From Lurker, to Follower, to Leader: Mozilla All Hands in London Goals

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The “Mozillian Lurker”

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Photo by https://www.flickr.com/photos/felixhuth/

Sitting next to Sunny Lee and Carla Casilli on on school bus exploring Vancouver during the the “Open Education” Conference in 2012, I discovered that I was already a Mozillian. Although on the fringes of the community, I learned about open badges and realized, that’s what I am doing already!  In late 2012, I collaborated with Laura Hilliger and Pete Rorabaugh (Twitter vs Zombies fame)  as co-conspirators for #ETMOOC. We worked together on a digital storytelling week. The primary reason Pete and Laura were involved in ETMOOC was to learn more about how to facilitate and offer future MOOCs. Pete is a part of the famous #moocmooc community and Laura developed Mozilla’s #TeachTheWeb community. I had no idea I was learning with experts as we collaborated and conspired together. I also managed to meet Laura and other Mozillians like Chad Sansing face to face at EduCon in January 2013. We even managed to be part of the #ETMOOC Lip Dub (Check 1:18)  That year I worked with Alberta Distance Learning Centre and won an Innovation Award for creating the Open Classroom – which would never have happened without the key connections and learning that had occurred throughout the year.

I spent the next year completing my course work for my UBC MET and briefly supported the development of the original web literacy competencies led by Doug Belshaw.  As part of my project work completing my MET with UBC, I presented my research to the mozilla open badges community. By developing my connections within the original open badges and #teachtheweb community I met people who have since become trusted mentors like Ian O’Byrne and  friends like Emma Irwin.

Over the last 4 years, I never really moved from the “fringes” of the Mozilla community – but I was always a Mozillian. I live and breathe openness. I strive for open communication within our school systems and developing digital literacy for all learners. As a Canadian, I work with a lot of American educators and we chat about web safety and privacy regularly – there is a difference. I watched from afar as Mozilla changed leadership, watched as my “heros and leaders” shifted their focus and I watched as Mozilla started new campaigns and directions.

Emma Irwin reconnected with me about 6 months ago – she checked in to see what I was up to. We had met years ago in Victoria when I was considering a PhD program.  Late last year, Emma asked me if I would be interested in volunteering with the Mozilla participation team. I was working with an organization at the time that did not give me the “soul work” I always need, so I said yes. I had no idea what the participation team was or what I was getting myself into. After a failed attempt to get me to Singapore (my fault), the timing was right for London – and I am about to break my pattern and move from the “Mozilla fringes” into the “Mozilla swamp”.

Jumping Into the Mozilla Community:

  1. Communication and Identity -> One of the Mozilla’s main goals is to increase membership. How we go about this will be a hot conversation topic in London. However, one of my goals will be to be an honest and authentic guinea pig who will act as a voice for the “Future” Mozillians. Learning about GitHUb, how to follow the Mozilla project process, how to communicate, Mozilla rhetoric – these are all experiences I can speak to first hand. In London – I will be asking  a lot of questions and asking for a lot of clarification. I will need people to explain things and to repeat things for me.  I have a lot of experience working as an ESL teacher and I know how important it is to remember that a student’s inability to communicate has nothing to do with their cognitive abilities. Just because they can’t answer my questions, doesn’t mean they don;t know the answers. To say I am stepping outside my comfort zone would be an understatement from a technical vocabulary and programming point of view – many Mozillians will be speaking another language to me. However, I hope that by trying to communicate in my fringe language, that I can lead present Mozillians to future Mozillians.
  2. Building community- based on my current network Idea -> Based on goal #1, and my desire to use diversity to increase communication and future Mozillians, I want to use my K12 teacher network to support future volunteer opportunities. Right now I am calling it a “Teachers Without Borders” idea, but I hope to work on this concept and have a viable action plan after spending time in London.
  3. Learning → I am starting my EdD  at UofC this summer. I plan on learning more about Mozilla’s campus campaign to learn how I can better support current Mozilla projects as well as learn more about the research community and finally get some ideas for my future research.

I genuinely have no idea who I want to meet in London, although I am hoping to connect with Chad Sansing because he is cool and Emma Irwin because she was the one who spent the time pulling me from the fringes.

Push me, challenge me, encourage me, hear me….All Hands in London comes at a great time for me – and I am heading into London with my eyes and ears wide open! Let the fun begin!