Just a thought about documentation
One problem with developers writing their own documentation is that the developer never experienced learning the program. One of the problems with almost all free software is that the documentation could be a lot better.
There are also many schools out there that have courses for people who want to become technical writers. People who's job it will someday be to do software documentation. So it occurs to me that if technical writing colleges hooked up with free software projects and assigned documenting free software - such as Mailnan to students - that it would be beneficial for both worlds.
My two centz ....
"MP" == Marc Perkel marc@perkel.com writes:
MP> One problem with developers writing their own documentation is
MP> that the developer never experienced learning the program. One
MP> of the problems with almost all free software is that the
MP> documentation could be a lot better.
True!
MP> There are also many schools out there that have courses for
MP> people who want to become technical writers. People who's job
MP> it will someday be to do software documentation. So it occurs
MP> to me that if technical writing colleges hooked up with free
MP> software projects and assigned documenting free software -
MP> such as Mailnan to students - that it would be beneficial for
MP> both worlds.
Wow, Marc, that's an excellent idea. Do you have any contacts and/or could you facilitate this?
-Barry
I'm glad you like the idea Barry. No - I don't have any contacts. But someone else might have contacts.
My idea in creating documentation is that the student or perhaps a small group of student would work with developers who would make sure that the new information was accurate. Also - as part of the project the sudents would find end users - maybe a Linux users group and give them the docs and software and watch them learn and configure Mailman from the documentation and record their voice comments so as to learn what is confusing about the documentation.
After completing the course - the fact that they did this software documentation project becomes part of their job resume and might create an ongoing relationship between the student and the developers. And free software would greatly benefit.
Barry A. Warsaw wrote:
"MP" == Marc Perkel marc@perkel.com writes:
MP> One problem with developers writing their own documentation is MP> that the developer never experienced learning the program. One MP> of the problems with almost all free software is that the MP> documentation could be a lot better.
True!
MP> There are also many schools out there that have courses for MP> people who want to become technical writers. People who's job MP> it will someday be to do software documentation. So it occurs MP> to me that if technical writing colleges hooked up with free MP> software projects and assigned documenting free software - MP> such as Mailnan to students - that it would be beneficial for MP> both worlds.
Wow, Marc, that's an excellent idea. Do you have any contacts and/or could you facilitate this?
-Barry
Mailman-Developers mailing list Mailman-Developers@python.org http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/mailman-developers
ok... I did google and couldn't find any info about this....
Can I edit/re-write the archive pages to match the look/feel of the rest of my site?
anyone? bueller?
g
participants (3)
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barry@python.org
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greg steele
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Marc Perkel