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By David Rothman

Nope, this FLOSS hasn’t anything to do with dental hygiene. Rather FLOSS can stand for Free/Librie/Open Source Software.

The bane of FLOSS software for nontechies can be the difficulty in learning it. But what if good, free, editable manuals—both online and in print—can smooth the way? That’s the goal of an outfit called FLOSS Manuals, which has been working to get volunteer manual-writing movement going. The video is from a FLOSS conference.

In a joint effort with the Free Software Foundation, FLOSS Manuals is holding "our first joint book project on the weekend of March 21-22 in Cambridge, Massachusetts." Are you good at technical writing or related copy editing or proofing? Here’s a chance to help if you’re within traveling distance.

Thanks to Andy Oram of O’Reilly for pointing me to the video. Ahead I’ll reproduce a press release that Greg Freed, a writing and publicity consultant, passed on to me about the March 21-22 efforts. Questions? Or want to let people know you’re coming? Write not Andy or Greg but rather membership@fsf.org.

The Free Software Foundation and FLOSS Manuals are joining forces to provide documentation that is open to all for reading, editing, printing, and redistribution. Books produced through this collaboration will cover the use of free and open source software, and will be available both online and as print books.

Invitation to join first "book sprint"
————————————–

We’re looking for people to help us create our first joint book project on the weekend of March 21-22 in Cambridge, Mass. The subject is:

   An introduction to the command line

Reason for this book: graphical desktop interfaces have opened the power of computing to millions of people, but many would benefit from
knowing how to enter text commands and are intimidated by the knowledge required. But it takes only a few minutes to learn commands
that can save hours of time, and a couple hours of study will open up the world of automating computer operations through scripts and other
tools.

There is a lot of documentation on the Unix/GNU/Linux command line, but we intend to write a new book on the topic that is friendly and
fun to use. We need a range of volunteers to help us:

* Knowledgeable command-line users (particularly the Bash shell) with
   a talent for writing

* Other writers and editors to review chapters and suggest changes

* People who want to learn the material, for testing and review

Logistics
———

We will meet at the Harvard Science Center:

   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard_Science_Center

We have space there from 9:30 AM to 5:30 PM, Saturday and Sunday, March 21-22.

Please bring a laptop and drop in at any times that are convenient for you. Even 45 minutes may be helpful.

IMPORTANT: If you plan to come, send email to one of the following Free Software Foundation staff and ask them to put you on the list for
the book sprint:

   Deb Nicholson <deborah@fsf.org>
   Matt Lee <mattl@fsf.org>

This is because the Free Software Foundation is holding a for-pay conference in the same area and cannot let in unregistered people.

Getting there
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The Harvard Science Center is about one block from the Havard subway stop. From the stop or the kiosk in Harvard Square, walk north along
the wall next to Harvard Yard. Follow the wall to the right. Turn left to cross over the road. The science center is a modern-looking
building ahead of you.

Surrounding streets have parking meters, and meters are free on Sunday, but in Harvard Square you can never be certain of finding a
space.

Content
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A preliminary outline is here:

   http://en.flossmanuals.net/bin/view/WhatIs/OutlineForTheCommandLine  

In keeping with how we’re running the project, the outline can be edited (you just need to sign up on the FLOSS Manuals site) and will
probably change during the writing of the book.

If you’d like to start writing beforehand, sign up at FLOSS Manuals and edit here:

   http://en.flossmanuals.net/bin/view/CommandLineIntro

A few details
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The manual will be available online for free immediately after completion, and will be for sale in book form from the FSF web site
(<http://shop.fsf.org>). All proceeds from the sales of the book will go towards a second event to create another great book for free
software.

All material will be available under the GPL and GFDL license.

Links
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Free Software Foundation:

   http://fsf.org/

FLOSS Manuals:

   http://www.flossmanuals.net/about

LibrePlanet conference (next door to the book sprint)

   http://groups.fsf.org/index.php/LibrePlanet2009

About book sprints:

   http://www.booksprint.info

For more information:

    Adam Hyde at <adam@flossmanuals.net>

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