OpenWeek Session

[Matthew East]

On Fri, Apr 10, 2009 at 5:16 PM, Emma Jane Hogbin <emmajane at ubuntu.com> wrote:
>> On Fri, Apr 10, 2009 at 4:11 PM, Emma Jane Hogbin <emmajane at ubuntu.com> wrote:
> range topics quickly, YAY us! But let's be careful to 1. give these
> topics the respect they are due in terms of complexity

I wasn't underestimating the topics. I know full well that it is
possible to give a week long course on docbook. I had just imagined a
different level of detail for the session. That's why I suggested you
were reading too much into what I've said, it was just a difference in
concept. Anyway, I'm glad we've compromised on a timetable, and I
think it looks good.

> and 2. make sure
> that no one ever thinks that our tool chain is trivial. If it were
> trivial we'd be tripping over all the new contributors submitting
> nightly patches. ;)

Actually, I don't agree. There is no single and overriding reason why
people don't contribute. Other factors like time, lack of awareness of
the project, lack of proper guidance, lack of encouragement, etc etc
are relevant. It depends on the person. For example, plenty of people
have the knowledge to contribute, but don't; and lots of people have
not much experience, and do. Personally, I think lack of publicity
about the team and the tasks is *probably* the main reason we don't
get as many contributors as we should. Tools are a factor, and lack of
organisation is another factor. No doubt there are others still.

In fact, I think it can often be the other way around to the way
you've put it. People can be *discouraged* from contributing if they
think that the tool chain is too hard. The reality is that submitting
a patch to fix a typo in our documentation *doesn't* require any
serious knowledge of docbook, and that once the person has gained the
confidence of doing that, they will quickly learn how to write docbook
through reading the material that is already there, and by asking
questions when they hit a problem. I'm aware that you don't agree with
this, that's fine - people can disagree; but this is based on my
experience with seeing people joining the team and working with them
over 4 years. And as I said on another thread, people can make very
valuable contributions to the team and even to the system
documentation without even touching any docbook.

Of course, that's not to say that the OpenWeek sessions won't be
useful - quite the opposite! Hopefully, they will fast track people to
a stage where they can contribute straight away. However, one of the
focuses I'd like to see during our OpenWeek slots is an emphasis on
giving people the *confidence* that they can make valuable
contributions to this team without reading the "Docbook: The
Definitive Guide" from cover to cover and without having a degree in
technical writing or translation. We don't require a qualification in
professional writing in this team.

>> Ok, so here is an amended timetable. I've assumed that the bazaar and
>> docbook sessions will be focused on the ubuntu-doc project, but people
>> feel that more general sessions are helpful, then they could still
>> work with the same timetable. For bazaar, maybe a general session on
>> bazaar would be more helpful than focusing on the ubuntu-doc branches
>> only.
>>
>> 1. The Docs Team: overview of wiki, system documentation, bugs, mailing
>> list and intro to the tool chain
>> 2. The wiki: our lowest hanging fruit, learn how to contribute here first
>> 3. Getting the system docs - bazaar
>> 4. Working with the system docs - docbook
>> 5. Translating the system docs
>
> This looks fine.

Good, so we're settled on the timetable. I'll contact BenCrisford for
the Games session and see if he can do another time so that we can run
the sessions back to back.

> I'm fine taking on Bazaar and DocBook (both are partially recycled
> presentations for me). If someone else wants to take over my material to
> deliver either, please let me know!!

Great, I'll help out with #3 where I can - if only to explain the
structure of our branches and the Launchpad layout for them, leaving
the bzr spadework to you :) Delighted if you're up for #4.

> Adi: does this fit into your translation presentation idea?
>
> What about the Wiki space? It's only been an hour or so since I first
> made the offer to help with this presentation. I'm confident we'll find
> someone to help out between now and OpenWeek. :) Please ping me if
> you're that person.

I can probably try and get home early on that day if Connor or someone
else isn't available, let's see how it goes.

-- 
Matthew East
http://www.mdke.org
gnupg pub 1024D/0E6B06FF