A book sprint is a method of creating a book
collaboratively
Collaboration (from Latin ''com-'' "with" + ''laborare'' "to labor", "to work") is the process of two or more people, entities or organizations working together to complete a task or achieve a goal. Collaboration is similar to cooperation. Most ...
in a short period of time, usually three to five days.
Book sprints make use of
unconference
An unconference is a participant-driven meeting. The term "unconference" has been applied, or self-applied, to a wide range of gatherings that try to avoid hierarchical aspects of a conventional conference, such as sponsored presentations and top ...
techniques
to ensure that a group of content experts under the guidance of one or more facilitators can not only write but publish a book at the end of the sprint period.
Books are made available immediately at the end of the sprint as
e-books
An ebook (short for electronic book), also known as an e-book or eBook, is a book publication made available in digital form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on the flat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices. Alt ...
and/or with
print-on-demand
Print on demand (POD) is a printing technology and business process in which book copies (or other documents, packaging or materials) are not printed until the company receives an order, allowing prints of single or small quantities. While oth ...
services.
Book sprints have been compared to the programming sprints common in
agile software development
In software development, agile (sometimes written Agile) practices include requirements discovery and solutions improvement through the collaborative effort of self-organizing and cross-functional teams with their customer(s)/ end user(s), ad ...
or
Scrum
Scrum may refer to:
Sport
* Scrum (rugby), a method of restarting play in rugby union and rugby league
** Scrum (rugby union), scrum in rugby union
* Scrum, an offensive melee formation in Japanese game Bo-taoshi
Media and popular culture
* M ...
.
History
The seed of the book sprint was sown in London in 2005.
Wireless network expert Tomas Krag recognized the need for a single, authoritative, online, freely licensed book on the topic of developing wireless internet infrastructure in Africa and other developing countries that could be translated into multiple languages, but he was unwilling to write the book himself using traditional methods.
This "book sprint" took several months, however, both in preparation and in post-sprint editing.
Web artist and
FLOSS Manuals
The FLOSS Manuals (FM) is a non-profit foundation founded in 2006 by Adam Hyde and based in the Netherlands. The foundation is focused on the creation of quality documentation about how to use free software.
Its web site is a wiki (previously u ...
founder Adam Hyde turned the rough idea of a book sprint into a systematic method, defining and refining the process in the course of many book sprints, and turning the book sprint into a
time-boxed event of at most a single week. After learning from Tomas Krag about his initial "book sprint" effort, Hyde recognized the potential of the method, especially for producing
Free/Libre/Open Source Software
Free and open-source software (FOSS) is a term used to refer to groups of software consisting of both free software and open-source software where anyone is freely licensed to use, copy, study, and change the software in any way, and the source ...
help manuals and handbooks.
Hyde facilitated a five-day book sprint in 2008 that produced a how-to book about bypassing Internet censorship as well as a prototype of a collaborative writing platform designed with the book sprint in mind.
Since then, book sprints have been held on a wide range of topics, including
art
Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas.
There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...
, education,
governance,
science, and software.
Book sprints now generally emphasize that participants should not prepare before the sprint and should not continue work after the sprint, that one or more trained and experienced facilitators must be present who do not take part in the writing of the book, and that book sprints are an appropriate method for any topic.
According to Hyde, book sprints are best when run by a trained facilitator and using the right kind of collaborative writing software.
However, others have used variants of the process to produce books, e.g., ''Creative Sprint'', which spread work over 7 weeks, beginning and ending with face to face sprints.
In 2013-4 "BookSprints for ICT Research" produced a detailed study of Book Sprints, additionally producing five books at book sprints over the course of the study.
Process
In a book sprint, between five and fifteen experts sit together in the same space. Apart from an idea for the topic there are no requirements or contents prepared beforehand. Central to the process is the facilitator who guides the contributors through the process to develop a book in maximum five days.
The resulting book is published by the end of the five days through print on demand as well as in different e-book formats. In general, the books are distributed freely, and the main resources are not generated from sales but through sponsors or
crowdfunding
Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and alternative finance. In 2015, over was raised worldwide by crow ...
platforms, for example.
Some books produced at book sprints
Inkscape July 2008
How to Bypass Internet Censorship November 2008
Collaborative Futures January 2010
On Turtles and Dragons and the Dangerous Quest for Media Art Notation Systems September 2012
Understanding Oil Contracts October 2012
Imaginary Museums, Computationality, and the New Aesthetic November 2012
Introduction to Mallard October 2013
Contributors' Guide to BRL-CAD October 2013
Open MRS Developers' Guide October 2013
Adaptive Collective Systems November 2013
Mining Contracts: How to Read and Understand Them December 2013
March 2014
British Columbia in a Global Context(an
open textbook
An open textbook is a textbook licensed under an open license, and made available online to be freely used by students, teachers and members of the public. Many open textbooks are distributed in either print, e-book, or audio formats that may be do ...
), June 2014
Nameless November 2014
External links
BookSprints.net
References
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Book publishing