---
# System prepended metadata

title: Write the docs NG 2022
tags: [Documentation]

---

# Write the docs NG 2022
###### tags: `Documentation`
First Open Source Contribution (Twitter Space, handle = @writethedocsNG)
Date/time: Friday, June 17 at 19:30 WAT/UTC+1
Link: https://twitter.com/i/spaces/1mrGmarvpdLGy

## Actions/Question
1. Can we share links during the presentation?

## Talk

### Carol: Talk about OS contribution
* How I got started with OS contributions
* How anyone can get started with OS contributions
* Why should we contribute to OS projects

### Carol: Talk about OS Documentation 
* Started using Linux in 1999
* Dearth of documentation (gopher, anyone?)
* Commenting code - useful, but not the same
* Many documentation tools (asciidoc etc.), integrated with version control
* Be patient and help new contributors with git

### Gundalow: Ansible Docs project as start into Open Source contribution 

* Firstly, thank you for having me here
* the_gundalow
* gundalow on GitHub and Matrix
* Looking forward to attending a Write The Docs event in-person soon
* Who am I, and how I got started
    * Engineering Manager, Ansible Community Team at Red Hat
    * 6 years
    * Previously user of Ansible
* We will share links after the event
* We have an active community on Matrix, come join the discussion

* What do we mean by Ansible
* But I don't know Ansible
* Starting simple - PR reviews always help!
* Taking it a step further - GitHub's edit feature
* Project Board
* DaWGs (meetings etc.) https://github.com/ansible/community/wiki/Docs

* My first PRs
    * No GitHub knowledge, only basic git 
    * Many broken PRs as I tried to understand rebasing
    * Community was welcoming
    * Few small docs PRs
    * Tiny bug fixes
    * top 20 contributor (for a while)
    * You can't break anything, don't worry about trying

* Why contriuting to Ansible is easy
    * Doesn't matter if you don't know Ansible
    * Something I talk a lot about with our community
    * Ansible overlaps with most other bits of software, know PostgreSQL -> community.postgresql
* How do you contribute
    * Two types
        * Module and plugin
        * Guides: Standard RST
    * Most pages have "Edit on GitHub" link on top right
    * Modular, plugins. code and docs in same file
    * Web docs
        * Description, Example, Returns - block in Python
    * Restructured Text, RST
    * We don't do anything fancy, so don't let RST or Python put you off

* Where to get help
    * Matrix (bridged to Discord), link in a follow up tweet
    * Weekly meeting, introduce yourself

* What to work on
    * GitHub board
    * Find somthing you know about: windows, mysql, azure, etc.
    * GitHub label "docs"

### Q&A

* Do you need to have anything installed
* Lots of "x year"

### Resources
[Community writers project board](https://github.com/orgs/ansible-community/projects/3/views/1)
[Community writers onboarding guide](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1RXqmLY-mD_mLBOmvnrKOzYPckHc-4moGEiEbz-NjACU/edit)

### End