Date: Thu, 13 Jul 2000 01:46:19 +0000 From: Nik Clayton <nik@freebsd.org> To: doc@freebsd.org Subject: O'Reilly documentation summit. Questions, comments? Message-ID: <20000713014619.A11669@kilt.nothing-going-on.org>
next in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
Hi guys, I'll be attending an O'Reilly 'Documentation Summit' this Sunday, just before their open source conference next week. I probably shouldn't do this, but read on for an attendee list, and a rough agenda. Has anyone got any other points they would like me to raise, or issues to discuss? I'm planning on having a lot to say about the tools and formats section, the translation section, and the publishing section, and will be spending more time than listening than talking on the others. Note that this is an invite-only thing (sorry 'bout that) so please don't just turn up. But if anyone's planning on attending the O'Reilly conference and wants to meet up on the Sunday evening then drop me a line and we can go for a beer. N > We would be delighted to have you or your representative participate in > the Open Source Documentation Summit. You've been recommended for > attendance by both Frank and Debbie Lidl. > > Listed below are the confirmed attendees for the Open Source > Documentation Summit to be held Sunday, July, 16 from 8 AM to 6 PM at > the Marriott Conference Center, Monterey, CA. We have chosen the day > before our Open Source conference, and a location in the Marriott > Conference Center that is hosting the conference, because it is > convenient for many participants. I've also included the O'Reilly > employees scheduled to attend the event. Each of the people listed are > included in the docsummit@oreilly.com alias. > > The questions we plan on addressing during the summit are provided at > the end of this message. The summit, which is by invitation only, will > discuss the basic questions of motivation, quality, tools, and licensing > that concern developers and writers. Our hope is that Open Source > communities can make faster progress by aggregating our knowledge and > finding grounds for agreement. We are interested in these questions at > O'Reilly & Associates because we think we can work constructively with > software teams on the documentation of their software, but we intend > discussion to be of general interest and not be limited to book > publication by any means. > > I can provide you a complimentary pass to the conference although you > will be responsible for the cost of your travel and accommodations. > Please let me know as soon as possible if you will be attending. > > Regards, > Laurie > > Jeremy Allison jeremy@valinux.com > Guylhem Aznar guylhemlistes@pop.ifrance.com > Eric Bischoff ebisch@cybercable.tm.fr > Mark Galassi rosalia@nis.lanl.gov > Andrew Leonard aleonard@salon.com > Debbie Lidl dgl@bsdi.com > Lenny Muellner len@oreilly.com > Dan Mueth d-mueth@uchicago.edu > Mike Olson mao@sleepycat.com > Bruce Perens bruce@hams.com > Eric Raymond esr@snark.thyrsus.com > Chip Salzenberg chip@perl.org > Drew Streib d@valinux.com > Norman Walsh ndw@nwalsh.com > David Wiley dw2@opencontent.org > > Tim O'Reilly, Founder & President tim@oreilly.com > Frank Willison, Editor in Chief frank@oreilly.com > Laurie Petrycki, Executive Editor lauriep@oreilly.com > Andy Oram, Editor andyo@oreilly.com > Chuck Toporek, Editor chuck@oreilly.com > Frank Pohlmann, Editor fpohlman@oreilly.com > Betsy Waliszewski, Product Marketing Manager betsy@oreilly.com > > 1. How does a team motivate people to write good documentation for > Open Source software? How do you deal with payments when multiple > authors are involved, particularly over many revisions? > > 2. Software is usually updated much more often than people have > opportunities to do a thorough documentation rewrite; the rewrite > would deal with the ripple effect of a new feature through all the > guide-like material. What can a team do to provide minimally > up-to-date documentation and also ensure that a well-integrated > rewrite takes place eventually? How does the community submit > revisions and corrections? > > 3. What is the appropriate way to write and distribute various types of > documentation that differ in size and longevity (Books, HOWTOs, FAQs, > release notes, etc.)? Is there a path that information can follow (from > a HOWTO to a chapter in a book, for instance), receiving more time and > attention as its audience and importance grow? > > 4. How can the professional services of a publisher (editorial, art, > etc.) help? What is the best way for a team to keep in contact and in > sync with a publisher, when that publisher is responsible for marketing > and > distribution? > > 5. What tools and formats should be used to create documentation? > While people could ideally use any tool they find convenient to create > a document, experience shows that contributors complain that current > tools are hard to use with the most desirable document formats. The > Open Source community should be concerned with making tools and > formats more flexible and easy to use. Furthermore, each software team > should set writing guidelines. > > 6. The development and distribution of Open Source software has been > international for a long time. What tools and management models can > help develop a non-English documentation project? What is the most > effective way to create translations? > > 7. How does a team publish documents (including hard-copy, online, and > distribution media like CD-ROMs)? > > 8. Can open-content advocates settle on a good, small set of licenses > that cover the options in which authors and software teams would be > interested? (Licenses are last because, while they're important for > document reuse, they are not directly concerned with the need to > actually create the content, which is the first concern of the > workshop.) > > 9. Can we work together to ensure the successful co-existance of > sufficient free and non-free documentation? -- Internet connection, $19.95 a month. Computer, $799.95. Modem, $149.95. Telephone line, $24.95 a month. Software, free. USENET transmission, hundreds if not thousands of dollars. Thinking before posting, priceless. Somethings in life you can't buy. For everything else, there's MasterCard. -- Graham Reed, in the Scary Devil Monastery To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-doc" in the body of the message
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?20000713014619.A11669>