very interesting idea to write the manual first :)
with UpStage, we are waiting for the release of a majorly altered &
enhanced media management system, & as this means rewriting half the
manual i thought, this is a good time to transfer the manual to
flossmanuals; so i started it, then i stopped because the students who
are doing the coding are behind schedule. however, now i think i might
just go ahead & write it anyway (with others hopefully contributing) &
point the students to it to to get them inspired & also perhaps pre-empt
some things that might have needed to be changed later.
h : )
On 21/02/11 7:30 AM, Christopher Adams wrote:
Mushon,
That is a really fine and provocative suggestion on your part—to write
about software that does not exist but should. It seeks the excluded
middle between the Floss Manuals which are too perfunctory on the one
hand and too presumptuous on the other /(An Open Web,/ which I also
worked on, being a species of the latter).
LGM would be a great opportunity to see these possibilities played out.
- Christopher
———
christopher adams
86 186 1172 0021
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chris.raysend.com <http://chris.raysend.com>
On Mon, Feb 21, 2011 at 1:41 PM, [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
<[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
I totally agree Mushon. Totally. Manuals are dead. Atrophied. Even
worse when they get printed.
Yes, totally, make future manuals, then fill in the blanks to them.
That is totally the approach I took in participating in the open
web book:
http://openweb.flossmanuals.net/
There is a book sprint in Toronto by adam on the web from the 7 -
12...should talk with adam to see if possible to do one at LGM before
or after.
So what would the future manual look like? Ideas for that?
Jon
On Sun, Feb 20, 2011 at 11:30 PM, Mushon Zer-Aviv
<[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
>
>
> On Feb 21, 2011, at 4:17, Gregory Pittman <[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
>
> All fodder for discussion at LGM. Certainly we need to get out
of the dark
> ages of documentation as an afterthought.
>
> Greg
>
> This is actually a huge issue I recently discussed with Adam
Hyde of Floss
> Manuals. FM was initially established to address a blind-spot
for Floss —
> documentation. It developed the book sprint documentation
methodology which
> I am sure you guys are familiar with.
> Last year I participated in "Collaborative Futures" the first
book initiated
> by FM that was not documenting a procedure but describing the
past, present
> and future of open networked collaboration. It was much much
harder, but
> there was something there that really clicked. And after a
second sprint on
> the book I actually think it's a quite recommended read. (and it
is always
> available for further editing)
> What I proposed to Adam is that FM could start experimenting in
writing
> manuals for software that was not developed yet. Basically
asking "how would
> we like it to work?" before we say "this is how do you need to
use it." This
> would actually be addressing another blind-spot for Floss which is
> strategy.
> I know Adam is really excited about this idea and maybe LGM
could be the
> first place to try it out. Do consider it would probably not
work the first
> time and would need some iterations but it could be a much needed
> intervention into a process that we all agree needs some
challenging.
> The infrequent lurker,
> Mushon Zer-Aviv
> Mushon.com | Shual.com | @Mushon
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