Drumbeat/roughnotes

These are Mark Surman's rough notes from conversations about Mozilla Drumbeat during August and September 2009. Does not include handwritten notes, which means it's mostly covering phone conversations. Will eventually add. Full list of people we talked to here.

Notes from MozCamp EU Mini Open Web Camp

• What do you want from this session
  • Creative side of the things we're working on – video tag – open video – the importance of the open web – what can we see
  • how people understand and appreciate what they have before they loose it
  • web as a public resource and how we can make the mozilla mission more **understandable to users – not just community members
  • making the open web as a concept more understandable to everyone
  • bringing the web to people who don't have it
  • the tension between web standards and innovation, making that more understandable to developers and people who use the web
  • how we make people care about the open web in a framework that doesn't just involve firefox
  • who are they people that we're trying to reach out to

• Who are the people that we're trying to connect with and what do we want to tell them?
  • getting them to a spot where they are and even better participating

• Mozilla sucks at explaining what the open web is

The easiest people to reach in that way are they people who have their identity role up in making the web. It's not just people who develop software but people who work on the web.

• We need to talk to the people who “make” the web and they will have an impact on the people who “use” the web

• Task
  • What would our message be to that audience
  • message about the open web
  • why would they care

• Statement: What does the open web do
  • the open web protects your freedom
  • the open web punishes those who are based on scarcity and rewards those who innovate
  • the open web is long-term choice
  • the open web benefits those who produce real material and punishes those who create artificial demand
  • the open web is the thing that enables us to build the digital future that we want
  • the open web is a web that is accessible to all
  • on the open web you can take your data with you
  • the open web is like a really fantastic cocktail party
  • the open web is freedom
  • the internet and the web was create to achieve interoperability and that interoperability has allowed it to stay open
  • we need to make the sweet spot bigger
  • the open web allow participants to shape their experience
  • the open web is another name for the web that mozilla started to build

Chris Messina - Open Web Guy

• feedback on first scenario: web as a public resource
• want to see more of:
  • coming from a position of strength rather than crisis
  • positive outline of how you can become part of the web story
  • the web is me. is the web you?
  • offence rather defence

• idea: dashboard that visualizes the health of the internet
  • heartbeat or drumbeat
  • every tweet is a part of the heartbeat
  • involve more and more people in the story
  • shows how we all make the internet
  • visually, like airline trajectory maps
  • example: StatusNet, the movie http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lP3JaOFy-qM

• visualization works across language
  • more people can relate
  • a heads up display of the health of the web

• what's in the visualization?
  • starts with the things that people are already doing (volume)
  • you are building the open web by building public content
  • commits from open source projects and web projects
  • localization visualized
  • could fit into mozilla community dashboard idea
  • visualize these, show the buzz
  • user generated content and the infrastructure visualized
  • answers: where does the web come from?
  • showing the scale of work that it takes to build the web
  • is there more being created than is dying off
  • also, number of people coming online

• need a metric to see what's harmful and beneficial
  • focus on the beneficial things and just measure them

• do people consciously add their data to the visualization?
  • people pulling their own feeds
  • how do people feel they own the heartbeat?

• staymen design example of company that does this
  • existing stuff and projects we know
  • then get other people to throw their stuff into the mix
  • how do you get the non-tech bloggers and other content creators in this

• need to have atomic messages
  • I build the web and ...
  • tie to customization and hackability and theming
  • this is a big message
  • build a consortium around the theme of hackability

• giving people language so they can ask things like:
  • why can't I hack my twitter or facebook page
• what's the outcome of this?
• wrap this into identity
• link identity and control
• who is putting your make up, your or facebook?

• we are in critical moment in making the new winners / whose in control
  • companies mediating your identity more than your technology
  • they determine how expressive we are able to be

• what are the questions people asking in their head?
  • comparative questions about why are my friends being more expressive?
  • but needs the right tech and services that back this
  • lean towards choice in hosting and identity
  • your virtual identity will stick w/ you for a while

• some elements you want people think about:
  • configuration of how you appear and express (manifestation)
  • hackability v.s. limitations of service (tools)
  • control over your id (identity)
  • start w/ top and move down

• how do get people think of a human scale web?
  • individual in control of your destiny
  • what are your rights when you manifest your identity on the web
  • what are the things we want as individuals? should look for?

• the web is like oxygen
  • but unlike oxygen, it exists because of us
  • we have to keep working to make it happen
  • people can then be activated

• the big challenge for everybody:
  • getting to people who benefit from the web to care

• show where bits of the internet are going dark
  • and then give people a way to act
  • heat map of throttling and bandwidth monitoring
  • internet consumption stats -> how much of the itnerenet are you using?

