Library workers have always recognized the importance of the free exchange of information, and have often championed open protocols. Why then do we persist in using proprietary tools like Microsoft Word and Powerpoint to document and share ideas? This session will talk about open data interchange formats and how you can use them in your day-to-day work.
We talk a good game, but too often fail to back that up with our actions. How much can we lose, and how much have we lost already, by putting so much of our documentation and history into proprietary document formats? Why do we continue to depend on Microsoft Word, with its purposefully obfuscated format, or on Powerpoint, an unindexable mess? This session will do a bit of ranting, and then, thankfully, proceed to practical tips on creating and disseminating documentation in formats like Markdown and reveal.js.