Celebrating technical writing with open source software
At Both.org, we want to share your stories about using and creating open source software. October 20 is the National Day of Writing, and what a great opportunity to celebrate technical writing using open source software.
To highlight writing with and writing about open source software, writers and editors across open source communities joined a roundtable “panel” discussion about how they use open source software in their writing process. The panel from 2023 included Both.org writers Don Watkins and Chris Hermansen, Lauren Maffeo (author), Lauren Pritchett (editor), and Jim Hall (editor, Technically We Write).
Topics ranged from how we first started writing about open source software, to what open source tools we use in our writing. Here are a few highlights from the discussion:
How did you get started writing about open source software? Most panelists started by joining an open source community. Writing our first “how-to” article about using open source software was our “gateway” to a love of writing.
What open source tools do you use for your writing? We use several open source tools, including Markdown and LibreOffice.
What advice would you give to someone who wants to get started in writing about open source software? One theme from this discussion was don’t overthink it. If you find the topic interesting, others will too.
How can people write about open source software? We highlighted how to write about open source software. Pick a topic you are interested in, and write about it.
Both.org welcomes all articles about open source software. We welcome everyone to share an article, and open source software writing tools are a great place to start. For example, you might download LibreOffice and write an article about “I tried LibreOffice for the first time, here are 3 things I learned how to do over a weekend.” Join the community and share your first article with us! We’re looking for ideas or articles on open source software, hardware open culture, and open knowledge. Click the link to Write for us to get started.
This article is adapted from Get started with technical writing by Jim Hall, and is republished on Both.org by the author.
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