Mozilla Summit 2013

    My first Mozilla Summit had its last day this Sunday. For three days, a third of Mozillians gathered in Toronto to celebrate our current achievements and plan for the future ones.
    The list is too long to describe everything I learned and did here, and it's not even settled down in my mind yet. It will take a few days for me to completely understand the magnitude of discussions, ideas and dreams we shared during the past days.
    But I do want to highlight some of the things that completely blew my mind and already left a big mark:

• together we are stronger and all the dreams we have seem more real and possible. This was obvious to me during open sessions where communities from South America shared their struggles, aspirations, desires and successes. Just because we don't speak the same language doesn't mean we are different. In fact, I didn't have to fully understand Spanish to get what fellow Mozillians were saying. We all have the same problems, just at a different scale. We all dream for a better online world, just our approach to tackle the problems is different. And that's because Mozilla is a unique community of people with thousands of backgrounds, cultures and life perspectives.
• helping people is the best thing one can do in his/her life. Helping can be as little as smiling at someone who enters the hotel after a 16 hour flight and looks for a blue hoodie with the "Mozilla Summit 2013 SITE HOST" logo on it.

• coordinating social events is exhausting. No kidding. But the satisfaction you get out from doing this is beyond words in a blog post. It has to be tried at least once to see the tip of the iceberg.
• internet access in Bolivia is as much as $30/mo for a 512 Kbps line. And I'm complaining about my 20 Mpbs cable for $70. You are humbled when you speak to members of other communities about their cities and countries. Or when you find out how much they do with less technical resources than you.
• there is so much work to do in teaching youths, young adults and grown-ups about technology and openness. Webmaker is the ramp to go beyond everything one can imagine. And I proudly wore this pin this weekend:

• I work with the best IT team ever. An open session I had about Mozilla IT was an amazing discussion only because all my fellow coworkers were there to sustain me and contribute with their knowledge.
• I have to go to South America soon. Their energy, enthusiasm and positiveness was refreshing. Learning about their culture and life style was fascinating. It made me realize how little do I know about that part of the globe. And how much I want to learn. At minimum, start with a trip to Bolivia and eat achachairú :)

    So, what's next? Participating to this summit was a confirmation that teaching will have a bigger part in my life in the future. I'm starting to like more and more talking to people, listening to them and finding answers together. This makes me so excited about the next Webmaker class I'll run at Year-Up in November.
    I will always remember #mozfest 2013 and the friends I made here.

I dream of nothing stopping me,
from being who I want to be,
and Mozilla is my dinosaur,
so I can dream a little more.

Cascada Niagara

    Cu toții am auzit de cea mai mare cascadă din lume (ca debit) la lecțiile de geografie din școala generală. Îmi amintesc și acum fiorul ce m-a trecut când am văzut pentru prima oară poze cu cascada Niagara. Au trecut mai bine de 15 de ani ca să simt pe viu acei fiori pe care îi avem când natura ne scoate în cale ceva grandios.
    Am ajuns ieri în Toronto, Canada, cu aproape o săptămână înainte de Summit-ul Mozilla. Am plecat de la aeroport direct către Niagara, pentru a sta peste noapte acolo și a petrece o zi plină,  duminica, în jurul cascadei.
    Deși relativ târziu, obosit de pe drum și fiind treaz de la 5 dimineața, nu am putut rezista tentației de a arunca o primă privire asupra cascadei. Hotelul la care am stat e convenabil plasat la câteva sute de metri de un punct de observație cu priveliștea de mai jos:

    Cum s-a lăsat noaptea, am avut parte de o surpriză. Cascada din partea Statelor Unite e luminată din Canada în culorile curcubeului, oferind o priveliște interesantă.
    Duminică de dimineață m-am urcat pe un vaporaș și am luat un tur denumit "Maid of the Mist" ("Domnișoara de ceață"). Barca te plimbă pe râul Niagara, și se apropie de cascadele care compun "Cascada Niagara":

Cascada Americană

 

Valul Miresei (în dreapta pozei)

Potcoava

În drumul către "Potcoavă", barca trece pe lângă celelalta două cascade, având unica ocazie de a fi în două țări în același timp: râul Niagara desparte Canada de Statele Unite ale Americii. Privind înspre partea canadiană, un curcubeu se ținea scai de barca noastră...

