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The Open Source Team

Introduction

As an open source project the only way we can afford to repay you for your efforts is to provide you with recognition in the form of this web page. If you are a regular contributor to the project, consider adding a 'mug-shot' of yourself here, together with a short paragraph about yourself. You may also link to your Web site. The contributor listings below should give you some ideas.

Contributors

Sean Wheller

Role: Comitter, Development Lead and Project Administration

sean wheller

I am a technical author and information architect with both a technical and business background. Some would call me an "information hunter gatherer" others an "information traffic officer."

I started this project because, although I am an author, I use make extensive use of Docbook XML to store my written works. I found the interruption of constantly adding new terms to my glossary database time-consuming and annoying. So, in January 2005 I decided to ask the Docbook community if anyone was sharing a Docbook Glossary Database comprised of Computing Terms. It quickly became apparent that while there were many dictionaries and terminology references around the Web, none of them met my requirements. What I wanted was:

  1. A large reference containing nomenclature related to computing in general.
  2. A reference under an appropriate free and open source license that would enable terms to be included in my written works, both open source and closed source.
  3. A source that could easily be ported to or could work with my Docbook XML publishing system.

To cut a long story short, I was finally pointed in the direction of Binh Nguyen's most excellent Linux-Dictionary over at The Linux Documentation Project (TLDP). While this work was Linux specific, I knew it could be an excellent base on which to build a nomenclature reference for computing terms in general. The sources were already in Docbook XML, the only problem was the license terms of TLDP and the Free Documentation License under which Binh originally released his work. Both licenses were too restrictive to meet my second requirement. I decided to ask Binh if he would release a copy the Linux-Dictionary to me under the Creative Commons ShareAlike 2.0 license. Thankfully, Binh agreed and With additional help from Thomas Black at the The Shuttleworth Foundation, who have graciously agreed to provide the hosting infrastructure for this project, the Computer Dictionary project was born.

More information about myself can be found on my Web site http://www.inwords.co.za. My work horse distro is SuSE. I have been working with Linux and Docbook for four years and am involved with a number of FOSS projects, including:

This is the second open source project I am starting. My first is building the South African Society for Technical Communications (SA-STC).

Binh Nguyen

Role: Comitter, Development Lead and Project Administration

Ever since publication of the 'Linux Dictionary' over at The Linux Documentation Project, I have had the constant feeling of being overwhelmed by the sheer level of content and the difficulty in managing such a work. A number of solutions were sought; from web based databases to wiki's. However, the success of such ideas were rather limited due to the fact that incorporating these systems into the existing publication scheme at the TLDP was not as simple as I first thought that they would be. My hope and belief is that this project will not only help me to discover better ways of managing large stores of information but also enable us to produce a piece of work which will ultimately benefit all members of the computing community.

If, for some reason, you would like to know more about me, please visit my website.

Dave Pawson

Role: Comitter, Development Lead and Project Administration

Dave Pawson shot here

Dave Pawson story here