Book sprinters -- <br>Great job, your efforts are inspirational! I personally enjoyed reading the blog entries through the week. <br><br>Any writer respects the two-step "put butt in seat and start writing" efforts that the group put forth. From 10-midnight for days straight takes real passion and discipline. And to write reflective blog entries and summaries to the mailing list on top, well, believe me when I say that's impressive. Well done. :)<br>
<br>Anne<br><blockquote style="margin: 1.5em 0pt;"></blockquote><div class="gmail_quote">On Wed, Jan 27, 2010 at 1:01 AM, adam hyde <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:adam@flossmanuals.net">adam@flossmanuals.net</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">thanks for the support and encouragement :)<br>
<br>
actually, i just spent yesterday looking at the book. the structural<br>
issues are there but not too bad ...i'm guess i'm too close to it still,<br>
my opinion will probably flip flop the next days<br>
<br>
a webcam could be fun to do ... will see if its possible next sprint<br>
<font color="#888888"><br>
adam<br>
</font><div><div></div><div class="h5"><br>
<br>
On Tue, 2010-01-26 at 14:40 -0500, Joshua Facemyer wrote:<br>
> Just a quick response (there's so much to respond about!!):<br>
><br>
> I think that, no matter how "successful" the book-formation was, the<br>
> sprint would have to be successful, being an opportunity to see how<br>
> several different things work (both technical and collaborational).<br>
><br>
> I think what you did is phenomenal. I wish I could have been there!<br>
> Congrats to all who were involved!<br>
><br>
> Maybe, in the future, you could do some sort of video stream for<br>
> booksprints. That might really help improve real-time collaboration.<br>
> And we can all "be there" :)<br>
><br>
> JF<br>
><br>
> On 01/25/2010 02:43 PM, adam hyde wrote:<br>
> > hi,<br>
> ><br>
> > so, we locked 5 people in a room with aco and i and we wrote a book in 5<br>
> > days. it was an extremely interesting experiment. i am still recovering<br>
> > from it and i can not yet clearly think about the book, the process etc<br>
> > but i wanted to write a few things for the list....<br>
> ><br>
> > firstly, i admit to being scared about this project. to ask 5 people (+<br>
> > Aco) who don't know each other to come to berlin and write a book in 5<br>
> > days when all they have is the title...thats kinda scarey. i did not<br>
> > know if we would succeed or even what constituted success. failure to me<br>
> > was that those involved thought it was a waste of time. i had warned all<br>
> > involved that we might fail, including the transmediale festival that<br>
> > was funding the sprint.<br>
> ><br>
> > the thing that concerned me most was that we were embarking on an<br>
> > entirely new type of Book Sprint. Previous sprints had been about<br>
> > writing procedural documentation. Perhaps the only books deviating<br>
> > slightly from this might be the GSoC Mentoring guide and possibly parts<br>
> > of the CiviCRM manual.<br>
> ><br>
> > When I look at procedural documentation of free software I see it as a<br>
> > known - yes we can make excellent books in short time frames. when there<br>
> > is something concrete infront of you then it is possible to describe it,<br>
> > and it is also possible for others to describe the same thing and extend<br>
> > the text. there is a shared understanding of what it is you are writing<br>
> > about and we have developed a methodology to do this....however this<br>
> > sprint was directed by nothing other than the speculative title<br>
> > 'collaborative futures'. how do you get 5 people to share a vision about<br>
> > something so intangible? Collaboration itself is a abstract notion with<br>
> > very grey boundaries and a million different histories and<br>
> > contexts...adding 'the future' to this seemed to adjectify the already<br>
> > vague grounds into a barely visible haze<br>
> ><br>
> > tricky.<br>
> ><br>
> > additionally we did _no_ discussion before everyone entered the room on<br>
> > Monday morning (day 1). nothing discussed over email, no background<br>
> > reading. nothing. this was deliberate as i wanted to be hard about the<br>
> > 0->book in 5 days....to add more flavour to the event we were also using<br>
> > an alpha pre-release version of a new type of software and Aco was in<br>
> > the room with us building the software as we used it (happy to say that<br>
> > booki now seems pretty robust and is now starting to exceed the<br>
> > functionality of the FM tool set)...<br>
> ><br>
> > thankfully we had a good team and also a team that knew very well that<br>
> > this process was an experiment and it might fail. Those in attendance<br>
> > were Mushon Zer-Aviv, Michael Mandiberg, Mike Linksvayer, Marta Peirano,<br>
> > Alan Toner, Aleksandar Erkalovic (Aco) and me (facilitator). ..for those<br>
> > that don't know the line-up I have put their bios at the bottom of this<br>
> > email.<br>
> ><br>
> > the team was astonishing - a broad range of experiences and the feeling<br>
