Using Org-mode and Subversion for Managing and Publishing Content in Computer Science courses

Abstract

Content creation and management is an inevitable part of teaching a course. This paper describes a novel way of handling this problem using Org-mode, a recently created text-based information management tool being used within the Emacs user community. We list certain desirable features, specially for the purposes of computer science courses, such as support for collaborative development and literate programming. We show how Org-mode compares favourably over other approaches like wikis and other content and course management systems. We describe why the combination of Org-mode and version control is suitable for creating and publishing content quickly, with minimum overhead in a collaborative manner.