Re: Writing for the Open Source Community

[jenny_berger -at- fairfieldresidential -dot- com]

I wouldn't say that there's a living in it, per se, unless you write for a 
company that's trying to sell their distibution of Open Source software 
(Red Hat for example). But as far as establishing ability, expertise 
(i.e., street cred), it's a great vehicle. It's even better if you 
subscribe to the spirit of Open Source and just want to make a meaningful 
contribution -- a donation is a donation, whether in time or money, right?

Perhaps tech writers who've been around awhile (maybe for much longer than 
the 6 years I've been in it) wouldn't feel the "need" to do the Open 
Source thing, but to say that only writers who love writing procedures in 
their free time is giving short shrift to the opportunity that Open Source 
provides. It may not pay in money, but it often pays in solidifying one's 
*conceptual* knowledge of an application, or the field the application is 
trying to serve. It can also be a nice change of pace for a tech writer 
who has produced docs for beginning or intermediate users. 

Finally, I'd add this: I hear tech writers on this list and in my 
immediate vicinity whine about how manuals suck, how no one will read them 
at gunpoint, and how tech writers get no respect, etc. Why not use the 
Open Source movement to actually do something about it? Pick a project and 
write a good manual for it. Who knows -- if you mention it on your resume, 
you might get some good conversation out of it and maybe some leads.

FWIW,

Jenny Berger
Technical Writer
Information Systems
Fairfield Residential





eric -dot- dunn -at- ca -dot- transport -dot- bombardier -dot- com
Sent by: bounce-techwr-l-115343 -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
02/19/2003 01:02 PM
Please respond to eric.dunn

 
        To:     "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
        cc: 
        Subject:        Writing for the Open Source Community





Call me thick, but besides creating portfolio pieces, why bother looking 
into
open source as a writer? Sure there are hundreds of poorly documented
open-source projects out there, but I for one would like to get paid for 
my time
and energy. Good Karma is NOT going to pay the mortgage.

Is there a market of people willing to pay for good documentation for open
source software? Or, is it much like the open source movement as a whole? 
It's
great to have 'free' and 'open' software, but there has to be a pocket 
book
paying for it somewhere. Is there a living to be made at it or is it a 
domain
for those that love writing procedures so much that they'll do it after 
hours on
their own time (or heaven forbid steal the time from their real employer).

Eric L. Dunn







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