> > in the team was really amazing. very warm and friendly while at the time<br>
> > being open to challenge and straight talk.<br>
> ><br>
> > During the first day we relied heavily on traditional 'unconference'<br>
> > technologies – namely colored sticky notes. With reference to<br>
> > Unconferences we always need to tip the hat to Allen Gunn and Aspiration<br>
> > for their inspirational execution of this format. We took many ideas<br>
> > from Aspiration's Unconferences during the process of this sprint and we<br>
> > also brought much of what had been learned from previous Book Sprints to<br>
> > the table. First, before the introductions, we each wrote as many notes<br>
> > as we could about what we thought this book was going to be about. The<br>
> > list consists of the following:<br>
> ><br>
> > * When Collaboration Breaks.<br>
> > * Collaboration (super) Models.<br>
> > * Plausible near and long term development of collaboration tech,<br>
> > methods, etc. Social impact of the same. How social impact can<br>
> > be made positive. Dangers to look out for.<br>
> > * Licenses cannot go two ways.<br>
> > * Incriminating Collaborations.<br>
> > * In the future much of what is valuable will be made by<br>
> > communities. What type of thing will they be? What rules will<br>
> > they have for participation? What can the social political<br>
> > consequences be?<br>
> > * Sharing vs Collaboration.<br>
> > * How to deconstruct and reassemble publishing?<br>
> > * Collaboration and its relationship to FLOSS and GIT communities.<br>
> > * What is collaboration? How does it differ from cooperation?<br>
> > * What is the role of ego in collaboration?<br>
> > * Attribution can kill collaboration as attribution = ownership.<br>
> > * Sublimation of authorship and ego.<br>
> > * Models of collaboration. Historical framework of collaboration.<br>
> > Influence of technology enabling collaboration.<br>
> > * Successful free culture economic models.<br>
> ><br>
> > Then each presented who they were and their ideas and projects as they<br>
> > are related to free culture, free software, and collaboration. The<br>
> > process was open to discussion and everyone was encouraged to write as<br>
> > many points, questions, statements, on sticky notes and put them on the<br>
> > wall. During this first day we wrote about 100 sticky notes with short<br>
> > statements like:<br>
> ><br>
> > * "Art vs Collaboration"<br>
> > * "Free Culture does not require maintenance"<br>
> > * "Transparent premises"<br>
> > * "Autonomy: better term than free/open?"<br>
> > * "Centralised silos vs community"<br>
> > * "Free Culture posturing"<br>
> ><br>
> > ...and other cryptic references to the thoughts of the day. We stuck<br>
> > these notes on a wall and after all of the presentations (and dinner) we<br>
> > grouped them under titles that seemed to act as appropriate meta tags.<br>
> > We then drew from these groups the 6 major themes. We finished at<br>
> > midnight. i was not sure if we had made enough ground.<br>
> ><br>
> > Day two – 10.00 kick off. I woke at 5am wondering how the hell we were<br>
> > going to make this work. I woke up Aco in the next room and ranted a bit<br>
> > about what we could try. We had breakfast, went to the venue and the<br>
> > strategy was that we simply each choose a sticky note from one of the<br>
> > major themes and started writing. It was important for us to just 'get<br>
> > in the flow' and hence we wrote for the rest of the day until dinner.<br>
> > Then we went to the Turkish markets for burek, coffee and fresh<br>
> > Pomegranates.<br>
> ><br>
> > The rest of the evening we re-aligned the index, smoothed it out, and<br>
> > identified a more linear structure. We finished up at about 23.00<br>
> ><br>
> > Day three – At 10.00 we started with a brief recap of the new index<br>
> > structure and then we also welcomed two new collaborators in the<br>
> > realspace – Mirko Lindner and Michelle Thorne. Later in the day, when<br>
> > Booki had been debugged a lot by Aco, we welcomed our first remote<br>
> > collaborator – Sophie Kampfrath. Then we wrote... at the end of the day<br>
> > we restructured the first two sections, did a word count (17,000 words)<br>
> > and made sushi.<br>
> ><br>
> > After sushi we argued about attribution and almost finished the first<br>
> > two sections. Closing time around midnight.<br>
> ><br>
> > Day four – A late start (11.00) and we are also joined by Ela Kagel, one<br>
> > of the curators from transmediale. Ela presented about herself and<br>
> > transmediale and then we discussed possible ways Ela could contribute<br>
> > and we also discussed the larger structure of the book. Later Sophie<br>
> > joined us in real space to help edit and also Jon Cohrs came at dinner<br>
> > time to see how he could contribute. Word count at sleep time (22.00):<br>
> > 27,000.<br>
> ><br>
> > Day five – The last day. We arrived at 10.00 and discussed the<br>
> > structure. Andrea Goetzke and Jon Cohrs joined us. We identified areas<br>
> > to be addressed, slightly altered the order of chapters, addressed the<br>
