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<h4>"Linux Gazette...<i>making Linux just a little more fun!</i>"</h4>
<hr>


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<center>

<h1><font color="#800000">Creating A Linux Certification Program, Part
6</font></h1>
</center>

<center>

<h4>By <a href="mailto:dyork@linuxcare.com">Dan York</a></h4>
</center>
<hr>


<p>It's been quite a crazy ride during the last weeks within the community
effort to build a certification program known as the Linux Professional
Institute (LPI).  There are a great many news items to pass along.  This
month's  article will address:</p>
<ul>
<li>
<a href="#wycd">What You Can Do</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="#Board">Board Membership Changes</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="#d">Completed Level 1 Objectives</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="#ac">Advisory Council Expansion</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="#German">German "Chapter" Forming</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="#Logo1">Logo Contest Results</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="#Developmen1">Development Plan</a>
</li>
<li>
<a href="#Mailing">Mailing-List Archives</a>
</li>
</ul>

<p></p>

<p>If you are interested in reading previous articles in this series, please
see the <a href="#Previous1">links at the bottom of the page</a>.</p>
<hr>


<h2><a name="wycd">What You Can Do</a></h2>

<p>There are a great number of ways you can help make the LPI project a
reality.  Here is a quick list:</p>

<p>1. HELP ANALYZE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN LINUX DISTRIBUTIONS</p>

<p>       We need some more help documenting the detailed characteristics and
differences between the distributions of Linux.  Faber Fedor
&lt;revf2@interactive.net> has agreed to coordinate a project to document the
distributions.  In particular we are looking for someone to complete and
maintain the SuSE document, and an additional few hands to help complete the
Slackware document are welcome too.     Visit:</p>

<p> <a
href="http://userweb.interactive.net/~revf2/LPI/">http://userweb.interactive.net/~revf2/LPI/</a>
</p>

<p>to see the work that has been done to date by Faber and other volunteers. 
Please send any feedback you can to Faber (preferably as an edited HTML
document, with the changes highlighted).  You can also visit the archives for
the "linux-cert-program" list at:</p>

<p><a
href="http://lists.linuxcare.com/linux-cert-program/threads.html">http://lists.linuxcare.com/linux-cert-program/threads.html</a></p>

<p>to see messages relating to the project.  All of this work will go into
creating the distribution-specific exams that are part of our first level of
certification.</p>

<p>2. WRITE QUESTIONS FOR OUR EXAMS</p>

<p>Very shortly, Scott Murray, our director of exam development, will be
putting out a call for "item writers" to write questions for our first level
exams.  Item writers will receive some instruction in the types of questions
we are seeking and then will write items that will be submitted to an
extensive technical review and evaluation process.     Writers of items that
survive the initial screening and alpha testing will receive compensation for
their work.</p>

<p>If you have ever had concerns that people who completed other certification
programs weren't really qualified, then please join with us and help make sure
our program is of the appropriate quality.</p>

<p>Please contact Scott Murray (<a
href="mailto:scott@lpi.org">scott@lpi.org</a>) now if you would be interested
in being an item writer when we begin the process.</p>

<p>3. HELP FIND FINANCIAL SPONSORS</p>

<p>Creating a high-quality certification program such as this costs a
significant amount of money.  We recently unveiled our sponsorship program for
both businesses and individuals at:</p>

<p><a
href="http://www.lpi.org/sponsorship.html">http://www.lpi.org/sponsorship.html</a></p>

<p>We've already had several major sponsors come on board (Caldera Systems,
Linuxcare and SuSE are the largest) and we are actively     speaking with
others. If either your company or you individually would be interested in
donating, we would certainly be interested to talk to you. If you think your
company might be interested, but are uncomfortable bringing the matter up,
please feel free to contact us and we'll be glad to make the approach.</p>

<p>Please direct all sponsorship inquiries to either myself (<a
href="mailto:dan@lpi.org">dan@lpi.org</a>) or Chuck Mead (<a
href="mailto:chuck@lpi.org">chuck@lpi.org</a>).</p>

<p>Please note that while we are incorporating as a nonprofit corporation, we
are not (yet, anyway) a "tax-exempt" entity by U.S. IRS tax guidelines.
Donations to LPI are <em>not</em> tax-deductible in the U.S. as charitable
contributions. (But there may be other ways to deduct such contributions -
contact an accountant for details - and hey, it's for a good cause
anyway!)</p>