 Cu cât ne apropiam mai tare de Potcoavă, cu atât vântul și apa te copleșeau tot mai tare. Bine că ne-au dat pelerine de ploaie înainte! Barca se apropie îngrijorător de tare de locul unde apa cade printr-un vuiet asurzitor, însă gândul că turul e activ de aproape 150 de ani te linișteste puțin: barca rezistă, în ciuda instinctelor care te învăluie în sentimente de frică și admirație.

Deodată, barca se oprește. La aproape 20-30 de metri de locul care generează zgomotul. Fără discuție, apa pătrunde peste tot, în ciuda pelerinei. Dar mai contează? În mijlocul potcoavei, în inima Niagarei, niște puncte mici într-o barcă privesc cu gura căscată minunea creației...

La întoarcere, o priveliște frumoasă se deschide în fața ochilor: Podul Curcubeului ("Rainbow Bridge"), care leagă Statele Unite de Canada:

Rainbow Bridge - Canada în stânga, SUA în dreapta

    După ce am coborât din barcă, ne-am îndreptat spre următorul punct turistic - atracția denumită "Journey Behind the Falls" ("Călătorie în spatele cascadei"). Drumul urcă chiar deasupra cascadei, cu o perspectivă nouă asupra Potcoavei...

Un lift coboară apoi chiar la baza cascadei, și tunele construite de om te aduc aproape de locuri unde altfel nu ai avea ocazia să ajungi. Cu adevărat o experiență unică!

    

    Orășelul de pe partea canadiană, de lângă cascada Niagara,  e cu siguranță un punct turistic interesant. În mintea mea, mă gândeam că e vreun oraș micuț, plictisitor, cu câteva hoteluri, care supraviețuiește datorită turiștilor atrași de cascade.

    Oh, cât de mult am greșit crezând asta! Spre surprinderea mea, orașul e o încercare de a imita Las Vegas și New York, rezultatul fiind un kitsch dus la extrem: case de orori (inclusiv un castel al lui Dracula), muzee de ceară cu nume obscure, lanțuri de restaurante americane (printre cele mai slab privite în orice alt colț al Americii), o imitație a "London Eye", un Burger King cu un Frankenstein ținând un hamburger...

 

Mi s-a părut amuzant un tip ce cânta la chitară într-un restaurant, având ca portativ...un iPad :)

    Printre atracțiile turistice pe toate gusturile, am găsit ceva care mi-a atras atenția. O casă construită...cu fundul în sus!

 

    Bineînțeles, nu am stat pe gânduri și am intrat în ea. Pot să spun că după primii pași înăuntru, am amețit! Toate încăperile și aranjamentele sunt răsturnate!

    A fost un sfârșit amuzant al unei zile pline. Experiența a fost extraordinară, și mi-a deschis apetitul pentru a găsi pe viitor o nouă scuză de a veni în Toronto și a vizita iarăși Niagara.

    Toate pozele făcute aici, pe galeria Picasa.

How I hacked the open web with Webmaker

    In March 2013 I was asked to run a Webmaker class at Year Up in San Jose. Webmaker is “a Mozilla project dedicated to helping people create something amazing on the web”. Year Up is also a non-profit organization that provides “urban young adults with the skills, experience, and support that will empower them to reach their potential through professional careers and higher education.”
    This task has been internally codenamed “Beehive.” The initial phase was to gather people around the project that could help in building a curriculum and lesson plans adapted for our target audience, a group of 12 students with ages between 18 and 21. We worked closely with Year Up and decided together to have the classes over an 8 weeks period. The first lesson was an introduction to Mozilla and Webmaker, letting the students know what the classes would be about. We then dedicated two lessons to each Webmaker tool. The last lesson was something that everybody enjoyed a lot, but I’ll talk about that later. The lesson plans were created to fit into 60 minutes, but we were fortunate to have the flexibility to stay longer when needed.
    A valuable help that I had writing the lesson plans were the weekly Webmaker community calls. It didn’t take me long to realize that:

• There is an amazing world wide community of Webmakers, ready to help.
• While there are a lot of resources for someone to run a Webmaker presentation/session, the lessons are usually scattered around and it’s hard to find a “How do I start?” page.
• The majority of the Webmaker mentors have previous teaching experience. I myself never had that, which made this something new for me.

 What is this blog post about?    

