Understanding User-Generated Content:
The FLOSS Manuals Story
A presentation by Scott Abel and Janet Swisher * May 5, 2009 STC Annual Summit, Atlanta, GA
Tuesday, May 5, 2009

User-Generated Content is
Consumer Created Content
Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Roles in User-Generated Content
Content Creator
Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Roles in User-Generated Content
Content Critic
Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Roles in User-Generated Content
Content Collector
Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Roles in User-Generated Content
Joiners, Spectators, Inactives
Tuesday, May 5, 2009

in the US today, there are
82.5 Million
Content Creators
13.9% create content in virtual worlds
18.1% create video content
23.9% create blog content
79.7% create content on a social network
source: eMarketer.com
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up 73% over 2008 source: Nielsen
Tuesday, May 5, 2009

what they’re doing
Typical User-Generated
Content Activities on
Social Networks
* providing answers to questions
* joining group discussions
* uploading/creating content
* promoting oneself
* responding to polls, surveys
* finding people, products
Tuesday, May 5, 2009

as of May 1, 2009, ranked by relative monthly audience size
Largest User-Generated
Content Websites
YouTube 80,600,000
Wikipedia 78,200,000
craigslist 45,600,000
flickr 24,100,000
Digg 11,400,000
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source: eMarketer.com
Tuesday, May 5, 2009

English language, videos 4-20 minute in length
There are 89,300 “How To”
Videos on YouTube today
In March 2009, the average US online video
viewer watched 327 minutes of video; 40%
of which came from YouTube
source: Nielsen
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how to
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how to
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how to
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how to
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how to
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how to
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how to
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how to
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how to
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how to
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how to
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Open source is an alternative
licensing approach that provides
users with access to the source
code; permits users to use,
change, improve, redistribute it
in modified or unmodified form
source: wikipedia
Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Open source software is very
often developed in a public,
collaborative manner; often
compared to user-generated
content.
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source: wikipedia
Tuesday, May 5, 2009

how to
Tuesday, May 5, 2009

182,090: The number of open
source software projects listed
on SourceForge.net
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Tuesday, May 5, 2009

advantages
Typical Open Source
Software Advantages
* no licensing fees
* utilizes the “power of the crowd”
* usually modular in nature
* offers quick innovation
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disadvantages
Typical Open Source
Software Disadvantages
* “system testing” often ignored
* unclear processes
* constantly evolving moving target
* security concerns (hackers)
* lack of documentation
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how to
Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Want the URL for the FLOSS
Manuals website? Text FLOSS
to 41411 and we’ll send it to
your mobile phone.
Or, for you old schoolers, jot this
down http://en.flossmanuals.net
Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Demonstration of FLOSS Manuals
Janet Swisher
Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Contact information
Scott Abel scottabel@mac.com
http://thecontentwrangler.ning.com
Janet Swisher JMSwisher@gmail.com
http://www.janetswisher.com
FLOSS Manuals
http://en.flossmanuals.net
Tuesday, May 5, 2009

User-Generated Documentation
The FLOSS Manuals Story
A presentation by Scott Abel and Janet Swisher * May 5, 2009 STC Annual Summit, Atlanta, GA
Tuesday, May 5, 2009