2010 Talks:

Benefiting From the Skills of Non-programmers

Presented by: Janet Swisher and David Cramer

Open source software depends on involvement of communities that include not only programmers but also users of the software, with varying backgrounds. This talk highlights the ways that non-programmers can participate in creating and enhancing open source software. Options for user participation fall on a range of knowledge and commitment, from asking and answering user questions, to submitting and commenting on bug reports and feature requests, to writing, editing, or translating documentation, to designing websites and UIs, to planning and executing marketing efforts. This presentation suggests strategies for open source developers in engaging with less-technical community members and seeking out those with skill sets needed by a project.

Janet Swisher is a technical writer who has worked for various high tech companies in Austin. She has contributed to documentation for OpenOffice.org and Enthought Tool Suite (Python libraries), as well participating in a number of FLOSS Manuals book sprints, including One Laptop Per Child, Firefox, and How to Bypass Internet Censorship. She blogs about technical documentation, open source software, and related topics at http://www.janetswisher.com

David Cramer has been a technical writer and tools developer for the technical publications group at Motive Inc., an Alcatel-Lucent company, in Austin since 2000. He has been a member of the DocBook Open Repository project since 2002. He has implemented DITA and DocBook based solutions for companies in Austin and prefers to use FOSS to solve his problems whenever he can.