swarm workshop?

[Dr. Paul Box]

Hello List

This is a subject that had been discussed at this year's swarmfest,
but I had not followed up on it in any serious way until now.  I have
been considering putting together a swarm training workshop in our GIS
training facility at Utah State University; it is an ideal facility,
as it would allow for an instructor to teach the course with a
computer screen projected at the front of the classroom, and allow
each of the participants to be seated at a sun workstation who could
be compiling and manipulating code at the same time.

As an academic institution, we are not allowed to offer such courses
at anything other than the cost to ourselves.  By basing an estimate
of operating costs on our regular GIS training courses, it appears
that we can offer such a course for about US$320-390 for two days.
The cost depends on the number of people participating: the two
figures given were calculated for 12 or 8 participants, respectively.
It is not practical for us to offer courses of less than 8
participants (the cost per individual goes way up), and the facilities
don't really fit more than 12 unless participants double up on
computers.

The course would be designed for people who have already made the
decision that swarm is worth investigating to model the systems that
they are interested in working with, and are looking for an intensive
short course to get started.  It is not intended to be a complex
systems workshop, nor an all-purpose agent-based modeling workshop,
though theoretical discussions will be highly encouraged after hours
over beer (no mean feat in Utah!).

My main objective in posting this announcement is to get a feel for
how much interest there is in such a workshop.  Especially, is the
price reasonable for a two day intensive training, and the content
something that people are looking for?

The best time to conduct such a workshop would be in the first or
second week of August, before the normal classes start.  If I get an
indication that sufficient interest exists (that at least 8 people
will commit to attending), then I will placed a more detailed
announcement on this list.

As for added incentive to attending the workshop here: Utah State
University is situated in a small town in the mountains in northern
Utah, just a few miles from national forests, alpine lakes, highland
desert, and some of the best migratory bird refuges in North America.
There is ample recreational opportunities for hiking, etc. after
hours, and we are a few hour's drive from the world-famous national
parks of the west (Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, Bryce Canyon, Escalante,
etc.).

Please email me with comments, suggestions, etc. at
address@hidden, or telephone at (USA) 435 797 2546.  The future of
this course will be decided on how people respond to this
announcement.

Cheers 

-- 
//////////////////////////////////////////////////
// Dr. Paul Box
// Dept of Geography and Earth Resources
// UMC 5240
// Utah State University
// Logan, UT  84321           Phone: 435-797-2546
//////////////////////////////////////////////////

*  If Elvis was so great, why was he buried in the back yard like a
*  hamster?


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