[FM Discuss] Preparing presentation for New York Debian conference

[John Rigdon]

Is this to be a WIKI page, or do need it HTML?

John Rigdon

--------------------------------------------------
From: "Andy Oram" <andyo at oreilly.com>
Sent: Friday, February 05, 2010 11:09 AM
To: <discuss at lists.flossmanuals.net>
Subject: Re: [FM Discuss] Preparing presentation for New York Debian 
conference

> Could somebody set up a page to work on the presentation on FM? Here is a 
> tentative outline that could go there.
>
> Andy
>
> ---
>
> How successful is FLOSS Manuals?
>
>  Show list of books
>
>    Highlight categories, such as XO and Sugar
>
>    Projects that expand scope (such as Collaborative Futures, How to
>    Bypass Internet Censorship, GSoC Mentoring Guide)
>
>    Books are mostly about applications, not for developers like most
>    free software documentation. This reflects the origin of FLOSS
>    Manuals among artists and other creative people, as well as the
>    dearth in good documentation for applications.
>
>  Display praise for books
>
>  Discuss size of mailing list
>
>  Discuss number of contributors to recent projects
>
> Brief history
>
>  Launched by Adam Hyde on DATE
>
>  First book announced on DATE
>
>  First grant on DATE
>
>  Incorporated on DATE
>
> Funding model
>
> Modus operandi
>
>  Getting a project started
>
>    Anyone can propose
>
>    Must be under open license
>
>      Why GPL is default
>
>    Administrator creates site on wiki
>
>  Wiki-based development -- focus on "good enough" tools
>
>    WYSISYG authoring interface
>
>    Storage in HTML
>
>    Index, set up for remixing
>
>    Chat
>
>  Read, write, and remix
>
>    Concern for vetting material on write and remix sites
>
>    Interchange: import and export
>
>    Support for printing--desire to reach people with limited Internet
>    access
>
>  Booki development project
>
>  Book sprints
>
>    Describe basic operation
>
>    Describe a couple projects and who came
>
>    Requires trust in the people who are on site, doing main work
>
> Major debates and decisions
>
>   Books or smaller, interlocked documents?
>
>     Despite trend on web toward multiple independent, loosely
>     connected documents, FLOSS Manuals believe many topics deserve
>     full books. Remix is a gesture toward the other, looser
>     organizational model.
>
>   Central control or come-one-come-all?
>
>     Model strongly supports allowing any individual to contribute at
>     the level he or she is able. But planners can encourage leaders
>     in the topic area to do a sprint or play a major role. Tight-knit
>     groups commonly do 90% or more of the work, particularly during a
>     sprint.
>
>   Standards or low barrier to entry?
>
>     Suggestions on formatting and language use are kept to a minimum
>     and are optional, so that nobody has to learn an insider's
>     practice in order to contribute. Contributions can be harmonized
>     by an editor later.
> _______________________________________________
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