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title: Getting Started as an Open-Source Technical Writer
tags: [Documentation]

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# Getting Started as an Open-Source Technical Writer
## Contributing to project documentation

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## What is technical documentation?

* The manuals that some of us read and some of us don't :-)
* Explaining technical details in a format that users can understand and learn:
    * What is this technology
    * Why would I want to use it?
    * How do I use it?

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## What is Open Source?

* What is Open Source?
* What is Open Source Contribution?

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## What does a technical writer do?

* Learns new technologies so they can explain it to others
* Restructures existing documentation to improve the readability and findability of the information.
* Improves grammar/copy-edit of existing documentation written by developers (This is a big part of open source documentation work).


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## What do I need to learn to become a technical writer?

* Must be proficient in written English for many projects
* Learn the fundamentals of technical writing -https://developers.google.com/tech-writing
* Develop a portfolio of samples of your technical writing work. 

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## How can I get started?

* Open source projects always need help!
* Start small - minor grammar/spelling fixes
* Learn git and GitHub
* Learn the markup format used for the project you want to contribute to. Most are RST or MD.

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## What can I fix?

* Open source projects need help on all the basics
* Grammar, spelling are good starts
* Can progress to redesigning sections based on concept/task/reference as you gain experience in the project.

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## How to find the first project to work on?

* Start with a technology that interests you
* Find that techology topic on [GitHub](https://docs.github.com/en/get-started/exploring-projects-on-github/finding-ways-to-contribute-to-open-source-on-github)
* Look for labels that identify `documentation`
* Some common additional labels for quick fixes `easyfix`, `good first issue`

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## Where can I get help?

* Most GitHub projects include a CONRIBUTOR page in their repository. 
* Search there for ways to communicate with the project owners for additional help. 
* Many will include links to forums or chat boards like matrix or IRC.
* [WriteTheDocs](https://www.writethedocs.org/) is a technical writer community with a lot of opensource writers. Great place to get more help.

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## Starting docs contributions in Ansible

* Welcome to the edit on Github feature
* All you need is a GitHub account on Github.com
* docs.ansible.com/ansible

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### Edit on GitHub
* Click the button in the upper-right
![](https://i.imgur.com/J4xgSBq.png)

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### Making changes

* Edit the doc in the open window
![](https://i.imgur.com/9WdQWn0.png)

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### Save your changes

* edit the fields to describe your change
* Click Propose changes

![](https://i.imgur.com/OkBDyAX.png)

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### Verify your changes

* \- or light red - line that is old
* \+ or light green - the new line. Brighter color for what has changed.
![](https://i.imgur.com/mkJoIs9.png)

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### Create the pull request

* Click the Creat pull request button.
* Automatically creates the pull request, which is this proposed change.
 ![](https://i.imgur.com/NoLmt83.png)

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## Congratulations!

You've just made your first open-source contribution.
Be careful!  This can be addictive :-)

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## A little deeper

* Most technical documentation follows a [style guide](https://developers.google.com/tech-writing/resources#editorial_style_guides).
* The [Ansible docs style guide](https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/dev_guide/style_guide/index.html)

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## Resources

* [Free online technical writing](https://developers.google.com/tech-writing) course from Google
* Another [free technical writing](https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/engineering/ux/technical-writing/fundamentals/) - from GitLab
* [Write the Docs](https://www.writethedocs.org/) - online community of  technical writers and those transitioning into technical writing
###### tags: `Documentation`

