I
promised to summarize my recent experience as a doc newbie
and kickstart a barriers to entry thread, so here go’s!
My
Contributor Persona
Since
it reflects on my experience, here’s my background. I’m
new to Linux, Fedora, Docbook, and git. If I got any
newer, I’d still be in the eggshell :-)
I
do have XML documentation background so that made DocBook
less painful.
A
Baseline Example
I
started out in the Fedora QA area, mostly because it
seemed easier to contribute at the time. As a QA tester,
I could easily find a series of test cases and almost
exactly what I needed to do in each case to get pass or
fail on the test. These tests started out quite simple
(download the ISO and verify the size) and there were
enough basic tests that I could keep busy, mark things as
passed, or in the rare occassion, log a bug. (NOTE -
logging the bug was only easy because it was a variation
of an existing bug so I could just clone and edit).
The
parts of this experience that I think helped keep me
involved and motivated:
-
starting
bar was very low and simple, with instructions.
-
contribution
time could be as limited as 30 minutes and I’d have a
couple of tests done.
-
If
I started something but couldn’t finish, I wasn’t
holding anyone up (completely independent tasks).
-
Ability
to check something off as done on the test results
wiki, get some badges (yes, I’m that easily motivated
:-)
-
A
surprise callout thanks at the end of the project that
listed ..erm… I think the number of tests done.
Imagine a simplified leaderboard approach.
-
Could
build up my experience (ability to run more advanced
tests) at my own pace, while still contributing on the
tests I already knew how to run. And obvious
progression path existed.
-
No
real commitment - I just pop in when I can, run a few
tests, feel good, go back to the day job. I know I’m
not the only one running the tests, so if I can’t
contribute for a test cycle or three, I’m not holding
anything up.
My
Fedora Docs Experience
Now
we get to my shift over to docs. I poked at the doc
project wiki, and while the front page seems quite clear,
I stumbled off and on after that. I lurked a bit in irc,
then eventually introduced myself and got a few pointers
on what to learn (pointers to a git tutorial and docbook
etc). I floated around for some time after that and
didn’t really get involved until someone mentioned the
virtualization getting started guide needed work. Since I
was new to Fedora and all things Linux, I didn’t feel
confident to volunteer prior to this, but I’m having to
write about VMs in the day job so this seemed a good
logical extension (aka something I knew a little bit
about). After that, it was fits and starts and fubars
with git (some quite recent :-). I think I’ve got it down
now, but time will tell!
Fedora
Docs Barriers to Entry
After
that long-winded tale, here’s what I think the barriers
are, at least for someone with my experience:
-
No
simple way to come in, give an hour or two, and
disappear for a month.
-
“mentorship’
requires a live person and can be difficult to connect
to when first starting out.
-
Steep
learning curve for git and/or DocBook if you don’t
have prior knowledge.
-
Must
have technical knowledge of the subject matter.
-
Confusing
set of information on the doc projects wiki*
For
the doc projects wiki - I found different paths through
it, whether I was starting from the main docs project
page, or googling for information and landing on some
random page. I also didn’t find out about the
fedorapeople site until grundblom started using it (my
fellow traveller on the doc newbie path in the
virtualization getting started guide).
I
will also say it helped very much to have another new doc
contributor with me along the way.
Anyway,
that’s my tale for today!
Sandra
