rankings in any or all of the 17 SDGs - check out the SDG Geospatial Learning Lab click on any of the 17 SDGs, then drill down       Please post comments on whether these links are useful to you or your class. ... View more

Wow, have really enjoyed, as a non-techie, this conversation.  I got lost quickly, but then spent an hour going through other posts, and was rewarded by the depth of knowledge presented.   Currently working on health related surveys in rural communities of Kenya, so finding these conversations very valuable.   ... View more

thanks for the contextual analysis - very empowering as I begin working on a map that is drilled down on the African continent to little Bomet County, Kenya.   Building local capabilities by deploying mapping and spatial analysis software and tools, perhaps where they have never been seen before, and where lack of dependable power as well as stable internet service is still problematic. Thanks again for taking the time to describe.  Allow me to post a link you may wish to spend some time and thought on - Bridging Behavioural Science and Data Science in the UN  ... View more

Hello again Rosemary and YPN members,   I am writing today to post a link to all of the videos produced during the UN Behaviorial Science Week - (3 weeks ago).  Embed Behavioral Sciences in Your GIS work during the SDG Challenge   For those of you who spend time, please post your comments ranking the best for your colleagues.  I want to highly recommend BRIDGING BEHAVIORAL SCIENCE AND DATA SCIENCE IN THE UN.    P.S.  If you are interested in employment with the UN, and would like discuss potential Mentorships, also leave a comment.   (Being a UN retiree, with a valid UN ID, ask me about my experience escorting students around UN HQs - New York, Geneva, Nairobi, Bangkok, and Vienna)  ... View more

Is it possible to send the stop-gap list, with all the links to university and NGO colleagues who are just getting started, developing tutoring projects with high school students, some which are introducing mapping, and spatial analysis skill sets, while involving students in real-time projects to improve local data?  ... View more

Hello Charlie Fitzpatrick,  Thanks for posting the stop-gap.   Hope we can renew interest in the top of Geo Mentors.   A colleague of mine in Kenya mentioned she could probably interest several current Kenyatta University students to become Geo Mentors for high school students just learning about mapping and spatial analysis, but definitely interested in helping to improve living conditions in their rural Kenya villages. ... View more

Thanks Dr Kerski,   I have been exploring ESRI. Community, and when I found your July 2019 post, I was really pleased as it addresses the problem I was working on this evening - preparing materials on GIS for beginners.  I'm decidedly handicapped not knowing more about the high schools and universities in Kenya, but I really liked what you posted so many years ago as it is relevant to my needs at the moment.   ... View more

Entering the ESRI Community Contest 2025 started taking focus for me when I was preparing for the one month GEO APPS MOOC in late March.  I was exploring Community posts, really trying to find like-minded people interested in getting involved with global sustainable development issues.  For example those who might already be contributors to the SDG Geospatial Learning Lab.  Increasing the successful SDG outcomes through Mapping team  Hold on, a quick review so we can all be on the same page, spend time reviewing the Outcome Documents from the 2024 Summit of the Future =The Pact of the Future - Global Digital Compact - the Declaration on Future Generations   The only prize I had ever wanted to win any recognition has been the UNHCR Nansen Award - Supporting refugees  because I worked in so many conflict prone nations during my career with UNHCR.  But now I'm going to give this a try..... ... View more

Wow, Really appreciate this post as I work with Kenyan NGO colleagues, advocating to improve rural community development efforts.  Having just completed a one month Geo Apps MOOC, in advance of the arrival of a shipping container filled with  20,000+ Books for Africa books and equipment, we are preparing our mapping efforts.   Our maps and apps will be focused to work on Bomet County, Kenya,   Developing a GIS tutorial to help our local NGO staff as we work with teachers and community leaders to improve educational opportunities for students growing up in rural areas is on top of my agenda.  Working collaboratively with members in this community is something I hope can flower over the coming months. A word of warning though:  allow me to urge readers to open this link Why is the US in opposition to the United Nations and the Sustainable Development Goals challenge   This work is all about speeding up the pace for achieving successful SDG outcomes in rural Kenya during the rest of this decade. I am seeking experienced ARCGIS online collaborators, who may also have experience using Geo Apps.   If you would like clarification or more info for getting involved, post a comment below.  Finally, the timeline for submitting the final draft of our GIS tutorial for Bomet County is 1 June, 2025.   ... View more