Season of Docs is a new Google-supported initiative that aims to bring together technical writers with open source projects in order to improve their documentation. As with Summer of Code, Google is providing stipends to cover living costs.

We are all aware of the need for well-written and technically accurate documentation of open source projects, so this new program from Google is very welcome and will hopefully become an annual event. During the program technical writers will spend a few months working closely with an open source community. The idea is that they will bring their technical writing expertise to the project's documentation, and at the same time learn about the open source project and new technologies.

To be eligible to participate as a technical writer you must be:

• At least 18 years old at time of registration.
• Able to demonstrate prior technical writing experience by submitting role descriptions and work samples.
• Eligible to work in your country of residence during duration of program.
• A resident of a country not currently embargoed by the United States. 

We first reported Season Of Docs Opens when Google invited open source projects to apply. Now we have the list of the 50 open source organizations that were accepted for the inaugural season and it includes a diverse range with something for every interest. There are well known open source projects like LibreOffice, FreeBSD, Apache Cassandra, Numpy and PostgreSQL. Or you might want to get involved in CERN-HSF which has proposals relating to three projects ideas. If you are interested in Robotics, RoboComp is on the list, It's also worth looking at the project ideas list of some of the open source organizations you might not have heard of before, such as Qubes OS, a security--oriented operating system, or Shogun.ML which implements machine learning algorithms.

According to the timeline, currently we are in the "technical writer exploration phase" during which budding technical writers can explore the project ideas on offer and reach out to the organizations to gain a better understanding before applying to Season of Docs between May 29 and June 28. Guidelines as to how to apply are provided by many of the participating organizations as well as on the Season of Docs site, which also has the timeline and details of the stipends.

As well as stipends, which can be waived and are only paid out after a successful project evaluation, participants in successfully-completed projects will receive a Season of Docs T-shirt.  

More Information

Season Of Docs

Participating open source organizations

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