The Drupal masses of these fine cities have spoken, and apparently we want to do a documentation sprint! I hoping we can make this happen in the next couple months. A documentation sprint doesn't have to be fancy (but the documentation can be).
What is a Documentation Sprint?
A documentation sprint can encompass many distinct activities, but it is all about improving the Handbooks section of Drupal.org. This can encompass many things:
- Read-through reviews: great for newbies to learn and help at the same time
- Copy-editing: good old-fashioned text cleanup
- Adding screenshots: find places where images would help and get them added to the page
- Rolling comments: adding information from comments back into the parent page
- Reviewing incomplete pages: fill out incomplete/stub pages
- Code review: check for standards compliance and security on code samples
- Testing: for both code and tutorials/howtos - do they actually work?
- Version upgrades: tutorials, admin UI pages, as well as code
- Issue queue maintenance: see if issues are still valid, review drafts, mark duplicates, etc.
- Code for docs-related contrib modules (e.g. book access, term message, API modules, etc.)
- Work on core patches that effect documentation
Some helpful links and examples:
- http://drupal.org/node/424194 - Add1sun is working on this currently, so it should become even more helpful soon. It aims to be instructions on how do a documentation sprint. We should help this document specifically as we go through this process.
- http://groups.drupal.org/node/16174
- http://dc2009.drupalcon.org/session/documentation-sprint
- http://www.grandjunctiondesign.com/news/2009-03-18_doc_sprint_success
- http://drupal.org/node/394806
What do WE want to do?
We can narrow our focus, as well. Comment on this post to what you want to do at the documentation sprint!
Where?
I am pretty sure we want to do this in a physical place in the Twin Cities; the whole community thing. So, we need a place that has the following. It can be someone's house or office or (that knows we are coming and has great internet).
- Can fit a dozen people in a collaborative manner (12 is just a wild estimate)
- Good power options; power strips
- Good internet access. We can't really do much of this work locally.
- We can be there for an extended Saturday morning/afternoon
Please comment to this post or contact me, if you know of a place or can offer a place.
When?
This a tough one. trying to get a bunch of people together on a Saturday is difficult. Especially as the weather gets nicer. So, I have put together a Doodle to help us schedule. (Yes, I know its not Drupal; Drupal is not the only answer.)
http://doodle.com/f8y7imdxqxrhgwug
So, let us know what works for you. Please be honest and go fill it out now! Right now!
Help Me?
This is a fairly straightforward event, but I don't necessarily have the bandwidth to do all the organizing on this. Please feel free to take your ideas and run with it. It's all about open source and creating collaboratively.
Some Bling?
If we want to be ambitious, we could do the following:
- Get sponsorship for some food or drinks.
- Other ideas?
Comments
The things that I would be
The things that I would be most interested in working on are code related items, and things that help lower the barrier to accessing and becoming involved with the Drupal community. For example documenting ways that non-programmers can get involved in the Drupal community.
I like the idea of having some kind of to-do list going into the sprint. Certainly not an exhaustive list, and not telling people that if they want to work on something else, well to bad. But something that allows us to see the progress that we've made both as we do the sprint and as an end result.
Finally, in the Doodle linked above, I said I could participate the 6th or 13th of June. That's a lie. I can't.
Goals are good
I definitely agree that we should have some goals and outline of what is meant to be accomplished. But should not be disappointed if none of it gets done, either.
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zzolo.org
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Addison Berry on Doc Sprints
Addison Berry (add1sun on Drupal) is the maintainer of Drupal documentation. She has led documentation sprints at Drupalcons and other Drupal camps. She is also the recipient of a Knight grant to sponsor sprints.
Okay, why I'm saying all this is there is a newly posted audio interview with Addison about sprints. Haven't listened yet but she says it includes info about contacting her to help with local sprints. We ought to let her know about our intentions (if you haven't already zzolo). Here is link to her site which links to the interview:
http://rocktreesky.com/interview-about-doc-sprints
(p.s. this popped up on http://www.drupal.org/planet an aggregation of Drupal posts from around the world-- a worthwhile regular read if you aren't already aware of this service...)
Barry Madore
Advantage Labs, Inc.
Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN
Barry Madore
Triplo
Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN
Good Point
Thanks Barry. I will take a listen when I have a free moment.
I have actually talked with add1sun a bit. She pointed me to the documentation page about sprints that she is currently working on. I also asked her if she was interested in attending, but since we don't have a date yet, and she said she will probably be out of town most of our intended time, I don't think she can make it. But she may be able to attend virtually (via IRC). Nonetheless, she is really great and helpful, and I encourage other people to contact her and ask her about documentation and documentation sprints and our documentation sprint.
And yes, Drupal Planet is great and will help you get in tune with the amazing world of Drupal.
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zzolo
zzolo.org
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I am in
I have marked the doodle schedule. My wife works every other weekend so those are the days I marked. If another day is better I can probably do it as well.