Session: How you write matters in open source
Form follows function in writing: you compose a postcard to your Gran in a particular voice, attorneys draft contracts using specialized terms and grammatical structures, marketing pros formulate content with specific language to sell products, and you probably should write in a distinct way when the topic is open source. In this session, Kyle will go over some unique writing challenges presented by open source projects and how to overcome them to be inclusive and accurate in your communication. This session will dive into how seemingly innocuous terms and grammatical structures embed meaning that may be sending subtle, unintended messages. Additionally, time will be spent discussing how to select and use style guides to concretely establish a consistent voice and approach for both general writing and technical documentation.
This talk will cover:
- Understanding the types of open source writing and audiences
- Linguistic code switching
- How writing about open source software differs from writing about other software & services
- Owning your project’s “voice”
- Practical grammar and writing
- Problems around anthropomorphizing
- Ambiguous plural pronouns and unintended dominance
- Picking the grammatical person for your project
- Ensuring inclusive terminology
- Voice and style guide shopping (and building)
- Providing good writing feedback in GitHub
