Why People Contribute Software Documentation

Software technologies are used by a large population of programmers with diverse backgrounds. To fulfill their need for information, enthusiasts contribute numerous learning resources that vary in style and content, and act as documentation for the corresponding technology. We interviewed 26 volunte...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Arya, Deeksha M., Guo, Jin L. C., Robillard, Martin P.
Format: Conference Proceeding
Language:English
Subjects:
Documentation
documentation creation
Human computer interaction
human factors
Human-centered computing > Human computer interaction (HCI) > Empirical studies in HCI
Predictive models
Sociology
Software
Software and its engineering > Software creation and management > Designing software
software documentation
Software packages
Task analysis
Online Access:Request full text
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Summary:Software technologies are used by a large population of programmers with diverse backgrounds. To fulfill their need for information, enthusiasts contribute numerous learning resources that vary in style and content, and act as documentation for the corresponding technology. We interviewed 26 volunteer contributors to understand why they create such documentation. We surface five motivations our informants had for contributing documentation, including to overcome issues they had faced with documentation and to capture their own learning. Among other findings, our observations suggest that the unique experience and background of documentation contributors provides the opportunity to create documentation that caters to users who have information needs and preferences similar to that of the contributor.
ISSN:2574-1837
DOI:10.1145/3641822.3641881