Hi everyone,
My name is Gabriel Gurley and I have been a higher education
instructor and administrator for nearly 8 years. I wanted to contact
the group regarding a project idea I have in mind that may be of
assistance to the Documentation project. Before I mention my idea, I
would like to give you a brief history of prior work I have created
related to OpenOffice.org.
A couple of years ago, my OpenOffice.org 2 training guide specifically
for use in an educational and corporate training environment was
published. The book, titled "A Conceptual Guide to OpenOffice.org 2
for Windows and Linux", has been released under the Creative
Commons-ShareAlike 3.0 and GNU Free Documentation licenses. It is a
280-page book to help users and educators learn to use the office
productivity suite. All of the documentation was written by myself,
and the lessons found in the book were written with end-users,
students and teachers in mind. In accordance with the CC and GNU
licenses, I have made the book's text available as a free download at
my website (www.gabrielgurley.com) and paperback copies are available
for schools or individuals who desire having printed documentation.
Moreover, a couple of months ago I released an online distance
learning package based upon the book for use with Moodle. Upon
release of the package, I gave a copy to Ian Lynch, an OpenOffice.org
contributor and project lead for INGOTs (www.theingots.org), to make
freely available for use on the INGOTs Moodle site
(http://theingots.org/moodle/course/category.php?id=3). Ian and I are
encouraging INGOTs students, as well as the community in general, to
freely make adaptations of the module and make language translations
of the package if there is an interest to do so.
For the past two years, my goal has been to develop a comprehensive,
quality training package for OpenOffice.org that educators and
corporate trainers can utilize for end-user instructional purposes. I
have distributed the printed editions of the book through Lulu and
various book distributors, and have utilized the proceeds from the
sale of the book to provide evaluation copies to educators who inquire
about the book, as well as to purchase requisite hardware/software for
creating the press-ready files necessary for making printed copies
available.
My desire is to not only make the training materials free (as in cost
and in terms of licensing), but also to take the feedback I have
received to improve the guide. Moreover, I would like to make another
idea I have had for some time become a reality (if you all feel that
there is a great need for such); creating a series of podcasts /
videos that coincide with the training guide and distance learning
package to create a complete training package. The project idea I
have is as follows:
- utilizing the documentation I have created for OpenOffice.org 2,
make updates / improvements and release a second, press-ready edition
based upon the upcoming release of OpenOffice.org 3. The training
guide would be made available in a high-resolution, press-ready,
bookmarked PDF file where users could utilize it as either an eBook or
upload it to Lulu and other print-on-demand publishing services to
make low-cost printed copies.
- utilizing the documentation and feedback I have received from the
release of the OpenOffice.org 2 Moodle training package, make updates
/ improvements and release a second edition of the package based upon
the release of OpenOffice.org 3. The package would be made available
as a Moodle ZIP compressed file for easy installation onto a Moodle
server.
- to coincide with the printed documentation and Moodle course
package, develop a series of video podcasts (approximately 5-8 minutes
in length for each segment) that coincide with the hands-on lessons
presented in the press-ready documentation and Moodle course package.
The individual podcasts / video segments will be made available in the
.mp4 format for either download via the OpenOffice.org website or, if
desired, make available via iTunes U. The individual video segments
would also be combined into a single, unencrypted ISO-9660 file for
download, where educators and trainers anywhere in the world can burn
a copy onto a blank DVD for use with a conventional DVD player.
- release all documentation under the appropriate licenses and make
available on the OpenOffice.org Documentation site.
I wanted to get your feedback regarding this project idea and see if
it would be of benefit to the OpenOffice.org Documentation project.
I want to thank everyone for all of the work you are putting into the
Documentation project. I look forward to hearing from you regarding
whether this project idea is needed and of interest to the
Documentation project.
Best regards,
Gabriel Gurley
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