new project leader
by Tammy Fox
Hi everyone,
Thanks to everyone who has helped with the Fedora docs project. After a
slow start, I think we are steadily gaining momentum.
>From the Red Hat side, Karsten Wade has really stepped up and
demonstrated leadership potential. So much potential in fact, that I
have decided to turn over leadership of the project to him. Most
projects change leadership once a year or more, and I think this is a
great idea for our project as well. In the future, the project leader
will change on a yearly basis, if not sooner.
I will take more of a technical perspective, offering editing assistance
and programming skills should any of our custom DocBook scripts and
stylesheets need updating or modifications.
In the next few weeks, Karsten will put together a steering committee
for the Fedora docs. The committee will meet on a regular basis to
discuss tasks that need to be done to move the project forward. Expect
to hear more about it from him shortly.
Regards,
Tammy
19 years, 2 months
re:how to recruit writers
by samuel desseaux
I 've read this interessant message and would be happy to get involved
in the docs project.
I'm French,29,Linux user (and addict) since a long time. In my free
time, i like to contribute to free softwares projects (as developer or
translator,writer).
I am a Fedora user since last year and it's very wonderful (with my 64
bits,that's amazing ).That's for why i want to contribute to Fedora as
writer (and developer if i have enough time).It would be for me a very
good and learnful experience.
So,tell me what i can (or could) do.
Best regards
sam
19 years, 2 months
how to recruit writers
by Karsten Wade
We definitely need more writers and content. Here is a summary of my
recruiting spiel, and I encourage all of you to look for opportunities
to recruit new writers:
* When someone complains about the docs, ask if they are interesting in
helping to make them better.
* When someone posts any kind of doc, ask if they are interested in
making it a Fedora doc (such as Rahul just did on f-devel-l).
* When someone expresses a desire to help a particular project or just
open source in general, use the arguments below to see if they might
like being a doc writer.
Where to look:
* The LUG you are a member of and related technical groups (IEEE, SANS,
etc.)
* IRC and other help forums.
* Within existing upstream projects, e.g. GNOME, Samba, etc.
In the latter case, a person might be able to get a document into Fedora
that wouldn't fit or be accepted in an upstream project.
Here is a modified spiel I sent out recently. It's a bit long, but it
embodies all the ideas I've thought of. I've used this same kind of
content in IRC to recruit folks.
##
The Fedora Project is looking for more writers.
You don't need to be a great writer. That's why we have editors.
Look upon it as a chance to improve your writing skills while
contributing to the Fedora community.
If this intrigues you at all, please read on.
Maybe you've wanted to be involved with Fedora but don't know a way.
Or you want to expand your involvement. Consider writing or editing
for the Fedora Docs Project (FDP):
* Have closer contact with your favorite developers and projects.
* Become or further expand into being a subject matter expert for
your favorite topics.[1]
* Gain reputation within the community.
* Learn to be a better writer, editor, and technical reviewer.
What might you write about?
* Be the release notes subject expert.
* Installation or configuration of any software or hardware under
Fedora Core, including any of the sub-projects such as Fedora
Extras, Fedora Directory Server, and so forth.
* General or security best practices, even abstracted from the OS
but still relevant to Fedora Core.
* Whatever interests you.
What is there to worry about?
"The toolchain is hard."
If you don't know DocBook, it's definitely time for you to learn.
Meanwhile, project members have volunteered to help anyone get their
document converted into DocBook. From there, you can teach yourself
as you continue writing and maintaining.
We are using the Wiki at http://www.fedoraproject.org/ and remain
open to further toolchain/publishing considerations. Heck, if you
want to get fedoraproject.org to host a blog that to publish
tips-n-tricks, that would be a great Fedora documentation effort.
"The amount of content is a lot to write and maintain."
The FDP is geared to small how-to and tutorial documentation. If
you know your subject area, you can likely write a usable draft that
is 80% complete content within a few hours. Give it a try.
You can contribute to a larger guide, such as a chapter or even a
section. This is currently true for the release notes, and may be
how the Fedora Installation Guide is handled in the future.
If you are writing about what you know and alrady use, then the odds
are that you will be using it in the future and can easily maintain
a document on the subject. This is the difference between Fedora
docs and the kind of documentation that Red Hat Enterprise Linux
does: massive guides are hard to maintain, while small tutorials
and how-to docs can be practically painless to maintain.
