[FM Discuss] updated IBD

[Daniel James]

Hi Mick,
> Automated / Mechanical Attribution - can track the writers and editors
> in a more complete way, but this can be hard to maintain

I don't see why, everyone making an edit should be logged in, so they
can be tracked.

> (especially if
> printed)

We usually want people to visit the Booktype instance for the book and
contribute, even if they have picked up a printed version. If they are
sufficiently interested, they can look up attribution online.

> hard to get a sense of the main contributors at a glance.

Not really, just list the author with the highest wordcount first. Maybe
like a tag cloud so the lead author's names are in the biggest font. If
you want your name higher up the list, you have to write more :-)

> Try working out who wrote what from looking at a Wikipedia History page.
> http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Attribution_%28copyright%29&action=history

Not necessarily the best example to follow :-) That interface seems to
be mostly about undoing other people's edits.

> Currently for Book Sprints, I get the impression that because of the
> complexity of this situation the main credit and publicity often seems
> to go to the convening organisation, event or the sprint facilitator.

That's up to the participants to decide. Personally, I would want some
recognition for my contribution.

> I think that this is working pretty well with FLOSS Manuals, but does
> this lack of 'meaningful' attribution leave us with a kind of tribal
> book collaboration.

That can happen to the detriment of authors if there is one strong
personality taking all the credit. I wonder if celebrity chefs really
have time to write their own cookbooks? :-)

Cheers!

Daniel