Hi Adam,<div><br></div><div>I'm pretty much game for anything, though my technical abilities are basically those of the average non-technical end user. My research involves the rhetoric of FLOSS, intellectual property, and composing processes in technical communication.</div>
<div><br></div><div>Jennifer</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Sun, Oct 23, 2011 at 12:21 AM, adam hyde <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:adam@flossmanuals.net" target="_blank">adam@flossmanuals.net</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">hey Jennifer,<br>
<br>
What kind of topics are you interested in? There are some sprints coming up soon that you might be interested in.<br>
<br>
adam<div><br>
<br>
On 23/10/11 06:04, Jennifer wrote:<br>
</div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div>
Hi,<br>
<br>
I'd love to get involved with FLOSS but am a little unsure about how to<br>
go about doing so. I'm an academic who teaches various technical writing<br>
courses and have a couple years experience as a technical writer and<br>
editor in the field of civil engineering. The reason that I'm responding<br>
to your post is that as an academic, my university will pay my expenses<br>
to attend a conference as long as I'm presenting at it. I know that with<br>
Google Summer of Code, there was an unconference. Is it typical for a<br>
book sprint to also have a conference or unconference that would allow<br>
an academic such as myself to have her way paid by her university? And<br>
is this an avenue from which FLOSS might be interested in cultivating<br>
contributors?<br>
<br>
Jennifer Maher<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
On Sat, Oct 22, 2011 at 11:25 PM, Andy Oram <<a href="mailto:andyo@oreilly.com" target="_blank">andyo@oreilly.com</a><br></div><div><div></div><div>
<mailto:<a href="mailto:andyo@oreilly.com" target="_blank">andyo@oreilly.com</a>>> wrote:<br>
<br>
At the Google Summer of Code sprint this past week I intervened<br>
heavily in the writing process of the team I was involved with. They<br>
told me at the end that they wouldn't have been able to do the book<br>
without my help. From discussions during the full-group meetings I got<br>
the sense that Anne Gentle played a similar role for her team, and<br>
probably other "floaters" did too. My own suggestions ranged from the<br>
macro-level to the micro-level. They included:<br>
<br>
* Pointing out that certain sections assumed certain background, and<br>
that perhaps they're readers needed additional background sections.<br>
Similarly, I highlighted confusing passages as symptoms of missing<br>
information, and helped the authors decide whether to remove them or<br>
to write new chapters to cover them adequately.<br>
<br>
* Helping to finalize the outline by asking questions while we were<br>
writing chapters, such as "what ties all these chapters together?"<br>
<br>
* Rewriting chapters to move prerequisites before the processes that<br>
depend on them, and other such rearrangements.<br>
<br>
* Adding introductions and transitional passages.<br>
<br>
Editing proved to be more than a one-time activity. The help I gave<br>
could not be encapsulated into a phone call during the initial outline<br>
process. Nor could it be imposed at the end during a post-sprint<br>
cleanup. IRC is not enough bandwidth to intervene in live discussions.<br>
I've done all of those activities and I think they can be moderately<br>
helpful, but nothing can substitute from being present while the book<br>
grows organically and helping to splice, graft, and prune.<br>
<br>
I assume Adam has reached the same conclusions, and that's why he<br>
invited floaters to the sprint last week. The question is how this<br>
could be done at every sprint. The organizers are paying a lot of<br>
money already to bring subject-matter experts to the sprint. While<br>
these experts do it for love of community and the chance to meet<br>
fellow community members, outside editors need extra incentives.<br>
Projects may be able to find someone associated with the project who<br>
can do light editing and fix style and grammar errors, but they are<br>
highly unlikely to find someone with professional skills as a<br>
developmental editor.<br>
<br>
However, I can't believe most funders would be willing to pay for<br>
their travel and add in enough money to make it a worthwhile career<br>
option for a professional writer or editor. Perhaps if they happen to<br>
find a qualified local person where the spring is being held, they<br>
could devote some compensation to enlisting participation. That's<br>
asking for a lot of luck.<br>
<br>
So as always I'm pondering the value of professionalism in<br>
crowdsourced work like this, and how it can be institutionalized.<br>
<br>
Andy<br></div></div>
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