> > (now non-existent) processes section, and forged ahead. We finished 2200<br>
> > on the button. Objavi, the publishing engine for Booki, generated a<br>
> > book-formatted PDF in 2 minutes. Done. Word count ~33,000<br>
> ><br>
> > As I understand it transmediale will print between 200-500 copies of the<br>
> > book.<br>
> ><br>
> > so...what are my thoughts on the book? I find it very hard to reflect on<br>
> > its success 'as a book'. I see the experiment a success. i find the<br>
> > content and process has changed how i think about collaboration and<br>
> > provoked some questions about collaboration that i dont know how to<br>
> > answer. As for the book as a book - I think it has some major structural<br>
> > issues and i think its scope goes too far. However i think it still<br>
> > works. in all likelihood it will be used as a teaching resource in NYU,<br>
> > parsons, and Staten Island University since thats where 2 of the<br>
> > participants teach...so that is in itself a success. However I think we<br>
> > can do better. I remember the first procedural documentation book sprint<br>
> > (Inkscape) and I remember the weeks after that event thinking how we<br>
> > could have easily improved the process. We did improve it and I think<br>
> > our sprints have become better and better. I can already see that in<br>
> > sprints like this with a more speculative narrative we need to focus<br>
> > much more on structure and 'writing in support of a conclusion'....the<br>
> > methodologies still need to be worked out but i feel very positive about<br>
> > the future of this kind of sprint...also, I think if this book wasn't<br>
> > sooo extremely speculative much of these concerns would have been<br>
> > addressed...<br>
> ><br>
> > anyways...it was a fantastic experiment. i enjoyed it very much and i<br>
> > would be very interested in your thoughts on what i have written and the<br>
> > content of the book (<a href="http://www.booki.cc/collaborativefutures" target="_blank">http://www.booki.cc/collaborativefutures</a>)<br>
> ><br>
> > ...until then, heres the bios of those involved:<br>
> > The starting 7 included:<br>
> ><br>
> > Mushon Zer-Aviv is a designer, an educator and a media activist from<br>
> > Tel-Aviv, based in NY. His work explores media in public space and the<br>
> > public space in media. In his creative research he focuses on the<br>
> > perception of territory and borders and the way they are shaped through<br>
> > politics, culture, networks and the World Wide Web. He is the co-founder<br>
> > of Shual.com – a foxy design studio; ShiftSpace.org – an open source<br>
> > layer above any website; YouAreNotHere.org – a dislocative tourism<br>
> > agency; Kriegspiel – a computer game based on Guy Debord’s Game of War;<br>
> > and the Tel Aviv node of the Upgrade international network. Mushon is an<br>
> > honorary resident at Eyebeam – an art and technology center in New York.<br>
> > He teaches new media research at NYU and open source design at Parsons<br>
> > the New School of Design.<br>
> ><br>
> > Mike Linksvayer is Vice President at Creative Commons, where he started<br>
> > as CTO in 2003. Previously he co-founded Bitzi, an early open data/open<br>
> > content/mass collaboration service, and worked as a web developer and<br>
> > software engineer. In 1993 he published one of the first interviews with<br>
> > Linus Torvalds, creator of Linux. He is a co-founder and currently<br>
> > active in Autonomo.us, which investigates and works to further the role<br>
> > of free software, culture, and data in an era of software-as-a-service<br>
> > and cloud computing. His chapter on "Free Culture in Relation to<br>
> > Software Freedom" was published in FREE BEER, a book written by speakers<br>
> > at FSCONS 2008. Linksvayer holds a degree from the University of<br>
> > Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in economics, a field which continues to<br>
> > strongly inform his approach. He lives in Oakland, California.<br>
> ><br>
> > Michael Mandiberg is known for selling all of his possessions online on<br>
> > Shop Mandiberg, making perfect copies of copies on<br>
> > AfterSherrieLevine.com, and creating Firefox plugins that highlight the<br>
> > real environmental costs of a global economy on TheRealCosts.com. His<br>
> > current projects include the co-authored groundbreaking Creative Commons<br>
> > licensed textbook "Digital Foundations: an Intro to Media Design" that<br>
> > teaches Bauhaus visual principles through design software;<br>
> > HowMuchItCosts.us, a car direction site that incorporates the financial<br>
> > and carbon cost of driving; and Bright Bike, a retro-reflective bicycle<br>
> > praised by <a href="http://treehugger.com" target="_blank">treehugger.com</a> as “obnoxiously bright.” He is a Senior Fellow<br>
> > at Eyebeam, and an Assistant Professor at the College of Staten<br>
> > Island/CUNY. He lives in, and rides his bicycle around, Brooklyn. His<br>
> > work lives at Mandiberg.com.<br>
> ><br>
> > Marta Peirano writes about culture, science and technology for the<br>
