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We shall discuss our experiences and successes with the "book sprint" methodology for use in rapid authoring and content development for books and documentation, using a distributed team and appropriate collaborative technologies. The "sprint" methodology is often used in software development projects to promote rapid development of a particular project. The "book sprint" applies similar techniques in a book writing context for the rapid development of technical publications.

A sprint begins by assembling a group of domain experts for a short period of time-intensive content creation. The outline, scope, and approximate length of the book are established, and key contributors are identified. This is followed by remote and distributed work over a period of a few months, focussing on the bulk of the content creation. The initial close physical proximity of the authors allows for much more intense interaction than could be achieved in a purely online environment, and helps to build a team that can persist after the event.

The output from the sprint is collated in a collaborative on-line repository based on a WIKI, and is structured into sections edited simultaneously by team members. The work is continuously available in a 'finished' state which may be rendered as a printable document. This system allows continuous development during the book authoring and editing process. It also allows the authors, editors and contributors to continuously update, revise and amend the text as feedback is generated or technology changes.

This methodology has already been used successfully for the creation of the books "the Wireless Networking in the Developing World" and "Bandwidth Optimization and Management." Both of which are freely available under a Creative Commons License at www.booksprint.org.

Stream: Publishing

Paper: Book Sprint

Marco Zennaro received his Engineering degree (Laurea) in Electronic Engineering from Universita' di Trieste, Italy. He worked in the field of Digital Design at the Design Center of Infineon Technologies in Villach, Austria and at the Microelectronic Systems Lab at EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland as Research Assistant. He currently works at the ICTP in projects involving networking and wireless communications for scientific institutions in developing countries. His research interests are ICT4D and wireless sensor networks. He is co-author of the Wireless Networking in Developing Countries (www.wndw.net) book.

Http://www.ictp.it/~canessae

Carlo Fonda is a Scientific Consultant at the ICTP. He is involved
in training and projects on computer networking using wireless techniques,
open source and standards within the Aeronomy and Radiopropagation
Laboratory. His interests include, among others, radio propagation issues
and the relationship between social and economic development and
telecommunications. Since 1995, he has been involved in the implementation
of the first Wireless LAN in an African University.

Martin Belcher is responsible for the design, management and implementation of INASP’s training and capacity development activities in the areas of ICT and information use and management. In 2005 this involved INASP facilitating, sometimes directly but mainly through the use of local partners, over 40 skills development events to over 800 participants from 300+ institutions in Africa, Latin America and South Asia.

Prior to working for INASP, Martin has a background in Web based systems development, GIS and archaeological research with the University of Bristol, UK.

Rob Flickenger has been writing professionally since 2002. He has written and edited several books, including Building Wireless Community Networks and Wireless Hacks, published by O'Reilly Media. He co-founded Metrix Communication LLC (http://metrix.net/), a wireless hardware company dedicated to open source software, open standards, and ubiquitous wireless networking. Prior to becoming an active member of SeattleWireless (http://seattlewireless.net/), he was a founding father of the NoCat project (http://nocat.net/). Rob's ultimate goal is the realization of Infinite Bandwidth Everywhere for Free. He publishes some of his adventures along the path toward realizing this goal at http://constructiveinterference.net/