[community] Unidata community survey on software training

• To: "community@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx" <community@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
• Subject: [community] Unidata community survey on software training
• From: Douglas Dirks <ddirks@xxxxxxxx>
• Date: Thu, 10 Nov 2016 10:11:29 -0700

The Unidata Program Center (UPC) has traditionally hosted software training
workshops each summer in Boulder, Colorado. The workshops provide training
in the installation, configuration, and use of Unidata-supported software
packages, and give attendees the chance to learn from and interact with the
software developers in person.

In recent years, attendance at the annual software training workshops --
especially by those affiliated with universities -- has been steadily
decreasing. The workshops represent a significant investment of resources
for the Program Center. Developers spend time creating and updating
training materials and teaching the workshops, and fees paid by workshop
attendees only partly offset the financial cost of the event. In addition,
workshop attendees must cover the costs of travel and lodging.

In an effort to gauge the relative desirability of the Boulder workshops
and several other possible approaches to training community members in the
use of Unidata software packages, we have created an online survey to
collect community input. Your honest feedback will help UPC staff choose
how best to allocate the resources we have allotted to help our community
understand and use Unidata software.

You can take the survey at:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/unidata_training_survey

Filling out the survey should only take you a few minutes. We appreciate
your time and thoughts on this matter.

Thank you,
The Unidata Program Center staff