[debian-edu-commits] [Debian Wiki] Update of "DebianEdu/GSoD2023Proposal" by DashamirHoxha

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The "DebianEdu/GSoD2023Proposal" page has been changed by DashamirHoxha:
https://wiki.debian.org/DebianEdu/GSoD2023Proposal?action=diff&rev1=3&rev2=4

  ## page was renamed from GSoD2023proposal
- = GSoD 2023 Project Proposal for DebianEdu =
  
-  * A statement of the problem your project needs to solve (“users on Windows don’t have clear guidance of how to install our project”)
+ {{https://developers.google.com/static/season-of-docs/images/logo/SeasonOfDocs_Logo.png||width="90%"}}
  
-   * The current manual of DebianEdu is mostly about system administrators, explaining how to install and setup the network, the server, workstations, thin clients, etc. The information needed by teachers and students is scarce or missing.
+ == About GSoD ==
  
+ [[https://developers.google.com/season-of-docs/docs|GSoD]] supports documentation in open source projects. It seeks to empower open source organizations to understand their documentation needs, to create documentation to fill those needs, to measure the effect and impact of their documentation, and, in the spirit of open source, share what they've learned to help guide other projects. Google Season of Docs seeks to bring more technical writers into open source through funding their work with open source projects and organizations. 
-  * The documentation that might solve this problem (“We want to create a quickstart doc and installation guide for Windows users”)
-   * We would like to create a user documentation, that explains how to use DebianEdu from a teacher/student perspective.
  
-  * How you’ll measure the success of your documentation (“With a good quickstart, we expect to see 50% fewer issues opened about Windows installation problems.”)
+ == About Debian Edu ==
  
-  * What skills your technical writer would need (break down into “must have” and “nice to have” categories. “Must have: access Windows machine to test instructions”)
-   * Must have demonstrated experience with some modern documentation systems like Antora, MkDocs, Docusaurus, etc.
-   * Must have experience with using Linux, preferably Debian.
-   * Nice to have teaching experience in a school environment.
-   * Nice to have previous experience with DebianEdu.
+ DebianEdu (aka Skolelinux) is a
+ [[https://www.debian.org/blends/|Debian Pure Blend]] intended for use
+ in schools. It provides an easy installation for a main server, with
+ most of the services pre-configured out-of-the-box. Diskless clients
+ can boot from the main server via network, user authentication is
+ centralized, and home directories are also stored on the main
+ server. Thus, it simplifies a lot the installation, configuration and
+ maintenance of a school network. Besides, Debian Edu also maintains
+ packages of educational software, categorized by subject and by level,
+ which can be easily installed on any Debian (or Debian based) system.
  
-  * What volunteer help is needed from community members (“need help onboarding technical writer to our discussion groups”) and links to where the community can discuss the proposal
+ Skolelinux and DebianEdu started as independent projects on 2001,
+ but in 2003 they joined forces together and became a standard part of
+ Debian. This system has been used mainly on Norwegian and German
+ schools, but also in other countries. Its
+ [[https://jenkins.debian.net/userContent/debian-edu-doc/|docs]] have
+ translations on: German, French, Italian, Spanish, Danish, Japanese,
+ Norwegian, Dutch, Swedish, Portuguese, Chinese, etc. This shows the
+ wide interest and contributions that this project had over the years.
  
+ The project objectives, since the very beginning, have been:
-  * Most importantly, include a way for interested technical writers to reach you and ask questions!
-   * Interested technical writers should start a discussion on the mailing list (https://lists.debian.org/debian-edu/), including GSoD in the subject.
  
+  * '''Create a complete free solution:''' Provide a complete school solution, suitable for real-life scenarios, entirely free.
+  * '''Reduce technical barriers:''' The best way to reach a widespread usage is by making installation, configuration, maintenance and usage as easy as possible. It should work out-of-the-box.
+  * '''International scope:''' As part of a world-wide collaborative project, it is important to offer as many translations as possible.
+  * '''Educational software ecosystem:''' It is necessary to locate, package and classify educational Free Software.
+  * '''Teaching documentation:''' It is important not only to provide a great platform, but also to provide good documentation on how to use it for better teaching.
+ 
+ For a quick introduction to Debian Edu see: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xbHrmBl7d20|Getting started with DebianEdu]] (video)
+ 
+ == The problem ==
+ 
+ The current documentation of Debian Edu is a big
+ [[https://jenkins.debian.net/userContent/debian-edu-doc/debian-edu-doc-en/debian-edu-bookworm-manual.html|manual]]
+ that includes many details about the installation and
+ configuration. This is useful to system administrators, but not so
+ useful to normal non-technical users (teachers and students). There
+ are actually two small sections in this manual dedicated to
+ [[https://jenkins.debian.net/userContent/debian-edu-doc/debian-edu-doc-en/debian-edu-bookworm-manual.html#Users|students]]
+ and
+ [[https://jenkins.debian.net/userContent/debian-edu-doc/debian-edu-doc-en/debian-edu-bookworm-manual.html#TeachAndLearn|teachers]],
+ but they are almost empty. So, the documentation for non-technical
+ users is almost missing.
+ 
+ We also received feedback recently from various teachers, that the
+ Debian Edu manual is too complex and too technical for finding teacher
+ related help.
+ 
+ For making Debian Edu a true competitor to proprietary solutions, we
+ see a definite need of providing a documentation that would allow
+ ordinary users (teachers and students) to understand and use Debian
+ Edu easily. This also aligns with the main objectives of Debian Edu.
+ 
+ == Project ideas ==
+ 
+ === Documentation for non-technical users ===
+ 
+ A user documentation, that explains Debian Edu for non-technical users (teachers and students), and shows how to use it.
+ 
+ It should explain things in a layman's language, trying to avoid complex technical terminology. It should be good-looking and visually attractive. It should also be possible to produce nice PDF and EPUB versions of the docs. It should support versioning (having different versions of the docs for different releases of Debian Edu), and it should also support translation to different languages.
+ 
+ === Video tutorials ===
+ 
+ Some video tutorials (screen recordings) that explain how to use Debian Edu could be very useful. As they say, a picture is worth thousands of words, and a video tutorial is worth thousands of doc pages.
+ 
+ === New website ===
+ 
+ A new website for the project would be nice. Currently, the main homepage of the project is on the wiki: DebianEdu. The new website should be good looking and attractive (using some static site generator tools like
+ Jekyll, Hugo, etc.). The information from the wiki pages should not
+ just be migrated to the new homepage, but also updated with the latest
+ status and info about the project, and maybe reorganized as well.
+ 
+ 
+ == About technical writers ==
+ 
+ Technical writers are expected to have these skills:
+ 
+   * '''Must have''' experience with some modern documentation systems like Antora, MkDocs, Docusaurus, etc.
+   * '''Must have''' experience with using Linux, preferably Debian.
+   * '''Nice to have''' teaching experience in a school environment.
+   * '''Nice to have''' previous experience with DebianEdu.
+   * '''Nice to have''' experience with static site generators, like Jekyll, Hugo, etc.
+   * '''Nice to have''' experience with screen recording and video editing.
+ 
+ We may also need a couple of volunteers to make an initial review of the new docs, providing any feedback.
+ 
+ == How to contact ==
+ 
+ For any questions or discussions, please write to the [[https://lists.debian.org/debian-edu/|mailing list]] including GSoD in the subject.
+