Ubuntu Manual Project Meeting Minutes of March 31, 2012 #ubuntu-manual on irc.freenode.net
##Attendees The following people attended the meeting: * benonsoftware * c7p * carsten * daker * godbyk * hannie * tomswartz07 * ajmontag ### Call to order godbyk opened the meeting at 20:09 UTC. ### Release of Getting Started with Ubuntu 11.10 Getting Started with Ubuntu 11.10 was released earlier this week. Congratulations and many thanks to all those helped make it possible. Diksha Gupta of EFYTimes.com wrote a short article about the release: <http://news.efytimes.com/e1/80966/Here-Comes-Ubuntu-Manual> Problems we faced during the Oneiric cycle The collection of screenshots was one of the major hold-ups in the release of the 11.10 manual. Many screenshots were taken at the wrong resolution. A few screenshots were simply missing – that is, they were included in the manual (\screenshot{...}) but not uploaded to the repository. [ACTION] To help alleviate these problems in the future, we will provide clear instructions on how to take the screenshots and insert them in the manual. The chapter author and editor are responsible for the screenshots that appear in their chapter. These instructions should appear in the style guide. [ACTION] Explicitly spell out the duties of the chapter author and editor so they know what their responsibilities are. Reviewing/proofreading also took too long. One positive note, however, is that the authors performed well and didn't abandon us. Hannie proposed a possible solution: have two people in charge of each chapter: an author and an editor. Both people report to the editor-in-chief on a regular basis. The author and editor of each chapter is responsible for collecting the screenshots used in that chapter. tomswartz07 mentioned that reading through the chapter and figuring out what had changed with the new version of Ubuntu was one of the more difficult tasks the author faces. [ACTION] Hannie will email the authors to assess what problems they encountered during the previous release cycle. ### Collecting list of changes between 11.10 and 12.04 [ACTION] The authors will be responsible for determining what needs to be updated from 11.10 to 12.04. ### Clarify responsibilities of the various roles (authors, editors, etc.) Authors are responsible for the screenshots in their own chapter. They are also repsonsible for determining what needs to be updated in their chapter. The chapter editors are responsible for copy-editing their chapters. The editor-in-chief is responsible for coordinating with the chapter authors and editors, keeping everyone on task, and maintaining the schedule. The editor-in-chief is also who makes the final call on when the manual gets published. [ACTION] Provide clearer lists of responsibilities and guidance for each of these roles. [ACTION] godbyk will create a draft list of responsibilities for each of the roles and post it to the mailing list for feedback. ### Format of the next version of the manual godbyk looked at Booktype <http://www.sourcefabric.org/en/booktype/> and converted the prologue chapter from LaTeX to Booktype's online editor. Booktype's design appears to be geared toward generated ePUB primarily, and so it doesn't support all of the elements of our current manual (e.g., margin notes). If you'd like to view the prologue in ePUB format and play with their online editor, create an account on <http://booktype-demo.sourcefabric.org/> and email <[email protected]> and he'll give you access to the private manual project he's started. Note that this manual exists solely for testing purposes. ### Strict deadline We will hold another meeting to set a deadline after we have an idea of what changes need to be made for the 12.04 edition. The deadline to be set by the editor-in-chief. ### Promoting the manual: blogs, twitter, articles, etc. In the future, we will strive to do a better job of promoting our manual through various outlets including blogs, Twitter, articles on OMG! Ubuntu~ and other new sites, etc. ### Next meeting [ACTION] c7p will establish a date/time for the next meeting ### Meeting adjourned The meeting was adjourned at 21:27 UTC. --Kevin Godby <[email protected]> _______________________________________________ Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-manual Post to : [email protected] Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-manual More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp
