Almost a decade ago I encountered Mozilla through a frustration at my lack of Web literacy. This soon changed however as I became an active volunteer for Mozilla’s community engagement team. I met marketeers and developers a like and found a fusion of the two worlds that allowed me to learn at an accelerated pace. I had the ability to put my technical learnings to play by making things for the community.
One of my first significant contributions to Mozilla was an online, cross domain treasure hunt. The aim of the game (for participants) was to find pictures of pandas across a variety of Mozilla websites, blogs, and forums. The intention being that participants get more involved with Mozilla using their own strengths by discovering (or rediscovering) other areas of Mozilla, depicted as a panda on the treasure hunt.
For me its hard to imagine life without the Mozilla community. Active contribution over the last nine years has allowed me to become Web literate, travel around the world, and meet many people I am now proud to call my friends. More than simply fellow advocates of the open Web, there are more like an extended family.
When approaching the task of finding a placement, it was a choiceless decision. Just what I wanted to do with Mozilla. What better way is there to learn than to teach? What better combination of degree and values than teaching Web literacy with the Mozilla Foundation.