[OLPC library] Documentation Jam aka BookSprint

Greg Smith gregsmitholpc at gmail.com
Fri Aug 15 17:27:19 EDT 2008


Hi Ann,

Thanks for your reply and for the link. It looks like you have a solid 
plan in place.

Two comments:
1 - There will be a newer joyride build by the time you start week of 8/24.
You can check this page: http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Friends_in_testing 
for updates.
I suggest that you also send an e-mail to the devel at lists.laptop.org 
list next week and say you are doing this documentation and you need to 
know which image to use by [deadline]. I think Michael Stone (copied) 
should make the call on which is the best build for you to use.

2 - Please keep the release notes in mind when documenting: 
http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Release_Notes/8.2.0 You are welcome to update 
them and add to them as needed. The open bugs and resolved bugs are 
still in flux but the new feature should be mostly final now. If you can 
help ensure we have some documentation on each item that will be great. 
A brief blurb in the release notes and a link to the definitive 
documentation is my goal. I just need to be sure that both are accurate 
and useful (preferably for non-technical users).

I will be out all next week but back in the office by 8/25. Let me know 
if you need anything else and I'll try to be available during your doc 
week to help with anything that comes up.

Thanks a lot for your great work!

Greg S

> Date: Mon, 11 Aug 2008 12:19:10 -0500
> From: "Anne Gentle" <annegentle at gmail.com>
> Subject: [OLPC library] Documentation Jam aka BookSprint
> To: library at lists.laptop.org
> Message-ID:
> 	<798bb7f20808111019j26ba5a1esebacc090d401713e at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
> 
> Hi Greg -
> Excellent questions. I'll answer to the best of my knowledge, but we
> may want to schedule a meeting as has been suggested recently.
> 
> Based on our meeting a few weeks ago, the plan is to document 8.2 due
> to the UI changes and the tie-in to the G1G1 release. Please let us
> know if that is an incorrect assumption.
> 
> I have been putting chapter and outline framework together on FLOSS
> Manuals and have joyride-2253 installed, but request guidance for the
> best preparation for the XOs the writers will use. We plan to have an
> XO available for each writer. From the homepage, it looks like an
> effort is going towards 2263 so I can move to that one. I'd also like
> guidance on the Activity set to document as the "default set" as that
> gets finalized. I plan to prep the XO machines the week before the
> sprint with the help of Mikus.
> 
> Your commercial experience sounds like business as usual for technical
> publications and we can work in a similar manner for the BookSprint -
> in fact the wiki collaboration helps with communicating the latest
> information on releases and versions and many commercial projects are
> using wikis internally for this very aspect of software and hardware
> development. I think it'll work quite well.
> 
> The outline for the chapters for the documentation can be found here
> as well as details about the BookSprint:
> http://sugarlabs.org/go/DocumentationTeam
> 
> Please feel free to add information as you see fit, and thanks for
> using the Library list for your questions. We're happy to be
> integrated with the dev teams as much as possible.
> Thanks,
> Anne
> 
> 
>> Hi All,
>>
>> Can I get some more background on the plan for a documentation "jam" in
>> Austin?
>>
>> 1 - What XO version do you plan to document? See some choices here:
>> http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Releases
>>
>> I hope we can do some documenting on 8.2.0. If so, please see the draft,
>> pre-release release notes at: http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Release_Notes/8.2.0
>>
>> Instructions on downloading the latest alpha version is at:
>> http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Friends_in_testing
>>
>> 2 - Let me know what you need to document well and what features or
>> areas you plan to work on. In my commercial experience, I have worked
>> with writers who read the specifications, try the features where
>> possible and then exchange e-mail or talk to the engineers to review
>> docs or ask questions. I'm not sure if that methodogloy will work here
>> but it might. Let me know how you plan to do the work and what I can do
>> to help you prepare in advance.
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Greg Smith
>> OLPC Product Manager
>>
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Library mailing list
>> Library at lists.laptop.org
>> http://lists.laptop.org/listinfo/library
>>
>>
>> End of Library Digest, Vol 17, Issue 8
>> **************************************
>>
> 
> 
> ------------------------------
> 
> Message: 2
> Date: Mon, 11 Aug 2008 22:27:19 -0700
> From: Caryl Bigenho <cbigenho at hotmail.com>
> Subject: [OLPC library] Results of Support-Gang Brainstorming Session
> To: <library at lists.laptop.org>
> Message-ID: <BLU108-W12D1267137FC7500A8E70ACC700 at phx.gbl>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Hello Library-list subscribers,
> 