    I realized that publishing the lesson plans I wrote and followed while teaching the class could help other Webmaker mentors run their events. While I had a lot of time for my project (8 hours), one can easily adapt my notes and lesson plans to their circumstances. Anyone can teach a Webmaker class, with or without being a professor.
    Below are the lesson plans that we used. You will notice that the time starts at 12:00, so it’s easy to see how much time I’ve allocated for each section. I’ve added notes, where necessary, in squared brackets to explain why I added that part to a lesson. You may not need it during your classes, or you may need to change it. Before the content of each lesson, there is a “Preparation” section where I listed what I had to do before each class. This may vary from case to case. Before each class, I highly recommend you get to the location at least 30 minutes beforehand. This will give you enough time to setup your computer, ensure that the projector works, and fix any unexpected issues that might come up.

Lesson plans

Lesson 1 (introduction)
Lesson 2 (Popcorn, part one)
Lesson 3 (Popcorn, part two)
Lesson 4 (Thimble, part one)
Lesson 5 (Thimble, part two)
Lesson 6 (X-Ray Goggles, part one)
Lesson 7 (X-Ray Goggles, part two)
Lesson 8 (final lesson)
   

What did we learn

• During the class, we had to adapt. We learned a lot after each meeting with the students and we shaped the next classes based on what we observed. Thus, it is important that you pay attention to the details, keep notes of what happened during your class (we had someone video recording our lessons, and we reviewed them after) and constantly try to see “What went well and what went wrong? How can we do it better next time?”
• It is very important to know your students. This process can start even before your first meeting with them. If possible, get their names, age and other information that will help you during your class (hobbies, favorite music, movies, etc). I collected all my students’ email addresses and I kept the communication channel open.
• Never assume anything. Whatever seems common sense to you does not apply to everything and everybody. This is a broad statement, but it applies to everything: the location of your class (expect the unexpected, like a slow wi-fi or not enough power outlets); the knowledge of your students about the Web, technologies, Internet slang; yourself (do not assume you are well prepared and have all the answers. I realized that we’ve also learned a lot teaching the class).
• Set specific expectations for the overall course and for each class, right from the beginning. Your students will feel more confident and they will know what will be taught.
• The number of the students in your class will drop after the first sessions. Don’t panic. This is normal. Their expectations won’t meet what you have prepared for them. My mom wanted me to become a doctor when I was 18, but this never happened. Some people join the first class(es) from curiosity, but then realize this is not for them. I always prefer a smaller group of passionate students rather than a big group of yawning youths.
• Be prepared for the unexpected: logistics (never hurts to have an extra laptop charger, a video adapter, a network cable, or your personal wireless access point); material you want to cover (some lessons can be faster than the others, so it’s better to have more than less)
• If you will co-teach, learn not to talk two (or more) at the same time. Doing this only confuses your audience and they don’t know who they should follow. Completing each other sentences is a skill that takes a lot of practice to master. Before each class go over the lesson plan with the other teachers and assign each part of the class to the participating teachers.
• Follow the lesson plan. Stick to it. If there are multiple teachers, make sure they all read it in advance and they don't improvise. This can be confusing for the other teachers.
• If you're running a course that stretches during several weeks, stay in touch with the students. Communicate with them via email, refresh their memory if they have an assignment. It’s in human nature to get lazy sometimes, and all we need is a gentle reminder.
• Have a checklist before each class. This includes, but is not limited to: projector, pens, post-its, laptop charger, video adapter, put your phone on vibrate. Also, look at the checklist at the end of your class too, so you don’t leave behind some of your personal belongings.

What’s next?

    “Beehive” will continue to exist. I’ve been approached by Year Up staff to teach this class during this fall. But I need your help. I would love to see input on how this can be improved. Right now, there are Maker Parties all over the world. I can’t wait to learn from others and see what they are doing. Please share your thoughts by commenting to this post, or if you’d like, email me at thereallove@gmail.com.

Credits

    This project could not have been a success without the help of the following people, and I would like to thank them for their amazing and constant support: Dino Anderson, Matthew Zeier, Clarissa Sorenson, Ashlee Chavez, Rick Bryce, Matthew Claypotch, Craig Cook and Osman Alper. A valuable source of inspiration was Hive NYC and the great Webmaker community. And of course, the staff from Year Up campus in San Jose, for providing the classroom and all the other logistics we used to run the class.
    A promo video of this project can be watched here.
    I’ve also designed a Webmaker t-shirt logo. Blueprints are here.