“I want to empower the community at large to generate content and resources that will help others to build, and shape their own experiences on the Web. As a secondary [goal] I aim to improve my skills teaching the Web.” (Duyck 2014)
For Mozilla “shape” is all about shaping environments, be it the browser market so that its more open and standards compliant, or the education space by improving the tooling and resources for teaching Web literacy. Mozilla also shapes people. Its a natural outcome from such a collaborative, inspirational, global community of people. The continual interactions between people who would otherwise be worlds apart, spreads knowledge, ideas, and values that shape the individuals as much as the environments they work in.
It has shaped me from the tender age of 13, however this past year has changed me more than any that came before it. It is through the informal training and skill-sharing I’ve experienced, that I’ve achieved my goal for the year, and with six months to go!
Much of my training has been informal, though extremely valuable and thorough. Not all of it has been due to my job role either. I’ve taken the opportunity to learn how audio visual equipment works, and can be operated to create footage of presentations, town halls, and other events through an AirMozilla (Mozilla’s live streaming service) training shortly after Campus Party.
On-the-job training has also been a common practice at events such as “Teach the Web as NCS1 Digital Champions” where I worked side by side with my supervisors to train the NCS participants how to teach Web literacy, and train others to do the same.
1. NCS is the National Citizen Service in the UK. It’s a way for young people to connect and learn the skills that can be applied to improving their local communities. ↩