> Last week I invited the subscribers of the support-gang list to join me in a little brainstorming session. Seth suggested I share our work with the Library list. Here are the results of our little exercise.  Thanks to support-gangers Steve, Mel, and Seth who joined me in getting some really do-able ideas that can help make G1G1 2008 go more smoothly.  If you want to comment on any of these, please do.  If you want to help make them happen...please post a new message thread and ask for folks to join you in the project.
> 
> Caryl  OLPC Support-Gang Volunteer
> 
> Here are the results of our brainstorming session ......
>  *******************************************************************************
> Ideas for Recruiting and Training Volunteers
> 
> *Enlist the help of AARP volunteers
> 
> *Include something like AARP in some of the other countries if they exist
> 
> *Get volunteers from local XO interest groups
> 
> *Schedule and run, from now until G1G1 shipping starts, S-G training sessions every other week so we can induct a high number of new volunteers without hosing Adam. Have a standardized curriculum for such and train several veteran SG-ers to administer it.
> 
> * Have a centralized standard handbook for support volunteer training
> 
> 
> Ideas for Helping Folks Get Started
> 
> *Revive the "Getting Started" DVD idea some of us had many months ago
>     
> *Make it multi-lingual
> 
> *Make it available in many forms...DVD, flash drive, web site, built in to start when the on button is pushed.
>    
> *Have regional "getting started" parties
> 
> *Include the "Getting Help" contact information (help at laptop, forum, etc.) in the "About your XO" pop-up dialog.
> Also include it in the printed information that comes with the XO.
> 
> *Have a box of swag (shirts, hats, Sugar livecds, flash drives,
> keychains, etc.) that interested groups and people can purchase (at cost
> + shipping, or with a small profit margin if xoexplosion.com or similar
> was to coordinate this) as a "getting started" party set, similar to the
> kit they ship for SpreadFirefox.com.
> 
>   New Software Ideas for Getting Started:
> 
> * Include the "Getting Help" contact information (help at laptop, forum, etc.) in the "About your XO" pop-up dialog.
>    
> 1. create a set of API's in Squeak implementing an animated XO-Guy and associated behaviors like:
>    1.1 Hello,
>    1.2 Your Turn,
>    1.3 very good, I'm happy
>    1.4 type on the keyboard
>    1.5 rubbing the trackpad
>   
>    Also include interactivity API's so that the XO guy can not only
>    demonstrate "rubbing the trackpad up to make the pointer move up" but
>    also offer the user a chance to "rub the track pad up to make the
>    pointer move up", verify that the action took place, and re-run the
>    demonstration if it doesn't see the mimicked response it's expecting.
>   
>    2. use these API's to implement an animated 'Getting Started' guide
>    which can run in Etoys ON the XO. Segments of the animated getting
>    started guide would have the XO-Guy demonstrating such thing as:
>   
>    2.1 Most Basic Getting Started:
>    2.1.1 How to open the laptop,
>    2.1.2 how to turn-on the power,
>    2.1.3 where the track pad is and how to use it.
>    2.1.4 How to launch an activity.
>    2.1.5 How to use the Journal
>    2.1.6 How to safely shut down the XO
>   
>    2.2 An example Browse Session (separate animated examples for other
>  activities)
>    2.2.1 How to tell what the links are
>    2.2.2 How to click on a link
>    2.2.3 How to use media links for audio, video, etc.
>   
>    3. Make pre-rendered, non-interactive Flash versions of these animated
>    guides available on the web so people have already seen them long
>    before they get their XO.
> 
> Also include simple png/html options for people who don't have flash, or who have low-bandwidth connections.
> 
>    4. Make the Most Basic Getting Started animation launch automatically
>    the first time the XO is run, as well as a 'launch anytime' Activity.
> 
> Have a Getting Started activity whose sole purpose in life is to play that animation. Have its icon say (in english)"Getting Started," "Click Me First," or something equally obvious.
> 
>    5. Make the Activity-Specific animations run once the first time any activity is started (but also available from launch anytime')
> 
> Have a 'show documentation' along with a 'show source' key.
> 
> Have a way to include docs/tutorials with bundles in a way that both computers and humans can easily access.
> 
>    6. Include the *source* API's within eToys so that kids who who have seen the animations can immediately start modifying and creating their own. This not only draws them into the XO but also means later  versions of the Getting Started activities will contain community contributions.
>   
>    7. Avoid using any sort of language-dependencies within the animations (avoid spoken instructions, written words, etc) but instead use culturally universal gestures (smiles, arm gestures, etc) to convey meanings, so that no translation or internationalization is required. (we would still need to translate the API names, I suppose).
> 
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