Speaker:

FLOSS Manuals – Libre Graphics update&expand

FLOSS Manuals project was launched by Adam Hyde in 2007 to remedy the deficit of good free documentation about Free Software. Our strategy since the beginning has been to develop communities to produce high quality free manuals about Free Software in their own language. Today, through the use of Booksprints and federated publishing techniques we have more than 120 books in more than 30 languages and more than 4,000 contributors.

FLOSS Manuals is more than a collection of manuals about doing things with free and open source software, it is also the community. The contributors include designers, readers, writers, illustrators, free software fans, editors, artists, software developers, activists, and many others. Anyone can contribute to a manual – to fix a spelling mistake, add a more detailed explanation, write a new chapter, or start a whole new manual on a topic.

FLOSS Manuals now consists of 3 independent language communities (French, English, Finnish) supported by a Foundation based in Holland. Our current focus is to develop strong partnerships with grassroots educators to develop educational materials about free software.

This is a proposal for gathering all interested participants to discuss strategies for updating and expanding current Libre Graphics sesction of FLOSS Manuals in English language.

Larisa Blazic

Larisa Blazic, artist and lecturer, living in London, unionising data and organising post-graduate studies in FLOSS+art&design. Contributor to FLOSS Manuals, Libre Graphics and FLOSSIE communities and Software Sustainability Institute fellow. Founding member of Autonomous Tech Fetish (ATF) group, exploring how digital technology is fetishised and how we can respond – to defetishise it or refetishise into new forms, new configurations that serve our needs and desires. http://www.e-w-n-s.net