<p>4. HELP DEVELOP A COURSEWARE APPROVAL POLICY</p>

<p>As we've had a great number of courseware vendors come to us asking about
"approving" their materials, we are considering implementing such a program. 
Chuck Mead has just kicked off a discussion in our Corporate Relations
committee.  Join the list, or view the web archive at:</p>

<p><a
href="http://lists.linuxcare.com/linux-cert-corprel/threads.html">http://lists.linuxcare.com/linux-cert-corprel/threads.html</a></p>

<p>The CorpRel committee will be working on a proposal to send to the
Board.</p>

<p>5. HELP WITH OUR PUBLICITY WATCH</p>

<p>With so many information technology publications out there - both in print
and on the web, it's next-to-impossible to stay up-to-date on what's being
said all over the place about Linux certification.     We'd like your help. 
When you see an article (either in print or online) about Linux certification,
can you please send us the info (article title, publication, date, URL if on
the web).  Either send it directly to "linux-cert-pr" if you are a member of
that list (if not, consider joining!) or email it to Evan (<a
href="mailto:evan@lpi.org">evan@lpi.org</a>)</p>

<p>You can see the list of what has been posted at:</p>

<p><a
href="http://lists.linuxcare.com/linux-cert-pr/threads.html">http://lists.linuxcare.com/linux-cert-pr/threads.html</a></p>

<p>Messages sent to linux-cert-pr appear on the archive within an hour.</p>

<p>6. WRITE OR SPEAK ABOUT LPI AND LINUX CERTIFICATION</p>

<p>To date, much of the writing and speaking about LPI and our efforts to
create a Linux certification program has been by members of the Steering
Committee such as Evan and I.  But please know that we are not at all
exclusive about that and would encourage others to help out with writing
and/or speaking about LPI and Linux certification.</p>

<p>Many web sites are looking for people to write articles and we'd love to
see more articles out there about Linux certification and LPI. If you know of
a site looking for articles, please go ahead and write one.     We'll be glad
to provide some information or assistance if you need it.     Also, if you'd
like to write articles, drop us a note and we may be able to steer you to
places where they are looking for writers (usually the online sites are
looking for writers who will write for free).</p>

<p>Print publications are good, too.  For instance, I had an article in the
June ";login:" published by USENIX and then an article in the     July "Linux
Journal."  Scott Murray &amp; Alan Mead are planning to submit an article on
their survey process to a psychometrics journal.  Articles might be
appropriate for local or regional newsletters for training organizations, user
groups, etc.</p>

<p>Also, if you're interested in speaking to local groups, we will soon be
making some presentations available online (in Applixware format so far,
probably HTML, too) that you could use.  For instance, Faber Fedor recently
spoke to a local association of technical educators  in his state.</p>

<p>If you are interested in writing or speaking, please feel free to contact
either Evan (<a href="mailto:evan@lpi.org">evan@lpi.org</a>) or I (<a
href="mailto:dan@lpi.org">dan@lpi.org</a>).  Feel free, too, to go ahead and
just write... we'll be glad to look over     articles if you'd like us,
too.</p>

<p>7. IF IN GERMANY, HELP WITH THE NEW GERMAN "CHAPTER"</p>

<p>As described further down in this article, there is now an effort underway
to create a German "Chapter" of LPI that would help translate informational
materials into German and also write/speak about LPI certification within
Germany and in the German language.  More details will be available soon, but
in the meantime, please contact Mark Semmler at:             <a
href="mailto:mark.semmler@frontsite.de">mark.semmler@frontsite.de</a></p>

<p>Please read the <a href="#German">text below</a> for more information.</p>

<p>8. JOIN OUR MAILING LISTS</p>

<p>If you haven't joined one of our committee mailing lists, where more of the
work is going on, visit:</p>

<p><a
href="http://www.lpi.org/involved.html">http://www.lpi.org/involved.html</a></p>

<p>and sign up to help us out!</p>

<p></p>
<hr>


<h2><a name="Board">Board Membership Changes</a></h2>

<p>After being on our Steering Committee list since its formation, Josh Arnold
recently indicated he needed to step aside because of other committments.  He
intends to stay subscribed to the mailing lists and hopes to be able to
contribute to the Program Committee on an ongoing basis.  We thank Josh for
his willingness to step forward and help lead, and we do hope he can continue
to be involved as our efforts move on.</p>

