From Usenet to Web 2.0 and beyond - Presentation on TUG 2011

I attended the TeX Users Group Conference 2011 in Trivandrum, Kerala, India, from October 19 to October 21. On this meeting I made a presentation about TeX online communities, such as discussion groups, mailing lists and web forums. I introduced the TeX Q&A site tex.stackexchange.com and showed some of its features which make it a good choice for developing and sharing TeX contents, for building a TeX knowledge base besides just discussing. Finally I compared those systems.

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Abstract:

Bringing together TeX users online - from Usenet to Web 2.0 and beyond

It all began with the Usenet, around 1980. The online discussion board comp.text.tex emerged, where TeX hackers gathered and still populate it today.

On the continuously developing Internet, TeX user groups created mailing lists, built home pages and software archives. Web forums turned up and lowered the barrier for beginners and occasional TeX users for getting support.

Today, TeX’s friends can also follow blogs, news feeds, and take part in vibrant question and answer sites.

In this talk we will look at present online TeX activities.

See also the TUG 2011 conference program.