Open Help

I found out about the upcoming Open Source Hardware Documentation Jam through a link on Twitter. I've been doing open source software documentation for over a decade. I'm really interested in how open source principles can be applied to hardware, and to other aspects of our lives and society.

I organize the Open Help Conference, an event that focuses on documentation for open source and in open communities. Open Help brings in people from notable open source projects like Mozilla, GNOME, and OpenStack. But we've never had anybody talk about open source hardware documentation.

The third annual Open Help Conference will be held this year in June in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA:

http://openhelpconference.com/

The two-day conference has a strong emphasis on open discussion. About half the time is devoted to presentations and demos, with the rest spent on unconference-style, attendee-led discussion. I think everybody would like to hear about what you're doing, what challenges you face, and how your first documentation jam went.

Following the conference, many teams stay for three days of sprints. Each team runs its own sprint, but having the sprints co-located allows us to meet up and share experiences. I know June is very soon after your jam in April, but if you'd like to hold another one, I'd be happy to provide space.

I'd really love to hear more about the work you're doing, and I think you could get some valuable insights from the people doing open source software documentation that attend. Please let me know if you have any questions, or if there's anything I can do to help.

Thanks, Shaun McCance