Archive

Tag: mozilla

  • Trigger Warning Project / Playing with @mozilla Popcorn Maker

    It’s been about a month since I made my initial post on the Trigger Warning that appeared on Sociological Images.  Since then, they’ve posted another post with the exact same trigger warning and issue.  It has been very generative for me to experience this.  I am working through what it means to face oppression the way that we do.  I think I am almost comfortable with my thoughts on it, which is good because I have a final presentation/performance thing for my last performance studies course ever on December 7th and that is what I wrote/am writing on.  This is what I’ve come up with so far (aka iteration/draft 1) for my digital installation:

    I might play with it a bit more… I might even try to play with popcorn.js, but I am happy with where it is.  Popcorn Maker was easy to use.  Working through this  allowed me to let go of that second post.  I think I don’t need to comment on it. But I will add it to the list of things that make me shake my head and push me to do my project.

    * * *

  • Design Jam Chapel Hill

    The first International Design Jam is now over.  I served as the Mozilla Champion/Organizer/Facilitator for Design Jam Chapel Hill. 

    We were sponsored by Mozilla Labs (of course as this is part of the concept series) and the Institute for the Arts and Humanities at UNC Chapel Hill.

    All in all, the event was very successful.  The three things I heard the most from attendees were:

    • “I’ve learned at least as much as I’ve put in if not a lot more”
    • “I’m having a lot of fun!”
    • “This has really changed how I think of group work”

    Unfortunately, as is often the case with free events, some of the people who registered didn’t show up.  We had space for 32, at our high had a registration number of 28 ended up with  ~20 registrations once cancellations came in, and 15 people showed up, 1 of whom was a walk-in that I had extended an invitation to.  So, small group.  I’m not sure how to combat this phenomenon.  I had the same experience with THATCamp RTP.  In the end it was a really good size though.  I put  people into three groups of 5.  Each group had a smart room with projectors, Internet access, etc (something that wouldn’t have been possible had we had more).  Needless to day, all things have their blessings.

    As an organizer I was forced to be in on the outside looking in.  I spent a little bit of time with each group usually listening, occasionally speaking.  Two of the three groups were so in to their design that there really wasn’t room for late/outside contributions.  Our mentor, Joyce Rudinsky, had the same experience as she moved from team to team.  This was a good thing.  They all produced some pretty amazing stuff, that they have posted (and are continuing to post) to the wiki.

    In terms of things that were successful, my top 3 things that went well were:

    • Teams of 5 (seemed like just the right number)
    • Lunch (we were able to provide it, and people socialized the entire time and got to know each other)
    • Spaces/Stationary (it seemed like people had access to everything they needed so they were okay “locking” themselves in their rooms.)

    Three things that could have been a bit better:

    • A bit more time to plan (we were constrained based on space availability)
    • Finding ways to get broader outreach (We had a good group, but would have loved a little bit more diversity)
    • More structured input points (I think if the teams knew at point x someone will stop by and critique it would have been easier)

    All in all though, the event was a great success. If anyone is interested in seeing what we did, please check out the wiki!

    If you want to contact individual teams, they should be adding their info to the wiki if it isn’t already there. 

    I am looking forward to seeing what the other Design Jams come up with.

     

    * * *

  • Mozilla Drumbeat: Learning, Freedom and the Web

    Last week, from Wednesday to Friday I was in Barcelona, Spain for the first Mozilla Drumbeat festival on Learning, Freedom and the Web.  I was there as part of the HASTAC Storming the Academy tent and as a student.  I didn’t get to wander too much, but that is okay.  I am using the Storming the Academy tent as a field site for an ethnography project so it makes sense.

    It is also so interesting to hear what people are saying.  I went to drumbeat with one question:  “How do you imagine the involvement of tradition forms of Higher Education in the future of Freedom, Learning and the Web?”  I actually had responses from everyone I spoke with other than “but how are we going to credential” which is not something that has happened yet in academic settings.  Most people there were in agreement that the approach to learning and spaces of learning needs to be more holistic.  However, people were still unwilling to completely let go of some of the ideals of industrialized education.  They are just re-imagining them and making them more flexible.  I would have to do more reflecting and exploring to determine if I think that is a good thing or a bad thing.

    Things that were great:

    • Gunner, quite possibly the best facilitator ever
    • The quality of everything
    • Conversations
    • Technology
    • Variety of people there

    Things that could have been better:

    • More local involvement (I am still not clear how locals are kept out of a conversation on the city as a classroom)
    • Volunteers to translate so participation is more open
    • Finding a means to encourage exploration
    • Putting people/tents closer together
    • Drink/Snack Stations (coffee, water, fruit, crackers throughout the event)
    • Longer time for sessions

    So, on to the points that I am trained to observe that were reproduced (as is normal and also abnormal) at the event.  There was a very clear lack of diversity.  In terms of people of color there were a few of us.  I believe there was one other black American female and one European African female (she was amazing.  Her name was Nadia, and her project makes my heart sing.  It is called the Prototype Project, and yes, you should check it out).  There was also at least one black American male from, from Chicago, a Saffa… and… I might have missed some people.  There were some asian males, from all over, meaning US and UK asian ;0), but not as many as one often sees at big tech events.  I also came in to contact with one asian female from the states.  So that was interesting.

    Now on to the abnormal/positive observation: THERE WERE SO MANY FRIGGIN’ AMAZING WOMEN at the event.  I didn’t realize, though I’m sure I’ve seen it before, that Mitchell Baker, the Chair of Mozilla Foundation, is a woman.  And she was just one of too many to name who were in attendance.  She and Cathy, the prof from the Duke class I was there with, gave the keynotes.  That was super empowering.  Also, even though they didn’t speak about it openly, the people who were interested in using digital media and the open source culture for advocacy were there, and we found each other.  That was a wonderful thing.

    New Things I learned about that I am now all about from Drumbeat:
    (there was so much stuff I missed and didn’t get to play with though.  I am so sad about that.  Even the things mentioned above I only saw briefly.)

    So, I will go in to more detail about what I observed/did/the point was for me in the digital performance ethnography thing I am in the process of working on.  I will post and update and link from this blog once it is ready (hopefully by the end of this crazy month).

    I am hoping I get invited back to next year’s event and that next year is in Amsterdam… but Amsterdam is just a personal preference.

    * * *