• audience ideas:
  • start w/ spreadfirefox and download day people
  • help them find a meatier, next level challenge

• show what's possible w/ the open web
  • demos are a part of this story

Matt Thompson - SaveOurInternet

• free press / save our internet
  • thinking about moving from abstract policy to local engagement

• free press secret sauce is policy influence in washington
  • need to do more grassroots stuff? could do w/ partner like mozilla?
  • yes, if mozilla was an aggegator and force multiplier for others in the tent
  • then when there is a big issue, you can hand off to people working on specific campaigns
  • over time pushes people and traffic to people in tent like FP

• what are the audience segments we want to reach?
  • anyone who would wear a tshirt that says i heart the internet
  • no single campaign or brand has tried to connect with this segment
  • they like participation, not passivity, internet better than tv
  • this group is untapped in terms of mobilization

• who are the sub-segments?
  • bloggers (non-tech bloggers)
  • use the internet heaviliy (and professionally) but not about tech
  • firefox fans - emotional affinity, but maybe can't express
  • people who have experienced internet nightmares (security, software, etc)
  • people who fileshare
  • pirate party supporters in the EU
  • download day segment (early growth)
  • expanding one layer out from mozilla's core constituency is itself an audacious and worthy goal on its own

• what are the campaigns?
  • documenting and then spreading local examples of great ideas
  • eg. local community wireless or local gov't data
  • help people put the wheels under these in their own community
  • how to do this at the application layer?
  • what are the local examples above the connectivity layer?

Brown Bag meeting, Mountain View (12 people)

• segmentation - should we be topics-led, or audience segment-led?

• security is a negative topic for some people - that is problem
  • try a positive topic
  • don't want to be seen as fear mongers
  • counter: security is concrete as an issue
  • i heart the web. lovezilla. examples of positive campaigns.

• build campaigns around addons?
• people to target: opinion leaders and knowledge exchangers as starting point
• build a drumbeat around localization

• "find someone you know who doesn't get the open web, explain and pass it on"
  • consider what does the open web mean to you version of firefox flicks
  • "take back HTML5" movement -> this is the big tent
  • help us set the bar on html5 -> something developers can be involved in
  • we need to equip people w. specific things they can demo re: HTML5
  • need to give people small actionable things to do

• what's missing at mozilla: making open web easy to understand
  • a drumbeat explaining how to do open web mashups
  • contest make a video that shows a non-super technical person why the open web matters or something specific about open web technology

• leverage our brand value, put people's stuff on a mozilla branded web site.
  • this is one reason the design challenges work.
  • e.g. my name appears on mozilla page if i help my mom install firefox

• change the gameboard so people care again:
  • they don't care about performance, okay with good enough
  • making bad bargains everyday re: identity and privacy
  • use drumbeat to refine how we talk to people and make them care

• the 1% of influencers got firefox to grow, we need to use them to build our messages
  • need to give the influencers the memes they carry to others -> portable ideas

• good community metrics will be key

• examples of successful drumbeats -> ghandi, obama, what made them a success? what was the message?
  • generate a list the elements of successful campaigns

• a key thing is to give people a feeling of control -> of the web

Brian Behlendorf - board member

• need to be writing alot, build up fan base?
• how do we reach outside, get to new people
  • need to do the segmentation
  • what about the generation which is in college now?
  • maybe they take the open web for granted?

• how do we have a cross-over hit that drags people over?
• how do we get the explosion of awareness effect?
• simple, maybe even cheesy -> but big
• cast a bigger, wider net

• community geek squads that can help with civic needs
  • focus on service
  • archive the stories that come out of it
  • and also useful approaches
  • community built lesson plans
    • how to use the web effectivly
    • how to set up a site

• do a pattern recognition on what people offered in service week

Mitch Kapor - board member

• excited and thinks its a worthy direction
  • there is a need and an opportunity here
  • grassroots, highly distributed activism is needed

• what issues are resonating: lots of heterogeneity
  • not sure what issue sort to the top of the pile
  • people in DC care about policy
  • people who are early adopters care about undue power of big players
  • quasi monopoly makes people nuts -> lots of resonance
• questions should be asked and studies done to see where we can do campaigns

• topics -> vision should embrace everything and leave nothing out
  • but the operating plan and time sequencing should respect where things are now

• do big annual convening as its own new thing
• let local groups emerge and do their own thing
  • need to look at centralization vs decentralization as architecture
• run this by nathan

• who should we be tapping as Drumbeat partners?
  • ask nathan
  • w3c -> web foundation -> should talk to them
  • person who runs netroots nation -> Raven Brooks

Simon Heath - Pollution Probe

• take practical stands on issues, things people can act on
• talk more to partners, not just usual suspects
• let's talk to free press now -> get in on net neutrality
• also, talk to pew -> research and surveys together

Glyn Moody - Journalist

• agrees that Europe is particularly fertile ground for Drumbeat
• EU trusts and gets Mozilla, we can use this to get them thinking bigger about the open web
• focusing broadly on consumer action is a good idea, we could work w/ consumer orgs in Europe and elsewhere
• also, work with open government people, lots of synergy there

