Goethe Post on Book Sprints

Over the past few years a new format of transferring and recording knowledge has been developing. It is based on short term dynamics and the mechanisms of Bar Camps or brainstorming sessions. It is called Book Sprint.
To take part in a Book Sprint, a group of people will meet at a location which has an internet connection and will work for three to five days on a whole book. The Berlin-based New Zealander Adam Hyde invented the format with a few fellow campaigners. He describes the future of the book as “open and collaborative” . It is important that participants have an open mind if a Book Sprint is to be successful. It isn’t until they actually attend the sprint that visitors share their ideas and visions with each other. In this way a spirit that breathes soul into the emerging book is created.

Book Sprints have different dimensions. They encourage collaboration processes and are very dynamic. An initial version of a book can be produced within a short time and this can then be regularly updated with up-to-date content. So a book is no longer static as it once was. Furthermore, because of the heterogeneous group of people involved, highly diverse influences are channelled into the project.
There are already many great examples for this format. The team of consultants and experts at Open Oil used a Book Sprint for its most recent publication. The specialist book Oil Contracts – how to read and understand them came about in five days. It provides a foundation for NGOs and politicians in countries with oil reserves who want to address the complicated issues of oil contracts. Thus, expert knowledge is made available and shared with others at an international level and also has an educational function.

Book Sprints are deeply rooted in the Open Source movement. Therefore, it’s no surprise that a sprint on the theme of “Learn Do Share”was held at the DIY Days (Do It Yourself) in New York last year. You can see the result here. This terrific work presents 100 ideas that can make the world 100 per cent better.

Obviously at a Book Sprint the following question is also asked: “How can we keep the content public and accessible to everyone?” Creative Commons has an answer. A sprint was also held to produce an Open Textbook for the organisation.

So Adam Hyde seems to have “discovered” a pioneering approach. Open, dynamic, up-to-date and effective. What other method of content production can make those claims? And, of course, it goes without saying that the software used is Open Source!

Translation: Jo Beckett

This article is published under CC BY licence.

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