A month of Mozilla

One month on, and I can see that I've done so much. Though it still feels like I started yesterday. I've not been as good at this blogging as I should have been, however I'm doing better than I've done in the past. At least now I'm planning posts, even if I've not spent enough time on them to publish them. Its an improvement, and it highlights a need for better time management still. I've found myself working on the interesting parts of my job, more than the overheads needed for the degree/university related portion.

Note to self: Blog more. You're going to need the posts to write that final report.

"Time flies when you're having fun." That's what they tell you when you're growing up, and their not wrong. This first month of Mozilla has been the most fun I've had. Sure I've worked long hours - more than I maybe should have, but I chose to do it off my own back so I can only blame myself - backtracked on some avenues I took for tasks, and had a whole weekend bored out my wits because I couldn't work out what to do with it. These are minor pain points issues in comparison to the major benefits I've had from my work. Okay so my time management might not be great still, but it is sooo much better than it was before Mozilla. I've learned about a whole world of other people doing amazing work that fits nicely inline with, or as an extension to what we're doing. There are a number of interesting people I've met and worked with I would never have thought to talk to. The list goes on, and on, and on, and on, and on, an……

So what have I been working on? Its something I should have been blogging about a lot more than I have so far… It would probably have helped me to have blogged about it too. Let's try and make up for that now.

Make based surveys

You might remember that I started an experiment into make based surveys… its a concept that has quipped a few peoples interest. Unfortunately my current findings are inconclusive, I need to spend a little more time (mostly just getting people to participate a little more). This means that the survey I was hoping to use this concept for is back to the traditional, tried and tested method.

Webmaker mentor survey

"What is this other survey?" Why I'm glad you asked (if you did :P). In an effort to get to know the community I work for a little better, as well as to identify where we need to be helping you more. We've launched - released? The right term escapes me - a survey for the Webmaker Mentor community that hopes to identify pain points for mentors.

"Am I a mentor?" I'll answer that with another question. Do you want to teach the web? If yes, then YES!

Help me out by participating: http://mzl.la/Webmaker_Mentor_survey

Webmaker Mentor Interviews

To go hand in hand with the survey, as well as to help me get to know more people in the community, I've also been conducting some 1:1 interviews discussions with members of the mentor community. Some self identified, others we've identified.

More on these to come…

Indianamate

This one is a little more recent, and I'm keeping the cards close to my chest on this one, just until we announce the reasoning for its existence. The short version however is that I've started working on, a small utility for creating Indiana Jones inspired, Google Maps animations. It's still a work on progress but for the most part is good for use. I just need to package it up a little better, and write some docs for it.

Thimble on a stick

Windows… why you hate me?! Well… I know that you don't but I wish working with dependencies was a little easier on you're platform, and maybe a bit more *nix like. :P

Thimble on a stick is a project I've started on, and have been working on for a while. It's full of complexities due to the environments its targeted at. I'm currently in the middle of writing a full post on this. So again… More to come.

Web Literacy Standard hacking

The Web Literacy Standard comprises a map of competencies and skills that Mozilla and our community of stakeholders believe are important to pay attention to when getting better at reading, writing and participating on the web. The Web Literacy Standard is part of Mozilla’s ongoing goal to create a generation of webmakers – those who can not only elegantly consume but also write and participate on the web.

As part of my work on this I've given some of my time to work on making the wonderful map you see above a little more dynamic. The first stages of this work can been found a people.mozilla.org/~williamd/weblitstd.

Events

Along side all the work I've also been lucky enough to attend a whole host of events, in a variety of capacities. From the Kent International Jamobree, through Popathon London, and even a Badge Camp!

Closing remarks

Keep the awesome coming!!!