The goal of this project is simple, yet expansive; to create a library of emergency services instructional material. The project will consist of several general topic areas, such as medical training and Total Quality Management. Within each area we intend to provide lesson plans, classroom presentations and resource materials. We will also be looking into creating on-line training courses using the SCORM format.

The access of the project to a world-wide audience creates exciting opportunities, yet also places monumental obstacles along the path. Simply having the materials translated into various languages will be an enormous task unto its own.

This project, unlike other Open ISES projects, is not a software program but is envisioned as a collection of materials and resources that can be used in an emergency service training environment. Like other Open ISES projects, we strive to make it available on as many different platforms as possible, while still subscribing to the ideals of being freely available and open source.

Fortunately, the ISO has approved a standard for computer documents called the Open Document Format (ODF). ODF has been approved for word processing documents(*.odt), spreadsheets (*.ods), and presentations (*.odp). These formats are now incorporated or soon will be incorporated into nearly every mainstream office suite, including OpenOffice.org, Koffice, AbiWord, etc. There is even a SourceForge project that has created a plug-in for Microsoft Office to allow it to read and save documents in this format.

Given the ISO certification and the world-wide acceptance of the Open Document format (many governments across the world are mandating its use), it only makes sense that the materials created for this project be delivered in this format as well. In addition, the Adobe Acrobat format has become a standard that nearly every system has the ability to read. Therefore, all of the documents being released under this project will be in the Open Document format or Adobe Acrobat format.