> > Spanish media, encompassing newspapers, online journals and printed<br>
> > magazines. She is a long term contributor and founder of the online<br>
> > media arts journal Elástico and is the author of "La Petite Claudine", a<br>
> > widely read blog in the Spanish language about art, literature, free<br>
> > culture, pornography (and everything in between). In 2003 and 2004 she<br>
> > directed the Copyfight Festivals in Spain (CCCB, Santa Mónica) with her<br>
> > collective Elástico, a symposium and exhibition that investigated<br>
> > alternative models of intellectual property. Marta has given numerous<br>
> > lectures and workshops on free culture, digital publishing tools and<br>
> > journalism at festivals and universities. She recently published "El<br>
> > Rival de Prometeo", a book about Automatas and the engineering of the<br>
> > Enlightenment. She currently lives in Berlin and is working on a second<br>
> > book.<br>
> ><br>
> > Alan Toner was born in Dublin and studied law in Trinity College Dublin<br>
> > and NYU Law School, where he was later a fellow in the Information Law<br>
> > Institute and the Engelberg Center on Law and Innovation. His research<br>
> > is focused on the countervailing impact of peer processes and<br>
> > information enclosure on cultural production and social life. In 2003 he<br>
> > worked on the grassroots campaign 'We Seize!' challenging the UN World<br>
> > Summit on the Information Society; he has participated extensively in<br>
> > grassroots media and information freedom movements. Since 2006 he has<br>
> > also worked in documentary film, including co-writing and co-producing<br>
> > "Steal This Film 2" (2007). In 2008 he co-created the archival site<br>
> > <a href="http://footage.stealthisfilm.com/" target="_blank">http://footage.stealthisfilm.com/</a>. Currently he's writing a book on the<br>
> > history of economic and technological control in the film industry.<br>
> > Sometimes he can be found near Alexanderplatz, and at<br>
> > <a href="http://knowfuture.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">http://knowfuture.wordpress.com/</a>.<br>
> ><br>
> > Aleksandar Erkalovic is reknowned internationally in the new media arts<br>
> > and activist circles for the software he has developed. He used to work<br>
> > in Multimedia institute in Croatia, where he was the lead developer of a<br>
> > popular NGO web publishing system (TamTam). Aleksander has a broad<br>
> > spectrum of programming experience having worked on many projects from<br>
> > multiplayer games, library software, financial applications, artistic<br>
> > projects, and web site analysis applications, to building systems for<br>
> > managing domain registration. Aleksander was for a long time the sole<br>
> > programmer for FLOSS Manuals and is now leading the development<br>
> > (together with Adam Hyde and Douglas Bagnall) of a new GPL-licensed type<br>
> > of collaborative authoring and publishing platform called 'Booki'.<br>
> > Aleksander's new media artistic collaborations have won many awards, as<br>
> > well as being extensively exhibited internationally. Aleksander also<br>
> > organises creative and educative workshops directed to young people,<br>
> > experts, and amateurs that are interested in the software he has<br>
> > developed and free software in general. He is currently also employed by<br>
> > Informix in Zagreb, Croatia.<br>
> ><br>
> > Adam Hyde was for many years a digital artist primarily exploring<br>
> > digital-analog hybrid broadcast systems. These projects included The<br>
> > Frequency Clock, Polar Radio, Radio-Astronomy, net.congestion, re:mote,<br>
> > Free Radio Linux, Wifio, Paper Cup Telephone Network, Mobicasting,<br>
> > Silent TV and others. Many of these projects have won awards and have<br>
> > been widely exhibited internationally. Since returning from a residency<br>
> > in Antartica in 2007 Adam founded FLOSS Manuals and has been focused on<br>
> > increasing the quantity and quality of free documentation about free<br>
> > software through FLOSS Manuals, exploring emerging methodologies for<br>
> > collaborative book production (Book Sprints), and developing Booki with<br>
> > Aleksander and Douglas. Adam has facilitated over 16 Book Sprints, is<br>
> > also the co-founder (with Eric Kluitenberg) of the forthcoming<br>
> > Electrosmog Festival for Sustainable Immobility and facilitator of the<br>
> > forthcoming Arctic Perspectives technology cahier.<br>
> ><br>
> ><br>
> > adam<br>
> ><br>
> ><br>
> ><br>
> ><br>
> ><br>
> ><br>
<br>
<br>
</div></div><div class="im">--<br>
Adam Hyde<br>
Founder FLOSS Manuals<br>
German mobile : + 49 177 4935122<br>
Email : <a href="mailto:adam@flossmanuals.net">adam@flossmanuals.net</a><br>
irc: <a href="http://irc.freenode.net" target="_blank">irc.freenode.net</a> #flossmanuals<br>
<br>
"Free manuals for free software"<br>
<a href="http://www.flossmanuals.net/about" target="_blank">http://www.flossmanuals.net/about</a><br>
<br>
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