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<p class="isSelectedEnd"><span>Hello friends, it's Mick here from
Floss Manuals.</span></p>
<p class="isSelectedEnd"><span>Floss Manuals is 20 years old today.
We've chosen the 1st of June as our celebration date because
it's the first time the project was captured by the Internet
Archive's Wayback Machine. Although I got in touch with Adam
Hyde our founder and he said it was actually Feb :)</span></p>
<p class="isSelectedEnd"><span>Over the last few months, me, Martin
Kean and Helen Varley Jamieson have been working on improvements
and updates to the Floss Manuals community infrastructure. We'd
like to use this anniversary as the starting point for a month
of community activity to help reboot the network.</span></p>
<p class="isSelectedEnd"><span>The process of writing my PhD using
open documentation tools, I think, could align with a new
direction for Floss Manuals, which is, to me, to take the plunge
and move towards writing with static websites and Git instead of
a centrally managed, specialised content management system as we
have used before.</span></p>
<p class="isSelectedEnd"><span>This move is also practical. For
several years the French Floss Manuals community generously took
on the task of running Booktype on behalf of the wider project,
including the English-language community, and I'd like to thank
them for that work. They took the decision to stop maintaining
the platform in April 2024, which was entirely understandable.
Since then, the project has effectively been on hold.</span></p>
<p class="isSelectedEnd"><span>The overhead of running and
maintaining systems such as Booki and Booktype has become
increasingly difficult to sustain after Floss Manuals became a
volunteer-run project. Moving towards static websites and Git
may offer a more sustainable path forward.</span></p>
<p class="isSelectedEnd"><span>As part of this post I'm also
including a link to a song called </span><em><span>This Old
House</span></em><span>. Some people in the UK will know it as
a Shakin' Stevens song, but I prefer the original version.
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WhLhF12TBE">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WhLhF12TBE</a> - check the lyrics,
it's a bit darker than Shakie's take. </span></p>
<p class="isSelectedEnd"><span>Being involved with Floss Manuals has
sometimes felt a bit like looking after an old house. There have
been things falling off it, services shutting down, and periods
where I haven't been able to repair or add to things as quickly
as they've broken. I've been a bit of a caretaker. But it's a
good old house, and it's a house that's worth patching up.</span></p>
<p class="isSelectedEnd"><span>Of course, there's another thing
that's about to fall off the roof of the house.</span></p>
<p class="isSelectedEnd"><span>I recently received an email from our
hosting provider to say that they will no longer be supporting
the Mailman mailing lists that we've used throughout much of
Floss Manuals' history. So, beyond making sure that we preserve
and archive what's there, one of the jobs that needs doing is
working out what comes next for community communications. </span></p>
<p class="isSelectedEnd"><span>This may actually be a good
opportunity to start again and let people choose what they want
to subscribe to, whether that's a low-traffic announcements
list, a more active community discussion list, or something else
entirely.</span></p>
<p class="isSelectedEnd"><span>I do already have an offer from
someone who can provide a Mailman list if we want to keep things
old school, but I'm also open to updating the technology if
there's a better approach. Email me directly if you have a
suggestion or offer.</span></p>
<p class="isSelectedEnd"><span>We've got another couple of months
before this mailing list reaches its end of life, and in some
ways that's helpful. I feel slightly hesitant about generating a
lot of traffic in people's inboxes if this reboot discussion
becomes active, and that's something we can look at together. At
least we know that there is an end date for activity on this
list, and that gives us a reason to decide what comes next.</span></p>
<p class="isSelectedEnd"><span>Of course, if you'd rather not be
part of those discussions, the link to unsubscribe is at the
bottom of every email.</span></p>
<p class="isSelectedEnd"><span>In the coming weeks I'll write more
about the huge number of people who have contributed to Floss
Manuals and the equally huge body of work that has been created
over the last twenty years. I won't try to start listing people
or projects now.</span></p>
<p class="isSelectedEnd"><span>I'd also love it if other people
could chip in with their own memories, thanks, stories about
what they learned, or tributes to particular people who made a
difference to them along the way.</span></p>
<p class="isSelectedEnd"><span>I'd like to invite people to write
blog posts for us, or simply start thinking about what they
might want to remember and share. As part of this reboot process
I've migrated our previous blogs to a new Hugo-based website,
which is now available at: <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://about.flossmanuals.net">http://about.flossmanuals.net</a></span></p>
<p class="isSelectedEnd"><span>It would be great to see that site
become a place where we can collect a bit more of the history,
memories and lessons from twenty years of Floss Manuals.</span></p>
<p class="isSelectedEnd"><span>It would also be great to hear where
people are now. Floss Manuals has connected an rich diversity
and quantity of people over the years. I think many people would
be interested to hear what you've been doing since, whether
there are things you learned through the project that stayed
with you, and whether you see any parallels between the work
you're doing now and the work we did together through Floss
Manuals.</span></p>
<p class="isSelectedEnd"><span>On that note, I also want to share
some personal good news.</span></p>
<p class="isSelectedEnd"><span>Last Wednesday I successfully
defended my PhD thesis in a viva examination, which feels like a
pretty important milestone for me. </span></p>
<p class="isSelectedEnd"><span>Looking back, I can see a lot of
connections between that work and my involvement with Floss
Manuals. Many of the ideas that shaped the research,
particularly around collaborative working, open documentation,
participation and sharing knowledge, were influenced by things
I've learned through being involved with this community over the
years.</span></p>
<p class="isSelectedEnd"><span>The thesis is available online at
pump.jammlabs.org.uk. I still need to make a few final
corrections, but it's now in a form that people can read.
There's also a particular blog post related to the research that
I think may be of interest to people here, which I'll share
alongside it. </span></p>
<blockquote>
<h3><i>A Future for non-linear FLOSS Manuals<span
class="hx-absolute -hx-mt-20"
id="a-future-for-non-linear-floss-manuals"></span></i> </h3>
<p><i>While most manuals in FLOSS Manuals have been linear, there
have also been ones which were more complex in structure. For
example, some have been about process, exploration, and a kind
of pick-and-mix approach. A good example of this is Digital
Foundations, which moves between guided instruction and
open-ended experimentation rather than forcing a single path
through the material<br>
From </i><span><a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://pump.jammlabs.org.uk/blogs/meeting-middle/">https://pump.jammlabs.org.uk/blogs/meeting-middle/</a></span></p>
</blockquote>
<p class="isSelectedEnd"><span>I'd genuinely be interested to hear
where other people have ended up, what projects you're involved
in these days, and whether Floss Manuals played any part in
shaping the path that got you there.</span></p>
<p class="isSelectedEnd"><span>I'll also share some of the technical
changes that have been made, along with some of the new
approaches to publishing that we're experimenting with. I'll do
that in a way that invites discussion, because I don't think
there's only one way forward and I'd be interested to hear
different views on how we should approach these things.</span></p>
<p class="isSelectedEnd"><span>So, given those teasers of different
directions for discussion, that's probably enough for this
celebratory post.</span></p>
<p class="isSelectedEnd"><span>Feel free to chip in with your
thoughts and responses in any way you want by hitting "reply
all".</span></p>
<p class="isSelectedEnd"><span>nice one<br>
cya<br>
Mick</span></p>
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