________________________________
From: Jean Weber <jeanwe...@gmail.com>
To: "documentation@libreoffice.org" <documentation@libreoffice.org>
Sent: Fri, 29 April, 2011 22:41:33
Subject: Re: [libreoffice-documentation] Mallard vs Alfresco
On 30/04/2011, at 5:45 AM, Tom Davies <tomdavie...@yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
> Hi :)
> I have been worrying about there not being enough people doing the actual
> work
> in LibreOffice Documentation Team, particularly since finding that 2 of the
> hardest workers are in fact just 1 person!
>
> I was wondering about putting a call out to the Ubuntu Documentation Team to
>see
>
> if we could attract a couple of them over here? They have just been
> exploring
> different tools for writing documentation and settled on Mallard a few months
> ago. I don't think Alfresco came up in their discussions. Is Alfresco
> similar
>
> enough to Mallard to make transition easy for them if they join us/you? Now
> we
>
> have documentation about using Alfresco it should be easier for them and
> anyway
>
> Alfresco looks intuitive enough that they should be able to "get it" with
>gentle
>
> nudges?
>
> Would it be too cheeky to ask them? It would probably help them to work at
> documentation upstream, here. Their translation teams are often encouraged
> to
> work upstream but those teams don't seem to work closely with their
> documentation team but they might be familiar with the idea, maybe.
Another good potential source of members is the OOo docs team, who have the
advantage of being familiar with the base product. They may not want to make
the
switch from the ODFAuthors platform to Alfresco, but to me that's a trivial
difference of tools. If it's a show stopper for anyone, there are ways around
the problem. IMO, we should not let our choice of platform dictate who can
participate, if they are otherwise interested and capable.
Also, I strongly believe (based on positive experience with OOo docs) that
people who are not native English speakers can be extremely valuable members of
the English team. The only place where native speakers may have an advantage is
at the copy editing stage (which some incorrectly call proofreading). The
biggest lack IMO is people who can and will do reviews for content accuracy,
and
high English skills are not necessary for that work. IMO we should be
encouraging these people to participate, not discouraging them.
Lastly, we need more than just user guides, and not all of our docs needs are
best managed through Alfresco. For example, FAQs may be better managed on the
wiki, and in the past assistance had been requested for website text.
As for the Ubuntu docs people, I don't think it's cheeky to ask them.
Jean
Hi :)
Thanks. I might ask Ubuntu-Docs tomorrow although i have a feeling they might
not respond quickly anyway.
I thought ODFauthors was an alternative way that anyone could use to work on
our
documentation and that which-ever system was used it would be wise for people
to
say which docs they have worked on to keep the list informed? So, i have
assumed that OOo people could "get stuck in right away" and then gradually get
used to Alfresco at their own pace?
My own feeling about non-English people writing documentation largely concurs
with Jean's except that i think it's friendlier and perhaps sexier sometimes
when there is a hint of foreign, exotic lands. Even tho it seems to contradict
Jean's point I do also agree with someone else that said something about it
making it more difficult for later edits when people write in a language that
is
not their 1st. However there are many and frequent exceptions to that. I
think
the trick is to be more relaxed about those final edits and to sometimes let a
hint of 'foreign' magic slip through. Later revisions are likely to smooth
those out anyway.
Regards from
Tom :)
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