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Write the Docs Podcast episode 12: Founding ideas behind Write the Docs

by Tom Johnson on Dec 14, 2017
categories: wtd-podcasts

In this episode, we chat with Eric Holscher (WTD cofounder) and Mikey Ariel (WTD Europe organizer) about the Write the Docs community itself, including origins, founding ideas, goals, challenges, trends, and roadmaps for the community. We dive specifically into idea of diversity of roles (and the term 'documentarian'), the way open source principles inform the community's core values, balancing individual freedom to contribute on one's own terms with the expectations of the WTD experience, and more.

You can view more podcast details, including MP3 download links, here.

Here are some of the questions discussed during the podcast:

  • How did WTD start?
  • What was the original purpose of WTD and how did it evolve?
  • Why the emphasis on diversity of roles and the word “documentarian”?
  • How does open source inform the community’s dynamics?
  • How do you give community members freedom to contribute in their own way while still installing the WTD values into their events?
  • Does the idea of open source (namely, contributing back, sharing) provide long-term sustaining momentum for an almost entirely volunteer-run community?
  • In what ways is WTD experimenting with new ideas and approaches?
  • What trends do you see for WTD and the industry in the future?

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About Tom Johnson

Tom Johnson

I'm an API technical writer based in the Seattle area. On this blog, I write about topics related to technical writing and communication — such as software documentation, API documentation, AI, information architecture, content strategy, writing processes, agent skills, tech comm careers, and more. Check out my AI courses for more on the latest in AI and tech comm. If you're looking for info about documenting APIs, see my API documentation course.

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