dgplug Newsletter #6

released Thursday, January 10, 2019

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Why do we blog?

Blogging is a versatile term and it’s a key topic during the dgplug Summertraining.
We count blogging amongst the very important skills for programmers and engineers.
Now why is that?

Blogging is documentation

We may be software developers, engineers or freedom activists - but we all write code and hack on things to make our lives easier.
Documentation is the key to make the effort we put into our projects, available for other people - or even ourselves when we return to our projects after a long time. To make our chain of thoughts comprehensible and to make the path we took, and decisions we considered, obvious, we need to write them down.

There are many projects out there that have brilliant programmers and produce excellent software but lack good documentation and translation (and good volunteers to do exactly that.) It is a time consuming task and a sought-after skill. Blogging or documentation of progress on any problem is a valuable contribution to the FOSS community.

There are no limits; a blog post could range from a stream of consciousness rant, to a page that has the quality of a scientific report or paper.

Blogging can be personal

Writing a blog post does not necessarily mean writing about tech stuff. Just as it’s a relief to talk to a friend about your feelings, it can be liberating to write things down and get it off your chest.
You could share situations, impressions and opinions and help people that search the web for these topics with your experience.

It goes without saying that you need to act with caution when giving information about your private life or other people.
Respect privacy; yours as well as everybody else’s.

Blogging can be art

Writing is a skill that can be practiced to a high art. A well written blog post is a good read, regardless of which topic it is about. As with every skill, practice makes perfect.

Jason Braganza did the dgplug read the docs section on blogging with detailed deliberation and guidance on the whys and hows of blogging.
If you are new to blogging or writing in general, you’ll find it very useful

Some additional resources can be found here:

Recent activities of #dgplug members

Since July 2018 hundreds of blog posts have been added to the dgplug planet and students planet. Here's an excerpt of the most recent posts:

Did we miss something?

Since this project is still in its infancy, we may have overlooked content that you would like to have included. We will work on constantly improving this letter and review external sources. If you think there is something we've missed, feel free to add your ideas for the next issue.