OpenHelp Conference ideas

[Peter Matulis]

On 09/22/2015 08:45 PM, Ted Cox wrote:
> I've come up with a few ideas for presenting at OpenHelp. Which do you
> think would be most interesting to a gathering of documentation writers?
> 
> - Using Vim to edit documentation
> - How the Ubuntu Documentation Team encourages the community to
> contribute: A look at how we get people involved with our docs through
> Launchpad, the mailing lists, wiki, and training classes
> - The Ubuntu Server Guide bug report work flow: How bugs get corrected
> with Launchpad and bzr
> 
> I'm still open to other presentation ideas, too.
> 

I don't think this is a "presentation" but perhaps a "discussion":

What role documentation format plays in terms of influencing
contributions. For instance, whether DocBook XML (Ubuntu Server),
Mallard XML (Ubuntu and Xubuntu), and a form of Markdown have negative
or positive influences.

Another factor that plays a role in levels of contribution and
administrative help is process. That is, what degree of process
formality is the sweet spot for cultivating a thriving
contribution/writing community while still maintaining enough rigour to
produce quality documentation. I think it can be assumed, and if not
then discuss this too, that participation decreases as formalities and
hoops increase. For instance, Ubuntu, Xubuntu, and Ubuntu Server use a
formal process via Launchpad that involve quite a few things: version
control concepts, CLI tools, merge proposals, reviews, complex
publication procedures involving multiple "code" branches, maintaining
multiple releases, maintaining multiple languages, "string freezes".

pM