FLOSS Manuals: A Vibrant Community for Documentation Development

Started in 2005, FLOSS Manuals has been the locus for over 40 volunteer-produced books and ties together a worldwide community of over 1,000 people who care about free software and free documentation. This presentation describes the value of FLOSS Manuals, its development processes and leadership style, and its strengths and weaknesses as seen from its key organizers. Although I'm currently listing it as a lecture, if it is accepted, I will encourage other FLOSS Manuals volunteers to attend and try to turn it into a panel.

Like all community-based projects, the success of FLOSS Manuals cannot be attributed to any single facet. Its technology is not whiz-bang, but focuses on staying supple and on always evolving. The site offers "good enough" tools for authoring, coordination, remixing, and printing. Leadership remains loose and the impetus for projects come from community members, new and old alike.

The FLOSS Manuals site offers books in two stages: an open wiki that anyone can contribute to, and a more controlled stable site for versions vetted by the projects responsible for the books' production and maintenance. Many books are produced through an innovative process called a book sprint, which is refined with each project and documented in a FLOSS Manuals book of its own. The community also stresses translation projects and offers support to people setting up sites for translations and books in other languages.