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PLUG: Portland's monthly, three-track open source conference!
Celebrating 20 years of hosting Portland's best open source and technology freedom speakers.
This month's topic To Be Announced
First Thursday: General Meeting at PSU
Third Tuesday: Advanced Topics at Free Geek
Third Sunday: Hands-on Clinic at Free Geek
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Who: Jennifer Rondeau<br>
What: Back to the Future: A brief history of software documentation<br>
Where: PSU, 1930 SW 4th Ave. Room FAB 86-01 (Lower Level)<br>
When: Thursday, August 6th, 2015 at 7pmv
Why: The pursuit of technology freedom<br>
Stream: http://pdxlinux.org/live
The world of software development rightly demands an emphasis on the new and the innovative -- on doing things differently from how they’ve been done. The assumption is that newer is (almost) always better. But if we look only to the present and the future, we risk reinventing the wheel, failing to understand that we are all built on tradition, failing to learn everything that we could from the past.
This talk shows how documentarians can find inspiration in the past, build on it, and move forward. It tells some of these stories, and shows what they meant in historical context:
* The pre-history and dawn of software documentation -- how technical writers were hired, how they worked, what they made, the challenges they faced, and how their solutions continue to inform the work we do today
* The much longer history of teaching engineers to write documentation
* Efforts to make technical writing into an independent profession
Many will head to the Lucky Lab at 1945 NW Quimby St. after the meeting.
Rideshares Available
PLUG Page with information about all PLUG events: http://pdxlinux.org/
Follow PLUG on Twitter: http://twitter.com/pdxlinux
PLUG is open to everyone and does not tolerate abusive behavior on its mailing lists or at its meetings. |