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FLOSS Manuals: Too Good To Be Free

by DMN Communications

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Slides for a presentation about FLOSS Manuals given by Scott Nesbitt at FSOSS 2010. The presentation also offers some insights into the book sprint event held at Toronto Open Source Week 2010.

Slides for a presentation about FLOSS Manuals given by Scott Nesbitt at FSOSS 2010. The presentation also offers some insights into the book sprint event held at Toronto Open Source Week 2010.

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Documentation. I say this over and over again, but it is a necessary evil. Even in FOSS projects
Sometimes, though, documentation lets us down
FLOSS Manuals is trying to fill in the documentation gap that many free/Open Source projects have
Like many Open Source projects, FLOSS Manuals was started to scratch a particular itch
Everything is done on the FLOSS Manuals site. Publishing, reading, writing, and remixing
From a personal project, FLOSS Manuals has grown to 51 manuals and counting
FLOSS Manuals is built on a wiki. Not just the software, but the concept -- collaboration, crowdsourcing
The FLOSS Manuals site has three very useful features: Read, Write, and Remix
You can read manuals by clicking a link on the main page. Each manual is chunked into chapters and sections
You write in a WYSIWYG interface – no need to know wiki markup or HTML
Remixing enables you to create manuals that contain the information that you want.
Who contributes to FLOSS Manuals? A wide range of people, which offers the project a wide range of perspectives
Documentation isn't just something you read. It's something you engage with, and it needs to be aesthetically pleasing
The aesthetic strategy extends to the FLOSS Manuals site. It contains only the elements you need – text and navigation, but even that's attractive.
Problems with Twiki drove Adam Hyde to look for an alternative. That was to build their own tool called Booki
FLOSS Manuals has become known for its book sprints
There was a book sprint held at Toronto Open Source Week 2010 to complete a manual for the Thunderbird email client
The participants on site included professional technical writers, a software developer, several students from Seneca College's Technical Communication program, and a developer from Mozilla Messaging. Another 10 or so people joined in remotely.
The project tries to create documentation that focuses on what users need to know. It might not always succeed, but the successes outweigh the failures. Those successes stem from the range of voices that contribute to FLOSS Manuals. The books are used, scrutinized, discussed, and updated.

FLOSS Manuals: Too Good To Be Free Presentation Transcript

Read Write Remix
Read Write Remix
Read Write Remix
Read Write Remix
The crowd is an asset
Sprinting to a manual
+ =
Final Thoughts