Ivan Sigal -- Global Voices

• use bridging people to get them involved in network
• build relationships and those people build further relationships
• in many places, people don't take the freedom of the web for granted
• state what a healthy web is for a lay person
  • then getting the bridge people to share these ideas
• build something modular, that can be take into other places
  • e.g. taking mozilla roadshow to enviro activists
  • share cc / moz document w/ ivan ... involve gv
  • (use drumbeat as a platform for others, but only if the boundaries and purpose of the space are clear
  • be rigorous about your limits
• tie into organizations that already see internet as civic function
  • e.g. public libraries that provide internet access

Ronaldo Lemos - FGV Brasil

• mapping who is interested and involved in this movement
  • what's on the map? who's in the field? (openness ties it)
• work w companies and government - not just civil society
• tapping into in brasil:
  • lan house association as channel for this
  • tie into Rio LAN house commission (result of work Mozilla did)
  • LAN houses as education, new media, digital inclusion
  • tie to digital citizenship
• mobile also another place that we could be working
• tie into education and model schools
• build around narrow issues e.g. video
  • but could have a broader agenda ...
  • ... w/ yearly agendas
  • build agenda on what is bubbling up from these communities
• open video as good topic for this year's agenda
• approach For re: media democratization
• IDB -> multisector partnership

Asa Dotzler - Mozilla Evangelism

• start w/ topics and campaigns that are concrete (eg. security)
• FLOSS manual on how to be a good web citizen / best practices for the web
• whitepapers for how the web oughta be
• always make sure to have actions people can take that are simple enough
  • firefoxflicks -> 30 sec commercials *and* simple testimonials
  • much of recruiting by reaching out to film schools on the phone
  • used film and video boards
• http://www.firefoxflicks.com/brief/brief.html
• great judges we're a big draw
• put firefoxflicks ad in the google snippet

Bruno Magrani - FGV Brasil + Berkman grad student

• need to come up w/ better map of which organizations exist on these issues
  • ask these organizations how we can help?
• work w/ Brasilian consumers union
  • good on consumers rights on telecom
  • could move into internet very easily
• for individuals -> create services that help them w/ privacy and data portability
• it's hard to come up w/ ways to engage individuals
  • maybe broad ideastorm on things like 'what pisses you off about the web' 'what do you love?'
• good thing about things like service week is that it organizes people around personal contact
  • people helping people makes things real, and gets dialogue going
• in Brasil, DRM is likely to be hotspot issue for consumers
  • people see this against consumers rights
  • and there is strong consumer protection legislation
• also, mobile rights -> unlocked phones
  • people feel it most here
• Brasil good environment to work w/ academics because action oriented
• Berkman also a good place and Bruno can act as a link
  • good for helping us define the issues we work on

Sunil Abraham - Centre for Internet Studies, Bangalore

• opportunities in India ...
• free culture road show happening in December
• lots of government activity going on re: ICTs and open standards
  • local Mozilla people could be good to get involved
  • main thing is these Mozilla reps just need a business
• the list of topics that Mozilla is interested in are all still emerging in India (e.g. identity)
• the only exception is mobile -> this is big issue
  • open standards for mobile big issue, so apps go across platforms
  • also how mobile works as part of social and development
• privacy and security is mostly about children's safety in india
  • cis planning to get into this area
• identity: not sure large sections of indian society will get it
  • mostly concerns the geek crowd
• freedom of speech is an increasing concern
  • young people increasingly arrested for saying things on internet
  • "you can be arrested for annoying people online" (IT Act)
  • working on activities related to privacy, security in relation to IT Act
• but really the big action in India is around the open standards debate
  • vendor neutral tendering for gov't etc.
  • web accessibility for disabled is subset of this
• government is largest IT purchaser in India, so all of this matters
• also, $1 billion going into open educational resources in next 3 years
• can't pick just one issue as Mozilla to do each year -> need campaigns that have different angles in different places
• could invent small ways for people to participate via consumer groups
  • and then grow to deeper engagement from there
  • beyond classical advocacy and policy work
  • herdict is one place where you could get used
• still haven't gone out to the Bangalore IT companies w/ a campaign
  • this is something that we could do together
  • small campaigns targeted at this group -> posters etc.
  • BarCamps etc. are very strong ... so could tap these as well
  • MobileMondays, StartUp Saturday, LUGs, etc. also
• need to have a process of looking for the right issues that will resonate
  • like meme engineering, your need to try many things
• bringing many players together, not just the techies
  • use this to design campaigns

John Slater - Mozilla Marketing

• Market Segmentation - firefox fans -> getting them actively involved
• MoCo thinks of mkt segmentation at very general level
  • tech enthusiasts - evangelism
  • everyone else - marketing
• spreadfirefox as obvious starting point
• also: get seth's input, and ask how to engage localizers
• local events -> localizers and community marketing as base
• action campaigns -> like the 8 million people who did download day
  • need engagement pathway to keep these people in the fold

• Takeaways on market segmentation
  • starting point -> localizers and community marketing champions
  • firefox fans -> segment and target download day type people
  • allies -> working w/ people like CC, Global Voices, etc.