by Dave Rosenberg

Why Do People Write Free Documentation? (ONLamp Survey)

analysis
Jun 17, 20071 min

Andy Oram posted his survey write-up on why people contribute documentation. Pretty interesting, but still a bit hard to quantify (says Andy himself.) I tend to think that people who write documentation for their own work tend to do it as habit, maybe even more so when working on public/communal projects. A unique survey ran on O'Reilly's web site during the first three months of 2007, aimed at people who contri

Andy Oram posted his survey write-up on why people contribute documentation. Pretty interesting, but still a bit hard to quantify (says Andy himself.)

I tend to think that people who write documentation for their own work tend to do it as habit, maybe even more so when working on public/communal projects.

A unique survey ran on O’Reilly’s web site during the first three months of 2007, aimed at people who contribute free documentation to online mailing lists, web sites, and other forums. The survey garnered 354 responses, which in itself indicates the thriving state of free documentation and the dedication of the people who write it.