Welcome to Season of Docs!
Fostering open source collaboration with technical writers
Current phase:
The 2019 Season of Docs program finished on March 6, 2020. See
timeline.
The goal of Season of Docs is to provide a framework for technical writers and open source projects to work together towards the common goal of improving an open source project's documentation. For technical writers who are new to open source, the program provides an opportunity to gain experience in contributing to open source projects. For technical writers who're already working in open source, the program provides a potentially new way of working together. Season of Docs also gives open source projects an opportunity to engage more of the technical writing community.
During the program, technical writers spend a few months working closely with an open source community. They bring their technical writing expertise to the project's documentation, and at the same time learn about the open source project and new technologies.
The open source projects work with the technical writers to improve the project's documentation and processes. Together they may choose to build a new documentation set, or redesign the existing docs, or improve and document the open source community's contribution procedures and onboarding experience.
Together, we raise public awareness of open source docs, of technical writing, and of how we can work together to the benefit of the global open source community.
How does it work?
Here's the high-level workflow of the Season of Docs program:
Open source organizations apply to be mentor organizations in this year's Season of Docs. They may submit a list of documentation project ideas with their applications.
Technical writers explore the list of participating organizations and choose the projects that interest them. A technical writer may contact the relevant organizations to discuss their ideas. The technical writer then writes up a project proposal and submits it to Season of Docs.
The organizations confirm the technical writing projects that they want to mentor.
The accepted technical writers spend a few months working with mentors from the open source organizations to complete their projects.
At the end of the program, the Google program administrators announce the projects that finished successfully.
The timeline shows the details of the steps involved and the key dates.
Participants and roles
Below are the primary groups of people who take part in Season of Docs and the role each group plays in the program:
Organization administrators are members of the participating open source organizations who act as the principal Season of Docs contact for their organization. The organization administrators submit the organization’s application to take part in Season of Docs, manage the mentors within their organizations, make sure the technical writing projects stay on track, handle the paperwork, and manage the distribution of the mentor stipend. See the administrator guide and responsibilities
Open source mentors are members of the participating open source organizations who’re accepted as mentors for this year’s Season of Docs. The mentors work closely with the technical writers to help ensure a successful project. See the mentor guide and responsibilities.
Technical writers are technical writers worldwide who’re accepted to take part in this year’s Season of Docs. Applicants should be able to demonstrate prior technical writing experience by submitting role descriptions and work samples. See the technical writer guide and responsibilities.
Google program administrators are program managers within Google who run the Season of Docs program.
Next steps
- Join the announcement mailing list at season-of-docs-announce to stay informed about when applications open and other important program events.
- Check the timeline for important dates and milestones.
- Get started by registering as a participant, whether you're a technical writer or a member of an open source project.
- Read the FAQ if you have any questions.
- Contact us if you need more help or want to join the discussions.