Not so much free software, but discussions of ideas for future books.
Writing a new book is a daunting prospect, and it would really help to know in advance whether there is sufficient interest in the subject to make it worthwhile. So the purpose of this repository is to provoke and encourage discussion on whether anyone is interested in these proposals and what they would like to see.
It's based on the overview here: https://activityworkshop.net/books/ but hopefully the possibility of raising Issues on this repository will help stimulate feedback.
This user guide for the GpsPrune application is already available, see here for more details: https://gpsprune.activityworkshop.net/userguide.html .
If you have any feedback, criticism, suggestions, or requests, you can raise them either here or in the GpsPrune repo.
As outlined on the web page, this proposal is for a collaboration project combining some technical / geeky / programming / puzzle topics together with practical applications to the hobby of geocaching.
Some ideas of things to discuss:
- a brief introduction to geocaching for those who have never done it before (what is a cache, how to find simple caches with GPS, ways to use GpsPrune etc)
- some theory (representation of GPS coordinates, different coordinate systems, terminology)
- Cache databases
- Multi-caches and calculations, some geocaching jargon like letter values, digit sums
- Using maps and aerial imagery
- Puzzle caches and Checkers
- using Python or Java or spreadsheets to solve puzzles (at a getting started level)
- techniques used in advanced puzzles, like data encoding systems (eg ascii, base64, hex, braille, semaphore, morse, qr), simple encryption systems (ROT13, monoalphabetic (Caesar), polyalphabetic (Vigenère), PGP, ...), other data-hiding tricks
- Whereigo caches, Adventure Labs
- online resources, tools, discussion forums, etiquette
Target audience:
- People with some geocaching experience who want to increase their geek level, who want to add more tricks to their puzzle-solving toolset or find ways to expand their knowledge
- People who are keen on number puzzles or programming, but have never done geocaching and are intrigued about getting started
Do you like the sound of those topics and the scope? Anything you'd like to see here but isn't mentioned yet? Would you strongly prefer epub to pdf or any other specific requests? Any more suggestions for scope / intended audience? Please raise an issue!
This idea of writing an ebook about the Swiss hiking route (see https://activityworkshop.net/hiking/alpinepassroute ) has been thrown around for years but the response has been very low, and alternatives exist (on paper) already. So I guess that this won't work, but I'll raise it again anyway. Interested? Or alternative ideas? Please raise an issue!
As with the Alpine Pass Route mentioned above, this could be another opportunity to make a hiking guide for Switzerland, for the long-distance route number 3 ( https://www.schweizmobil.ch/en/wanderland/route-03.html ). The main difference is that I haven't hiked all of this route yet, so it would be more of a longer-term project to plan the hikes, take the photos, research the route and write all the descriptions from scratch. Again there is an existing guidebook for sale (from AT-Verlag), but they currently have no plans to translate that guide into English. Please raise an issue if you're interested.
I'm not sure whether the target audience for this is pre-teens who only know tablets and telephones but are not yet familiar with PCs, or whether it's grandparents who maybe already have a PC but aren't really comfortable with it. Yes, there are lots of "Grandparents' guide to the PC" books already but for me they're all too specific. I don't like the idea of a "how to use a Windows PC" guide or a "how to use an Apple PC" guide. I'd prefer to see the concepts of a PC taught with examples from both. I don't think "how to use Microsoft Word" is a good way to start, I'd prefer a "how to use a word processor" with examples from Word, Libreoffice and so on. Transferable skills.
Possible topics could cover what is a file, how can I find the one I'm looking for, are they on my PC or somewhere in the internet? What is a spreadsheet, what program do I need if I want to make a party invitation? What does a browser do (not just what words and buttons do Edge and Safari use)? How can I make backups? How do I use email safely? How do I choose which search engine to use? In short, how to get to grips with the basics of a PC, no matter which kind of PC it is. Stressing the commonalities between Microsoft, Apple and Linux systems (maybe even also ChromeOS?) so you can use any one. Stressing the common concepts of office suites, browsers, file managers etc so you can use any one.
Sounds interesting? Then please raise an issue!