<p>With Josh's departure, the Steering Committee/Board took some time to
identify what roles we needed to fill.  We next considered who had contributed
to the LPI effort in some meaningful way and spoke to  a couple of people
about joining the Board.  At this time, we are pleased to announce Jared
Buckley's addition to the LPI Board.   Jared stepped forward to lead the
Naming committee and has been an active contributor to several of our mailing
lists.  During the day, Jared works for Texas Instruments in Dallas, TX, where
he supports the WAN and administers several covert Linux servers.</p>

<p>Please join us in welcoming Jared to the Board.  His new responsibilities
will include helping create newsletters such as this and generally  helping to
coordinate volunteer participation.  He may be reached online at
"jaredb@ti.com". (He will soon have an "lpi.org" address as well.)</p>

<p></p>
<hr>


<h2><a name="d">Completed Level 1 Objectives</a></h2>

<p>Over the last month, a dedicated group of participants worked to  finalize
the objectives for the first exam (T1) and the generic portion of the second
group of exams (T2).  These objectives  were finalized in early June, allowing
courseware developers and publishers to know what they should orient their
materials toward.</p>

<p>We will soon have a web page online providing a simple list of the final
objectives.  In the meantime, you can visit our  management system at:</p>

<p><a
href="http://www.lpi.org/cgi-bin/poms.py">http://www.lpi.org/cgi-bin/poms.py</a></p>

<p></p>
<hr>


<h2><a name="ac">Advisory Council Expansion</a></h2>

<p>We are pleased to announce our expanded Advisory Council.  We continue to
receive great interest from a wide range of organizations. Our  current
Advisory Council membership includes (listed alphabetically by company,
asterisk (*) indicates recent addition):</p>

<p>Jim Higgins, Caldera Systems, Director of Education Services<br>
*Chris Tyler, Canadian Linux Users' Exchange, Certification Representative<br>
*Jim Lacey, CompUSA, Director of Operations<br>
*Fiaaz Walji, Corel, Certification Program Manager<br>
*Stephen Solomon, Course Technology, Senior Acquisitions Editor<br>
*Phil Carlson, ExecuTrain, VP of Business Development<br>
*Katalin Wolcott, IBM, Mgr of Linux Services Development, IBM Global
Services<br>
*R.J. Bornhofen, Global Knowledge Network, Linux/Web Curriculum Manager<br>
David Mandala, Linuxcare, VP of Education and Certification<br>
Mark Bolzern, LinuxMall, President<br>
Jim Dennis, Linux Gazette, "The Answer Guy"<br>
Jon "maddog" Hall, Linux International, Executive Director<br>
Phil Hughes, Linux Journal, Publisher<br>
*Stuart Trusty, Linux Labs, President<br>
*Julie Rowe, New Horizons Computer Learning Centers, VP of Products &amp;
Programs<br>
Nancy Maragioglio, New Riders Publishing, Editor<br>
Lonn Johnston, Pacific HiTech, VP North America<br>
Donnie Barnes, Red Hat Software, Director of Technical Programs<br>
*David Conran, SAGE (USENIX) Certification Committee<br>
*Anita Booker, SGI, Global Customer Education Manager<br>
Patrick Volkerding, Slackware, principal developer<br>
Marc Torres, SuSE, Inc., President<br>
*Dr. Lindsay F. Marshall, UK Unix User Group, Chairman<br>
Deb Murray, UniForum, VP Professional Training &amp; Development<br>
Ken Kousky, Wave Technologies, CEO</p>

<p>We keep this list up-to-date on our web site at:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.lpi.org/ac.html">http://www.lpi.org/ac.html</a></p>

<p>We had a great meeting with our Advisory Council members at LinuxExpo (you
can see the pictures at http://www.lpi.org/expopix.html ) and  appreciate all
their support!</p>

<p></p>
<hr>


<h2><a name="German">German "chapter" forming</a></h2>

<p>When I knew I was going to be in Munich teaching some classes, (yes,
Linuxcare expects me to actually do some work for them, too, and not just work
on LPI!) I sent out a note asking if anyone would be interested in meeting.
Juergen Off from frontsite AG contacted me and we arranged to meet.</p>

<p>Juergen and his colleague Mark Semmler brought me to the Biergarten  in the
beautiful Englisher Garten part of Munich and we had a very enjoyable evening
eating, drinking beer and flipping somewhat  randomly between talking in
English and German.</p>