"I hate writing."
We need technical editors, especially if more writers start joining.
We may need your help in an area you know about already, in terms of
the toolchain, automation, CVS management, project management and so
forth.
Since effective communication is a part of all of our lives, perhaps
this is an opportunity for you to get free editing and writing
advice. This is especially helpful for non-native writers who would
like to improve their English writing skills.
Interested? Drop a note to fedora-docs-list(a)redhat.com and tell us
whatever you want.
[1] To see what this has done for one Fedora wirter, google for
"selinux" and see the second full return. The Fedora SELinux FAQ has
a lot of googlejuice.
## 30 ##
^^^^^^^^ -- This is an old newspaper usage for "that's all, stop setting
type."
--
Karsten Wade, RHCE * Sr. Tech Writer * http://people.redhat.com/kwade/
gpg fingerprint: 2680 DBFD D968 3141 0115 5F1B D992 0E06 AD0E 0C41
Red Hat SELinux Guide
http://www.redhat.com/docs/manuals/enterprise/RHEL-4-Manual/selinux-guide/
19 years, 2 months
Re: fedora-list guidelines
by Rahul Sundaram
Hi
> > On the other hand, being a community born
> document, maybe the Wiki is
> > more appropriate, by giving it a more open
> character. On the weak
> > side, the Wiki would have less of an "official"
> impact.
>
is there any methods to convert wiki content into
docbook or would it have to be done manually. That
would affect the release notes too.
Regards
Rahul Sundaram
__________________________________
Yahoo! Messenger
Show us what our next emoticon should look like. Join the fun.
http://www.advision.webevents.yahoo.com/emoticontest
19 years, 2 months
re:how to recruit writers
by Rahul Sundaram
--- samuel desseaux <sam1975(a)wanadoo.fr> wrote:
>
> I 've read this interessant message and would be
> happy to get involved
> in the docs project.
> I'm French,29,Linux user (and addict) since a long
> time. In my free
> time, i like to contribute to free softwares
> projects (as developer or
> translator,writer).
> I am a Fedora user since last year and it's very
> wonderful (with my 64
> bits,that's amazing ).That's for why i want to
> contribute to Fedora as
> writer (and developer if i have enough time).It
> would be for me a very
> good and learnful experience.
> So,tell me what i can (or could) do.
> Best regards
> sam
>
welcome Sam. You can hangout in this list and grab
whatever oppurtunity comes up. Fedora documentation
project is in need of anyone and everyone interested
in this effort and that includes writers, editors,
translators and what not. so jump in
Regards
Rahul Sundaram
__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Personals - Better first dates. More second dates.
http://personals.yahoo.com
19 years, 2 months
Re: fedora-list guidelines
by Rahul Sundaram
--- Colin Charles <byte(a)aeon.com.my> wrote:
> On Thu, 2005-03-31 at 12:26 -0600, Gustavo Seabra
> wrote:
> > At the 'fedora-list' there has been a recent
> community effort to
> > formulate a document with the "guidelines" for
> posting to that list.
> > After a number of drafts and discussions, this
> document has reached a
> > more mature form, and has been put in the form of
> a web page:
> >
> > Original:
>
http://www-personal.ksu.edu/~seabra/linux/FedoraRules.html
> > Mirror:
> http://www.cwelug.org/fedora/FedoraRules.html
>
> Wow, as list admin even I didn't know of that ;-)
it has been rehashed again and again and again. I am
glad that someone finally managed to move it here
Regards
Rahul Sundaram
__________________________________
Yahoo! Messenger
Show us what our next emoticon should look like. Join the fun.
http://www.advision.webevents.yahoo.com/emoticontest
19 years, 2 months
re:how to recruit writers
by Rahul Sundaram
--- BEN CASEY <drcasey(a)yahoo.com> wrote:
> Hi Everyone,
>
> Regarding this thread... I signed up for the mailing
> list right when my job was
> terminated and I was laid off from SGI.
sorry to hear that. Hopefully you will get a great job
and land here back soon. Good luck
Regards
Rahul Sundaram
__________________________________
Yahoo! Messenger
Show us what our next emoticon should look like. Join the fun.
http://www.advision.webevents.yahoo.com/emoticontest
19 years, 2 months
