Re: Setting up the Documentation Team

May I distribute this outside of the newsgroups as a way of seeking 
additional doc writers?

Garrett

Marcel van der Boom wrote:
> The Xaraya Project Management Committee (PMC) is looking for 4 to 5 
> individuals who would like to be part of our documentation team. In our 
> view, documentation is a very important part of the whole Xaraya suite, 
> so we want to have an enthusiastic team to take responsibility of the 
> effort to create world-class documentation.
> 
> The goal of the Xaraya Documentation Team is to provide the best 
> possible documentation for Xaraya users and system administrators to 
> enable them to make the installation, configuration, extension, 
> utilization, and maintenance of Xaraya sites as easy as possible. Xaraya 
> challenges existing conceptions of what a Content Management System 
> (CMS) can be by providing ground-breaking new concepts, ideas, and 
> opportunities.
> 
> What do we expect from members of the Xaraya Documentation Team?
> 
> Because Xaraya is radically different from existing CMS products, it is
> imperative that it is extremely well-documented. In order to maintain 
> the high quality of the Xaraya Documentation, the following guidelines 
> are in place for those interested in becoming documentation team members:
> 
> * You should bring strong writing skills and the ability to explain 
> complex technical processes in clear, easy-to-follow language. If you 
> are not a writer with a passion for explaining complex processes in 
> detail, this may not be the team for you.
> 
> * The Xaraya Documentation Team is one of several teams in the Xaraya
> project. We work separately but equally with the other Xaraya teams in a
> spirit of cooperation and information sharing, striving toward a common 
> goal of making Xaraya the best product in the market. Members of the 
> Xaraya Documentation Team may be asked to interact with members of the 
> Xaraya Development Team to receive 'skeleton' documentation from the 
> developers -- basic functionality that the Documentation Team will 
> explain and expand for end-users. Communication is generally done 
> through IRC, email, or instant messaging.
> 
> * Members of the documentation team will be divided first by Xaraya 
> interest area. Secondary division will be task-specific (peer reviewer, 
> editor, writer, etc.). What this means is that members will be assigned 
> tasks by Drew Vogel primarily on the member's interest area within 
> Xaraya. If there are areas within Xaraya that are not adequately 
> staffed, Drew Vogel may assign these areas to team members.
> 
> * The first priority for the Xaraya Documentation Team is to complete 
> the Official Xaraya Installation & Getting Started Guide, which is the 
> site administrator's guide to Xaraya. Secondary (possibly concurrent) 
> priorities include the Xaraya Module Development Guide, the Xaraya API 
> Guide, the Xaraya Contributor's Guide, and other documentation for those 
> interested in developing for Xaraya.
> 
> * When submissions are made, they will be reviewed by Drew Vogel, 
> members of the documentation team, and then sent to other Xaraya team 
> members (which may include Xaraya team members outside of the 
> documentation team).
> 
> * Many of the members of the Xaraya Development Team have been involved 
> with the project for years. We are looking for a similar level of 
> commitment from Documentation Team members.
> 
> * Names of persons submitting items for the Xaraya Documentation will be
> included in a CREDITS section in the documentation. If you do not wish 
> to be credited, please inform Drew Vogel.
> 
> * The primary forum for conducting documentation team meetings will be
> through IRC. Secondary methods will be email, the Xaraya documentation 
> list, forums, and instant messaging.
> 
> * There will be regular IRC meetings scheduled for documentation team
> members.
> 
> * The Xaraya Documentation is licensed and distributed under the GNU 
> Free Documentation License. Any contributions that are made to Xaraya's
> Documentation must be done under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation
> License.
> 
> * To ensure a unified voice in the Xaraya Documentation, submissions may 
> be edited by Drew Vogel.
> 
> * If you are submitting items that benefit from a screenshot, include 
> the screenshot with your submission.
> 
> * The Xaraya Documentation is written in English. Submissions must be in 
> English. The language in screenshots must be English. Screenshots must 
> use the Xaraya_Classic theme.
> 
> * Document submissions may be made in any common editable format: ASCII,
> ..doc files, RTF, etc.
> 
> * Document submissions can be made via email to [email protected] 
> Compress (ZIP, tar.gz, etc) submissions that have multiple files.
> 
> * Using XMLmind XML Editor Standard Edition 2.5 (or later), Drew Vogel 
> will convert submissions into the 'destination' format of the Xaraya
> Documentation, which is DocBook. Submissions in DocBook format, unless
> specifically requested by Drew Vogel, will not be accepted.
> 
> If you are interested in exploring membership on the Xaraya 
> Documentation Team, please contact Drew Vogel at [email protected] or the 
> Xaraya PMC through [email protected]
> 
> Please provide a brief biographical overview of yourself and your
> qualifications. A description of your qualifications can help us to 
> evaluate your ability to deliver the work we need.
> 
> If we have not worked with you before, we must see a sample of your 
> writing.
> Preferably, this will be a type of writing similar to documentation for
> computer software. The writing sample should be your writing -- not the
> partial work of an editor. If we aren't satisfied with the writing 
> sample you provide, we may ask you to write a few paragraphs explaining 
> a technical concept or illustrating a procedure. We are not necessarily 
> looking for prize-winning authors. Probably the single most important 
> requirements are for you to have a thorough understanding of what you 
> are writing about and to be able to explain it clearly.
> 
> 
> -andrew vogel
> Manager of Professional Programs
> University of Cincinnati College of Pharmacy
> 
> - marcel van der boom
> Xaraya PMC
>