Re: [Textbook-l] 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. 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. 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. We are happy to support any endeavour to document free software to assist Wikipedians. 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). I'm also interested to hear any comments about how we might be able to work together. :) adam -- adam hyde floss manuals free manuals for free software http://www.flossmanuals.net mobile : + 31 6 154 22770 (Netherlands mobile) email : adam(a)flossmanuals.net