<p>Along the way, Juergen and Mark commented that there really wasn't much
discussion of Linux certification within the German media and Linux community.
They asked "what can we do to help spread the word here in Germany?"  As we
talked, Juergen suggested the idea of  having a local German "chapter" of
LPI... all three of us were  intrigued by the idea and discussed the idea at
length.</p>

<p>After that night, we exchanged more email and also shared the idea with
others we knew in Germany.  The others at frontsite AG were quite interested,
as were the folks at SuSE with whom I communicated.</p>

<p>The LPI Board considered the subject and we, too, thought it was  a great
idea and gave the go-ahead to the frontsite AG folks to start a discussion and
make it happen.  Since there was so much interest, we thought this German
chapter would be a great pilot program to see how this idea can work.</p>

<p>Mark Semmler wasted little time and sent off a note to the "linux-cert"
mailing list asking if people would be interested. His full message, which
includes his German text, can be found at:</p>

<p><a
href="http://lists.linuxcare.com/linux-cert/msg00038.html">http://lists.linuxcare.com/linux-cert/msg00038.html</a></p>

<p>Since this newsletter is going to a global audience and is written in
English, I'm including only Mark's English text below so that  you get a sense
of what he and the others are proposing.</p>

<p>I know already there is great interest in meeting at the upcoming LinuxTag
in Kaiserslautern, Germany on June 26th &amp; 27th.  It will be great to see
what comes out of discussions there.</p>

<p>Please contact Mark at "<a
href="mailto:mark.semmler@frontsite.de">mark.semmler@frontsite.de</a>" if you
are interested in becoming involved with this effort.</p>
<pre></pre>
<pre>------ Begin Included Message ------</pre>
<pre>Subject: LPI Germany?! 
Date:    Thu, 24 Jun 1999 01:32:19 +0200 
From:    Mark Semmler &lt;mark.semmler@frontsite.de></pre>
<pre>&lt;German text snipped></pre>
<pre>Hello everybody!</pre>
<pre>We are tracking very interested since a couple of weeks the mailinglists of 
the LPI and we are just fascinated by the thoughts and the dynamic of this project.</pre>
<pre>During a meeting with Dan York early this month in Munich, the thought was born, 
to create a german-speaking chapter of the LPI.</pre>
<pre>The goals of this "chapter" should be:</pre>
<pre> - promote the idea of LPI Linux certification through local
      media, conferences, publications, etc.</pre>
<pre> - maintain German-language mailing lists and a web site
       (in German) to promote discussion of Linux certification issues</pre>
<pre> - translate English LPI marketing and information materials into
      German for distribution within Germany</pre>
<pre> - assist in identifying people/companies that can perform
      the translation of exam items (questions) into German</pre>
<pre> - organize discussion groups and local meetings that bring
       together key players within the German training and larger
      information technology industry to move Linux certification
      forward</pre>
<pre> - communicate ideas from the German-language discussion groups/lists
      back to the English-language discussion groups/lists</pre>
<pre> - translate LPI news releases into German and distribute them
      to appropriate German news media</pre>
<pre>I'm sure there will be other tasks which develop as well.</pre>
<pre>This chapter should be organized like the LPI. 
Means: non-profit and independent.</pre>
<pre>We offer to host and to maintain the mailinglists and the webspace for 
such a project on our servers. The domainname could be "(www.)de.lpi.org" and/or "(www.)german.lpi.org".</pre>
<pre>Who is interested?</pre>
<pre>Juergen Off, Mark Semmler, Jens Kiefer, Heiko Franssen, Thorsten Linstead</pre>
<pre>------ End Included Message ------


</pre>
<hr>


<h2><a name="Logo"><a name="Logo1">Logo Contest Results</a></a></h2>

<p>Those of you who have followed our web site and the past newsletters are
aware of the Logo Contest that we ran for quite some time.  There were some
pretty amazing entries submitted by some very talented  people.  We set up a
poll on our web site to get some idea of what viewers thought.  In the end,
the simplicity of Jorge Otero's design seems to have captured people's
attention.  You can check out all the designs at:</p>

<p><a
href="http://www.lpi.org/logo-results.html">http://www.lpi.org/logo-results.html</a></p>

<p>The LPI Board has not made a formal decision yet, but is leaning  strongly
toward using Mr. Otero's design.</p>

<p>Thank you to <strong>all</strong> the people who took time out of their day
to  create some artwork for us.  It all is great!</p>

<p></p>
<hr>


<h2><a name="Developmen"><a name="Developmen1">Development Plan</a></a></h2>

<p>On our web site, you can now find our plan for the development and
implementation of our first level of certification.  The plan, developed
primarily by Scott Murray and Tom Peters, is available at:</p>

