about:community

This post is a follow up to “Getting to know 1,000,000 Mozillians” where we shared that a small group was beginning to shape a research project intended to help us better understand:

How potential contributors find us,
What they believe their involvement with Mozilla might include and,
What Mozilla staff believes their role is in volunteer contributor interactions.

Since then, the team attended the Community Builders work week in San Francisco where we shared our thinking and collected feedback on, and interest in, this project. Yesterday, the smaller group re-connected to frame both our research methodology and timeline. Here’s how it stands today:

Research methodology proposal:

Capture potential interview subjects via the “Get Involved Page” then:
- Conduct remote, semi-structured interviews AND/OR
- Provide a chat interview/survey option.

Larger survey of prospective contributors that connect with the “Get Involved” page over a two-week period.

Potential interviews with people new to contributing to other causes to understand their selection process and commitment.

Research timeline:

Dec 11-13: Community Builders work week

Dec 16: Plan confirmation and additions

Jan 13-24: Survey and discussion guide prep
- Present on Grow Mozilla call

Jan 27-Feb 10: Data collection

Feb 10-23: Data analysis

Feb 24-28: Presentation of findings

March: Phase 2 preparations

Our plan is to present the full project to the Community Builders group during the first or second Grow Mozilla call in 2014. The core working group is currently Larissa Shapiro, Emily Goligoski, Gemma Petrie, and Mardi Douglass but we know there is greater interest (we have the names of everyone who’s contacted us to date and will invite you personally to the Grow Mozilla call). We’d like to encourage anyone else who might be interested in this or any other project to attend bi-monthly Grow Mozilla calls.

This project’s wiki page is here: https://wiki.mozilla.org/Contribute/Working_Groups#Research for reference.

Getting to know 1,000,000 Mozillians

Nov 30 2013

mdouglass

2014, for the People Team, will be a year when many of us are acutely focused on designing and building the infrastructure needed to support 1,000,000 Mozilians (core/active contributors) by 2024. To achieve this very lofty goal we need systems and tools, clear entry points for contribution, and scalable ways for newcomers to learn about Mozilla and what it takes to be a vital member of our community.

In support of our build year, we are embarking upon a research project. Just like with the products we build, it is critically important that we understand the needs of the user (in this case volunteers) before we create or build for them.

Right now, if we look at the “Are We Growing Yet” dashboard, a visualization of volunteer inquiries received through our Get Involved site, we will see ~200 daily inquiries. It would be incredible easy to assume these are people eager to volunteer their time to the Mozilla Project and that all we need to do is give them something to do.

But that would be a huge assumption. Would Mozilla ever build a product or feature without user research? Probably not. The research working group will attempt to better understand:

How potential contributors find us,
What they believe their involvement with Mozilla might include and,
What Mozilla staff believe their role is in volunteer contributor interactions.

Having this data means we can respond more effectively to the needs of our “users” as we look to build infrastructure to support them. It will also help us avoid our own biases, because we are likely designing programs for people who aren’t like us.

This working group is in it’s infancy (currently Larissa Shapiro, Emily Goligoski, Gemma Petrie, and Mardi Douglass). We are current framing the work, building our boxes, and will have more to share out, including how to get involved, in a few weeks. Our wiki page, in the meantime, is here: https://wiki.mozilla.org/Contribute/Working_Groups#Research.