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Ask HN: Any open-source project in need of a Technical Writer?

54 pointsby philippnagelover 8 years ago
I want to get into the field and think supporting an open-source project in that area is a great way to do that.

24 comments

rpedenover 8 years ago
Most popular (and unpopular, for that matter) open source projects would probably appreciate someone who wants to write high quality documentation.<p>A good approach might be to find some projects you&#x27;re interested in on Github, and contact them to ask if they&#x27;d be interested in someone adding to&#x2F;improving their documentation and project wiki. I suspect you&#x27;ll find projects interested in this rather quickly. Then, contributing will be as easy as making a pull request. And that way, any potential employers or clients can easily verify that you&#x27;ve actually done the work you claim you&#x27;ve done by looking at your Github commit history.
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adulauover 8 years ago
The MISP project[1] which is an open source project around threat intelligence sharing is actively looking for contributions and supports to write documentation. There is already a git book[2] which needs some love and support especially on the aspect of using the platform for analysts or security operators.<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;MISP&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;MISP&#x2F;</a> [2] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;MISP&#x2F;misp-book" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;MISP&#x2F;misp-book</a>
acemarkeover 8 years ago
I&#x27;m one of the maintainers for Redux ( <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;reactjs&#x2F;redux" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;reactjs&#x2F;redux</a> ), and added a couple major sections to the docs. I&#x27;m always interested in more ways to improve the docs, whether it be new information, improving the writing, or something else.<p>If you&#x27;re interested in helping out, file an issue and we&#x27;ll see what you might be able to do.
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21stioover 8 years ago
Maybe have a look on Kubernetes. It&#x27;s one of the most active projects on github. Super exciting technology, huge ecosystem, and great community!
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ikmaakover 8 years ago
Hi Philipp, the FreedomBox project could use your help improving the manual. Anything added up until the 22nd of Jan can still be included in the offline manual delivered with the project. It is a Debian Pure project, aiming to give non-technical users the possibility to run their own decentralized infrastructure on low-cost SBC&#x27;s. We will do our own sprint the coming days, and all help would be appreciated :)<p>The manual can be found here: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;wiki.debian.org&#x2F;FreedomBox&#x2F;Manual" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;wiki.debian.org&#x2F;FreedomBox&#x2F;Manual</a><p>After that date we would still be interested in improvements to the online manual, the landing page, and anything else you would want to help out with!<p>If there are any questions, we are willing to provide all the answers we can on OFTC #freedombox
timeout27over 8 years ago
Freeplane - a mind map open source project<p>The freeplane community is craaaving for better documentation that can shed light to the multiple features of the program. The current docs&#x2F;wiki are outdated&#x2F;desorganized, and this has multiple times been recognized in the freeplane community as the #1 to priority to make freeplane easy for new users - new users just have a hard time going onboard because there are no good docs explaining the simplest things!<p>And the program is not hard, it&#x27;s just missing good documentation! The docs are sometimes called the &quot;missing killer feature&quot; of freeplane. So, If anyone with experience feels like joining in, it will be a joy for everyone :)<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;freeplane.sourceforge.net&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;freeplane.sourceforge.net&#x2F;</a><p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;sourceforge.net&#x2F;p&#x2F;freeplane&#x2F;discussion&#x2F;docwriters&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;sourceforge.net&#x2F;p&#x2F;freeplane&#x2F;discussion&#x2F;docwriters&#x2F;</a>
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mustntmumbleover 8 years ago
I hope you don&#x27;t mind me hitching a ride on this question, but what is a &#x27;technical writer&#x27;? Can someone with excellent composition, grammar, spelling, and proof-reading skills become a &#x27;technical writer&#x27; or does the writer need to have specific technical domain knowledge?
ichaibover 8 years ago
We, at the Open Bank Project, could do with some help. We are an open source API for banks <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;OpenBankProject" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;OpenBankProject</a> - ping me if you want to get involved
b0tiover 8 years ago
We are also looking to hire a technical writer for NXLog. If you or anyone else is interested, feel free to reach out. <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;nxlog.org&#x2F;contact-us" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;nxlog.org&#x2F;contact-us</a>
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sinnet3000over 8 years ago
Hi,<p>Osmocom is an open source project that is searching for technical writers. You can check it out here: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;osmocom.org&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;osmocom.org&#x2F;</a><p>PS. They are offering a free femtocell for contributions.
cottonseedover 8 years ago
Yes! I was just thinking about this, actually. We&#x27;re building scalable tools for analyzing genetic data on Spark:<p><a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;hail.is" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;hail.is</a> <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;hail-is&#x2F;hail" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;hail-is&#x2F;hail</a><p>It&#x27;s tricky because we need someone who can write, has technical knowledge (python, Apache big data stack) and some knowledge of bioinformatics and statistical genetics. There might be an option for some paid work. What&#x27;s the going rate for technical writing?
justincliftover 8 years ago
If possible, choose a large&#x2F;well organised Open Source project which already has good documentation and people working on it.<p>That way you get involved with a team of people who should (in theory) already be following good practises, should have a sensible tool chain, and have habits you can learn from. And you&#x27;ll make good contacts&#x2F;references&#x2F;potentially be hired.<p>(if you&#x27;re looking to get hired as a potential result, choose a project that has backers with $$$ that hire from the Community :&gt;)
grandinjover 8 years ago
Libreoffice is a great community and we&#x27;d welcome that kind of contribution. Come visit the documentation@global.libreoffice.org mailing list or #libreoffice-doc on irc
jcofflandover 8 years ago
The real question is are there any who don&#x27;t need one?<p>Your contributions would be more than welcome in my Open-Source project, CAMotics. It&#x27;s a CNC simulation software.
jimmymcarthurover 8 years ago
The folks at docs.openstack.org are always looking for contributors :) As rpeden said, it&#x27;s important to find a project you&#x27;re interested in and think you can contribute to. It takes some time to get the vocabulary down for various projects, so choose carefully and spend some time making yourself known to the community and offering to help &#x2F; learn.
wolframhempelover 8 years ago
Absolutely, we&#x27;re actively looking for one for <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;deepstream.io" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;deepstream.io</a>, please find more details here <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;deepstreamhub.com&#x2F;careers&#x2F;technical-writer&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;deepstreamhub.com&#x2F;careers&#x2F;technical-writer&#x2F;</a>
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tobylaneover 8 years ago
Can you tell me about being a technical writer? I&#x27;ve written some documentation and intend to do more.
ruslan_talpaover 8 years ago
<a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;begriffs&#x2F;postgrest" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;begriffs&#x2F;postgrest</a> could use a technical writer and would welcome one
christophersleeover 8 years ago
Just applauding your effort here, not only for being proactive about getting into the field you want, but also for finding ways to contribute to open source without having to submit code. Keep it up!
johnny_reillyover 8 years ago
The webpack 2 docs are ripe for improvement - I&#x27;ve been making minor contributions myself but there&#x27;s still plenty to do. Checkout WebPack.js.org
severineover 8 years ago
Do you use Xfce? If I recall correct, they asked for writers not long ago.
salsakranover 8 years ago
We&#x27;d love your help at Metabase !(www.github.com&#x2F;metabase&#x2F;metabase)
brmunkover 8 years ago
You could try contacting realm.io - the worlds 2&#x27;nd most used database.
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ExpiredLinkover 8 years ago
But what is a Technical Writer?
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