<p><a
href="http://www.lpi.org/public_plan.html">http://www.lpi.org/public_plan.html</a></p>

<p>The document will be updated over time as our plans evolve.  Please check
it out and send any feedback to Scott (<a
href="mailto:scott@lpi.org">scott@lpi.org</a>) and Tom (<a
href="mailto:tom@lpi.org">tom@lpi.org</a>).</p>

<p></p>
<hr>


<h2><a name="Mailing">Mailing List Archives</a></h2>

<p>FYI, archives of all LPI mailing lists can be found at:</p>

<p><a href="http://lists.linuxcare.com/">  
http://lists.linuxcare.com/</a></p>

<p>Messages posted to an LPI list are posted to the web archives within an
hour.  Note that we are still working on restoring the historical archives
after a server crash, so they only contain recent information.</p>

<p>There is, however, an archive of the "linux-cert" mailing list going back
to last November when this all began.  It is still active and can be found
at:</p>

<p><a href="http://linux.codemeta.com/archives/linuxcert_archive/">  
http://linux.codemeta.com/archives/linuxcert_archive/</a></p>

<p>but again, because most of the activity has moved to the committee mailing
lists and the web site, the archive does not reflect the full range of LPI
activity going on today.</p>

<p>This second archive is now searchable at:</p>

<p><a href="http://linux.codemeta.com/archives/archive_search.html">  
http://linux.codemeta.com/archives/archive_search.html</a></p>

<p>On the page, you must choose "Linux Certification" from the select button
in order to search our archive.</p>

<p></p>

<p>We also just recently added our mailing lists to the archives at <a
href="http://www.mail-archive.com/">http://www.mail-archive.com/</a> - all of
which are searchable archives.</p>
<blockquote>

<p>linux-cert:   <a href="
http://www.mail-archive.com/linux-cert%40linuxcare.com/">
http://www.mail-archive.com/linux-cert%40linuxcare.com/</a></p>

<p>linux-cert-program:    <a
href="http://www.mail-archive.com/linux-cert-program%40linuxcare.com/">http://www.mail-archive.com/linux-cert-program%40linuxcare.com/</a></p>

<p>linux-cert-corprel:    <a
href="http://www.mail-archive.com/linux-cert-corprel%40linuxcare.com/">http://www.mail-archive.com/linux-cert-corprel%40linuxcare.com/</a></p>

<p>linux-cert-pr    <a
href="http://www.mail-archive.com/linux-cert-pr%40linuxcare.com/">http://www.mail-archive.com/linux-cert-pr%40linuxcare.com/</a></p>
</blockquote>

<p></p>

<p>Thanks are due to Matthew Rice for pointing out the availability of
mail-archive.com.</p>

<p><br>
</p>
<hr>


<h2><a name="Final">Final Thoughts</a></h2>

<p>We're nearing the end of the first phase of our development. By the end of
this month, people should be taking our first beta exam in VUE testing centers
all around the globe.  Our psychometricians will be analyzing data.  Others
will be finalizing our second (T2) set of exams.  Another group will be
working on translation of the exams into other languages.  Yet another group
will be starting work on the objectives for the Level 2 exams.  Marketing
programs will be underway.. we'll be gearing up for LinuxWorld in San Jose in
August... it's going to be a crazy and exciting time!</p>

<p>I hope you'll visit our web site at www.lpi.org and join in the fun and
excitement.  It's only through the power of MANY people working together that
we've been able to make this happen!</p>

<p>Thank you all for your continued support.</p>

<p><br>
</p>
<hr>


<center>

<h4><a name="Previous"><a name="Previous1">Previous</a> ``Linux
Certification'' Columns</a></h4>
</center>

<a href="/issue33/york.html">Linux Certification Part #1, October 1998</a>
<br>
<a href="/issue34/york.html">Linux Certification Part #2, November 1998</a>
<br>
<a href="/issue35/york.html">Linux Certification Part #3, December 1998</a>
<br>
<a href="/issue37/york.html">Linux Certification Part #4, February 1999</a>
<br>
Linux Certification Part #5, Mid-April 1999


<!--===================================================================-->
<P> <hr> <P> 
<center><H5>Copyright &copy; 1999, Dan York <BR> 
Published in Issue 43 of <i>Linux Gazette</i>, July 1999</H5></center>

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