Re: Wikibooks & FLOSS Manuals

hello Wikibooks,

Many thanks to Brianna for the unexpected and very welcome
introduction :)

I have since subscribed to the list, and I'm going to get a coffee and
read through the archives.

> So I think they have different enough goals that there is enough space
> for both projects to coexist peacefully. :)
> 

I hope we can do more than coexist :) It would be great if we could see
how synergies and discourse might be formed to help each other.  Our aim
is to turn the world of free software into a well documented multiverse.
The more docs the better and the more approaches to documentation
writing and presentation the better. 

It would be an interesting discussion to articulate the differing
methodologies and work out what sort of docs fit better where. FLOSS
Manuals is a very structured book-like model using a structured wiki
(TWiki). This means we write as if for a book, with chapters, sections,
etc all as discrete documents. The 'chapters' (essentially a chapter is
1 html page) are also self contained (no internal linking) to enable
remixing of content (see http://www.flossmanuals.net/remix). We have
various tools and plugins we have developed to assist this methodology
including plugins to support drag and drop index generation (each manual
has an index on the left - see http://www.flossmanuals.net/audacity).,
and plugins for indexed pdf export, publishing manuals to static html
and etc

I would be very interested to hear from Wikimedians how they see this
kind of approach, how it differs from Wikibooks, and how these two
jigsaw puzzle pieces might fit together.

> They are a very new group, but have got one manual into working
> condition - for Audacity, the audio editing software.
> http://en.flossmanuals.net/audacity/ Adam brought a print copy along
> to Wikimania and I was really impressed by it. There is just something
> cool about having something *tangible* in your hands. Especially for
> people who do not take to technology like fish to water -- so probably
> unlike a good many Wikimedians.
> 

I write electronic documentation but I prefer reading from a book
anyday. Its easier to read and it gets me away from the screen (and I
can't remember the last time the battery ran out on a book while reading
it on a train ;). The FLOSS Manuals printed books (eg
http://www.flossmanuals.net#audacity) are aimed not only at those who
prefer a book, but those that do not have good (or any) online access
and wish to learn about free software. They are also intended to assist
teaching, as I think workshops (etc) fare better when supported by print
material.

> I was also impressed because I know a lot of Wikimedians use Audacity
> to create speech files for Wiktionary, or spoken articles for
> Wikipedia. (I don't know if there are any spoken books, but it could
> happen. :)) So it strikes me that there is good potential for
> collaboration here.

We are happy to support any endeavour to document free software to
assist Wikipedians. 

> BTW at the moment their license is GPL, but they are discussing what
> license to use on the mailing list. Also, as they have relatively few
> contributors for each book, I believe it would be quite easy to get
> relicensing permission for GFDL if one so desired.
> 

I think relicensing will not be a problem, I can ask individual authors
for this and I am sure they will agree to it. We are discussing a
process to make this easier, such as keeping the content in GPL but
making a site-wide provision stating material can be redistributed in
GFDL and some CC licenses. Its in discussion at the moment on the list
(http://lists.flossmanuals.net/listinfo.cgi/discuss-flossmanuals.net).

> Anyway I just thought I would let you guys know about this group, if
> you didn't already, and  maybe think about some interesting ways we
> could collaborate with them. I would be interested to hear what people
> think.
> 

I'm also interested to hear any comments about how we might be able to
work together.

:)

adam

> cheers,
> Brianna
> user:pfctdayelise
> 
> 
-- 


adam hyde
floss manuals

free manuals for free software
http://www.flossmanuals.net

mobile : + 31 6 154 22770 (Netherlands mobile)
email : [email protected]