Drumbeat/events/organizers/archive
Organize a Drumbeat event. Build community. Make the web better.
Mozilla is looking for local partners and leaders to help us build a global community of people passionate about keeping the web vibrant and open. We're not just looking for techies; we're looking to organize dozens of local community events that bring together artists, teachers, lawyers, filmmakers, hackers and anyone else who wants to make the web better, more open and fun.
Drumbeat is for anyone who wants to lend their skills and creativity to the cause of creating a healthier internet. Anyone who uses -- and cares about -- the open internet. These are not the traditional contributors to the Mozilla project. But we believe that everyday internet users have ideas and energy that can help make the web better.
Sound appealing? Are you looking for other people who feel the same way and want to work on cool open web projects? Organizing a Mozilla Drumbeat event in your town or city is a good way to start making the web better. Read on to find out how.
What is Mozilla Drumbeat?
With the aim of finding the next cool ideas that will make the web more open, Mozilla created Drumbeat. Mozilla Drumbeat is a global community of people using web technology to understand, participate and take control of their online lives. Drumbeat provides a forum for people to share project ideas — and matches the most promising ideas with contributors, funds and guidance. For more information, visit https://wiki.mozilla.org/drumbeat.
Drumbeat isn't just about talking and networking, but it is also about doing and making things. At a practical level, Drumbeat community members use web technology to create things that improve and protect the open internet. They run local events where people propose and work on these practical projects. They encourage others to get involved.
Anyone can propose their own Drumbeat project, or join in projects that are already happening. You can see the latest project list at http://wiki.mozilla.org/Drumbeat/projects/projectmanagement
An essential first step for Drumbeat will consist of organizing local events where people can talk about their ideas and projects to make the web better and come together to work on the same. These informal, interactive gatherings will give people a chance to talk about what they want the web to look like in 50 years, and to get involved in practical projects that realize those visions and make the web better.
What does a Drumbeat Local event look like?
Mozilla Drumbeat events are participatory gatherings for anyone who cares about the future of the open web. You are not likely to find keynote speakers or panels at Drumbeat events, and lectures and slideware will be in short supply. The entire agenda is interactive and dialog-based, designed to be driven by the interests, experiences, and passions of those who show up.
No one needs to be an expert to join in a Drumbeat Local event. Questions and curiosity will counterbalance knowledge and vision as the currency of conversations in Drumbeat Local sessions. There are already plenty of events for geeks and techies -- Drumbeat events are about creating space for *everyone* to get involved in cool projects that create a better internet. Most attendees are new to Mozilla and Drumbeat.
The design of Drumbeat events is a work in progress, being co-created by participants and local organizers. The first Drumbeat events will help to establish “what a Drumbeat event feels like”, and we encourage you to help us shape the format and the vibe.
What will be on a Drumbeat Local agenda?
Each Drumbeat Local event will reflect the culture, passions and needs of participants in the region, and the agenda will be participatory, designed by those who help organize and attend.
We'll make sure to offer foundational and introductory sessions to help new community members get up to speed, in language that makes sense to non-techies and relates to the world they know.
Sessions that might appear on the agenda include
- Open Web 101: An introduction to the future of the internet
- Drumbeat in Action: Concrete examples of the Open Web
- Open Web Makers Bazaar: Tinkering with open web projects
- Participatory Project Leadership 101: How to weave community into a project vision
Drumbeat Local events will also include a chance to discuss and get involved in concrete open web projects like:
- WebMadeMovie: An open source documentary about the web, but the web. Help imagine the web we want in 50 years.
- P2PU Open Web Skills: Take a course. Be a mentor. Tweak a textbook. Create a generation that builds their careers on open web technologies.
- Stopbadware.org: Tell, document and share stories about how badware impacts everyday internet users
- Universal Subtitles: making it easy for anyone to create and view subtitles for videos on the web
- Privacy icons. Help design simple icons that make it easier to understand your online privacy rights.
Session formats will be fun and interactive, designed to get participants talking to as many other people as possible and connected to folks they can keep collaborating with long after the event. The focus will be on inclusion and knowledge sharing, and all participants will be encouraged to have a hand in imagining and facilitating discussions.
What does it take to organize a Drumbeat Local event?
The primary requirements for local Drumbeat organizers are passion and a desire to reach out and engage local networks and communities.
And you're not on your own. We're putting together a Drumbeat Local Kit to aid organizers in conceptualizing and planning their events. The kit will include step by step organizer tips; boilerplate promotional copy; and instructions on how to document and share the results of local events. The kit is being designed and improved right now, and we welcome organizers to tell us what it should include and how we can support you.
If you're interested in organizing a Drumbeat Local event, you just need to let us know.
Ready to run a Drumbeat camp in your city?
Mozilla is looking for people who would like to organize Drumbeat events in towns and cities around the world in 2010, and beyond. If you want to organize a Drumbeat event in your city, drop an email to mark at mozillafoundation dot org. You should briefly tell us:
- Who are you? Why do you want to organize a Drumbeat event?
- What kind of people will you invite? How many do you hope will come?
- Where and when do you want to organize the event? Do you have a location you can use (school, community center, etc.)?
- What are the Drumbeat project ideas that you'd most like to talk about at your event? They could be from this existing list or projects that you propose.
We'll be doing at least three regional training sessions for local event organizers in the first half of 2010 -- one in Toronto (April 23) and one in Berlin (May 7). People who express interest in organizing an event in their city by April 15 will have a chance to participate in one of these sessions. Mozilla will offer a small handful of travel scholarships to support attendance.
Mozilla Drumbeat. Get involved. Help keep the web open for the next 100 years.
