[BSDCert-Announce] BSD Certification Group Newsletter for September 2006

[Announce list for the BSD Certification]

(This is also available online and in PDF format via
http://www.bsdcertification.org/index.php?NAV=News&Item=nl035.)
 
                   BSD Certification Group Newsletter
                              September 2006

Contents

  * 1 BSD Certification Events
  * 2 Summer Version of BSDA Study DVD
  * 3 Sponsorship
  * 4 Test Delivery Survey Report
  * 5 BSDA Exam Objectives
  * 6 Mailing Lists
  * 7 Website Statistics
  * 8 About this Newsletter

                        1 BSD Certification Events

Andrei Kolu will be giving two presentations in Estonia on BSD and BSD
Certification. The first is on September 16th at Tallinna Reaalkool
(http://www.real.edu.ee/) and the second is on October 4 at 14:00 in
auditorium 9 for Daemonest 2006 at Virumaa College
(http://www.ttu.ee/?id=1870) in Kohtla-Jaerve. He'll provide feedback as
well as his slides in Estonian and English in the next edition of this
newsletter.

Several members of the BSDCG will be in New York City to attend NYCBSDCon
(http://www.nycbsdcon.org), October 28-29. Plans are still being made for
an interactive session - watch for more details in the next newsletter.

                    2 Summer Version of BSDA Study DVD

The original announcement describing the DVD can be found on the bsdcert
mailing list
(http://lists.nycbug.org/pipermail/bsdcert/2006-August/001031.html). The
DVD is a thank-you gift for a $40 USD donation to BSD Certification Group
Inc. and the donations will be used to pay for the psychometric analysis
and the initial setup fees required to deliver the BSDA exam.

Since then, we have begun research into the most cost effective method for
accepting credit card payments directly and will make an announcement once
that feature has been implemented and tested. In the meantime, those who
are comfortable using Paypal or sending a cheque and who would like to
assist the certification effort are encouraged to take a look at this
resource.

                              3 Sponsorship

As the BSDA draws closer to being available, the BSDCG is actively seeking
sponsors to assist with the costs of creating the exam. Two sponsors will
show up shortly on the website. If your company or organization is
interested in sponsorship, please send an email to contributions at
bsdcertification dot org.

                      4 Test Delivery Survey Report

The Report on the recent Test Delivery Survey has been published and the
PDF is available for download from the website
(http://www.bsdcertification.org/downloads/delivery_survey.pdf). Everyone
is encouraged to read and discuss the findings in the Report. Since it is
licensed under a Creative Commons license, you are welcome to distribute
the Report as well as cut/paste portions of the Report into your own
literature as long as you attribute the BSDCG as the originating source.

                          5 BSDA Exam Objectives

Now that another school year has started, we've begun to receive feedback
from teachers that they are incorporating the BSDA Exam Objectives
(http://www.bsdcertification.org/downloads/pr_20051005_certreq_bsda_en_en.pdf)
into their college and university courses. If you know of a college,
university, or training center which has done so, use the contact form on
the website to send the details. We will compile a list of the courses and
contact information and publish it for the benefit of the community.

                             6 Mailing Lists

If you are not on the announcements list, please sign up at
http://lists.nycbug.org/mailman/listinfo/bsdcert-announce/. It is a closed
list for announcements from the BSD Certification Group.

The general discussion list is at
http://lists.nycbug.org/mailman/listinfo/bsdcert/.

The announcements list at the beginning of September had 187 subscribers
and the general discussion list had 750 members.

                           7 Website Statistics

Extensive analysis of website statistics is available online. Please visit
our Webstats Site at http://webstats.bsdcertification.org to see the
current statistics for yourself. The prior month stats are at
http://webstats.bsdcertification.org/webstats_prior.html.

                         8 About this Newsletter

The BSD Certification Group newsletter is published every month, near the
middle of the month.

Thank you to Dru Lavigne for contributing to this newsletter. The editor
is Jeremy C. Reed.

If you have any news items related to the BSD Certification, please let us
know by submitting via the contact form on the website or by sending an
email to newsletter at BSDCertificationGroup.org. Or if you would like to
volunteer for the translation team please send a note with the subject
``translation'' on the website's contact form.