#title Phil Bull ||<>|| Documentation guy, wiki editor, Mallard evangelist, DocBook wrangler, former bug triager, occasional en_GB translator, erstwhile .desktop file meddler, and Ubuntu user (of course). My interests are in documentation, user assistance, and usability. I graduated with a Masters' in Physics with Astrophysics from the [[http://www.physics.manchester.ac.uk/|University of Manchester]], UK, in July 2010 and I'm going on to study for a DPhil (PhD) in Theoretical Cosmology at the [[http://www-astro.physics.ox.ac.uk/|University of Oxford]], UK. I'm interested in dark energy, and will be looking at inhomogeneous (non-FRW) cosmologies which reproduce the observational effects associated with dark energy. == Book == I co-authored the 4th edition of ''[[http://nostarch.com/ubuntu4.htm|Ubuntu for Non-Geeks]]'', with Rickford Grant. It was published by [[http://nostarch.com|No Starch Press]] in July 2010, and is available from all good bookstores! You can find out more about the book (including details of parts of it that I released under a Creative Commons license) in [[http://philbull.livejournal.com/55089.html|this blog post]]. == Links == * [[https://launchpad.net/people/philbull|Launchpad]] * [[http://www.livejournal.com/users/philbull|LiveJournal]] * [[http://www.flickr.com/photos/philbull/|Flickr]] * [[http://www.last.fm/user/pjbull/|Last.fm]] * [[http://twitter.com/philipbull|philipbull on Twitter]] * [[http://identi.ca/philbull|philbull on Identi.ca]] == Documentation == I'm an active member of the Doc Team, and spend most of my Ubuntu-time committing patches, closing bugs and helping-out mentoring students. I also work with the [[http://developer.gnome.org/projects/gdp/|GNOME Documentation Project]], and am a member of its Steering Committee. == Bugs == I was a member of the bugsquad, but haven't been very active recently. * [[https://launchpad.net/people/philbull/+subscribedbugs?field.searchtext=&search=Search+bugs+Phil+Bull+is+Cc%27d+to&orderby=-priority%2C-severity&field.status%3Alist=Unconfirmed&field.status%3Alist=Needs+Info&field.status%3Alist=Rejected&field.status%3Alist=Confirmed&field.status%3Alist=In+Progress&field.status%3Alist=Fix+Committed&field.status%3Alist=Fix+Released&assignee_option=any&field.assignee=&field.owner=&field.omit_dupes.used=&field.omit_dupes=on&field.has_patch.used=|Bugs I'm subscribed to]]. * [[https://launchpad.net/people/philbull/+reportedbugs?field.searchtext=&search=Search+bugs+reported+by+Phil+Bull&orderby=-priority%2C-severity&field.status%3Alist=Unconfirmed&field.status%3Alist=Needs+Info&field.status%3Alist=Rejected&field.status%3Alist=Confirmed&field.status%3Alist=In+Progress&field.status%3Alist=Fix+Committed&field.status%3Alist=Fix+Released&assignee_option=any&field.assignee=&field.omit_dupes.used=&field.omit_dupes=on&field.has_patch.used=|Bugs I've reported.]] == Responsibilities == * Currently a member of the [[http://mail.gnome.org/archives/gnome-doc-list/2009-June/msg00009.html |GNOME Documentation Team Steering Committee]]. * I'm a maintainer of the Ubuntu documentation and member of the documentation committers team. * I greet new members of the documentation team and help them find tasks. == Current Projects == * Writing and editing the new GNOME desktop help * Planning for the coming renaissance in the GNOME developer documentation * Numerous GNOME application manuals (Evolution, Evince, GNOME Color Manager) * Working on the system documentation and TopicBasedHelp * Helping out with [[http://live.gnome.org/ProjectMallard|Project Mallard]] * Analysing IRC logs, forum posts and website statistics to try and gauge the demand for certain documentation == Past Projects == * '''MOTU Science .desktop files''' * [[http://tauware.de/pipermail/ubuntu-science/2006-March/000101.html|ubuntu-science Completion announcement]] * [[https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-art/2006-March/000875.html|ubuntu-art request for icons]] * [[http://philbull.googlepages.com/ubuntuscience|Project files and icons]] * '''Switching from Windows guide''' * [[SFWGuide]] * '''System documentation''' * [[https://help.ubuntu.com/]] * System -> Help and Support * '''GNOME manuals''' * Substantial updates to the GNOME [[http://library.gnome.org/users/user-guide/stable/|User Guide]] * Coordinating the writing or updating of several GNOME manuals * [[https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-doc/2008-March/010477.html|Empathy]] * [[https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-doc/2007-October/009734.html|Deskbar-Applet]] * [[https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-doc/2009-January/012345.html|Rhythmbox]] * '''DocuMENTORS''' * Worked on setting-up the [[DocumentationTeam/Mentoring|DocuMENTORS]] programme * Mentoring new contributors * '''Welcome Centre''' * Playing with the [[http://philbull.livejournal.com/43421.html|Welcome Centre]] concept (it never came to anything) == Testing == Some pages I'm using to test new ideas: <> ---- CategoryHomepage