News from Mozilla Science Lab

You know and love the Mozilla Science Lab (MSL) for its programs like Global Sprint, Open Leadership Training, Working Open Workshops, mini grants and fellowships. At their core, these offerings are about open leadership, which is much bigger than science alone. In fact, several of the programs “born” in the Mozilla Science Lab have grown and become broader offerings for the community of people working towards a healthier internet.

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2018-19 MozFellows in Science Call for Applications

This week, the Mozilla Science Lab is launching our fourth annual Mozilla Fellowship in Open Science program. Starting in September 2018, we’re sponsoring researchers to build projects in support of open science, and we’d love for you to be a part of that process. The call will be open until April 20th, with further details in the application, but we wanted to call out some of the amazing features of the fellowship and especially encourage our community to apply!

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Looking Toward the Future of Open

Sometimes personal and work worlds collide in the most unexpected places.  I went to the First Lego League (FLL)  North Sound Qualifiers in Washington State to cheer on my niece and her LEGO Robotics team.  I thought I was going to watch some cool LEGO robots do cool stuff, support family, maybe have a celebratory feast if things went well.  What I saw and learned drew me into more events and learning more about these inspirational kids.

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Community Call: Open Publishing, Feb 8th, 8am PT/ 11am ET/ 3pm UTC

This week, we’re back with another community call focused on projects and issues in open publishing.  Come join the discussion! For background, the Science Lab community call takes place every other month, highlighting recent developments and work of the community relevant to science and the web. Join us to hear more about current projects, find out how you can get involved, and listen to others (or yourself!) discuss work in and around open research.

Our upcoming community call is this Thursday, February 8th.

The call is open to the public, starts at 8:00 am PT/ 11:00 am ET/ 3:00 pm UTC.

Call in details can be found on the call etherpad (where you can also find notes and the agenda). As with our October call, we’ll feature speakers on Air Mozilla, a video live-streaming platform, which we’ve found to be more accessible!

Once again, there will be video for the call this month!

For February’s call, we’ll be talking about open publishing.  The scientific publishing world is going through a transition and we will be featuring speakers discussing the projects they are working on to make sure that transition results in a world with more open, transparent, reproducible, and accessible science.  Speakers include Science Mini-Grant awardees, external organization partners, Science Fellow alumni, and new community members!

We’ll also hear updates from our 2018 Mozilla Fellows for Science around their work, our recent Fellows Work Week in SF, and plans for upcoming activities. Should be a great call first call of 2018!

Have an update, blog post or event you’d like to share relevant to open science? Add it to the etherpad (see ‘Non Verbal Updates’). It’s a great way to share what you’re working on and/or interested in with the community. Don’t be shy. Have a look at the notes from our last call on trust in open data, Mozfest and community building for an idea of what others contributed to the conversation.

Join via this link:

https://air.mozilla.org/mozilla-science-lab-february-2018-bi-monthly-community-call-20170208/

Mark your calendars, tune in and help us spread the word – everyone is welcome. For call-in details and links to the etherpad, visit our wiki page. We hope you’ll join us!

New Year, New WOW: Working Open at the Institut Pasteur Paris

To wrap-up 2017 and kick-off 2018 with a “wow”, we wanted to reflect on recent awesomeness from the Science Lab, fellows, and partners. Last month, the Science Lab and Fellows teamed-up with Antonio V. Borderia of Institut Pasteur to organize a 2-day event celebrating open science and engaging with new communities. Hosted by the Institut Pasteur in Paris on November 30th-December 1st, the event was designed as a Working Open Workshop (WOW Pasteur), honoring the model of our previous WOWs in Montréal, Austin, Kansas City, Portland, Boston, Cape Town, and Berlin. At the same time, we evolved the workshop materials to feature talks from Open Science wizards worldwide.

You can find the materials and schedule via this link and our Open Science Framework Collection via this link. Read on to find a recap of the event!

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Mozilla Learning Updates, Transitions and Sunsets

Guest contribution by Chris Lawrence, former VP Mozilla Learning Network, originally posted on Medium

For nearly a decade, Mozilla has been a proud leader and catalyst for digital learning — from launching free and open educational software tools like Thimble to building vibrant peer learning networks with the most talented leaders in educational technology across the globe. The work we have done together through Hive Learning Networks, Maker Party, Mozilla Clubs and Webmaker has produced real change in how educators understand and use technology. Together we have produced more learning experiences that take people from being online consumers to creators and ultimately defenders of the open web, advancing web literacy and digital inclusion. As a technology based non-profit with community practices at its core, our work together has influenced Mozilla’s strategy and direction; Web Literacy and Digital Inclusion are now hallmarks of our Internet health agenda, shaped by the culture, connectivity and people-based approach that Mozilla Learning’s practices have inspired.

Through our shared goals, partnerships and programs we have been able to:

  • Mobilize people to adopt digital learning practices and teach web literacy through a constellation of people, networks and organizations;
  • Create high-quality digital learning and web literacy tools, content and practices;
  • Catalyze schools, youth programs, cultural institutions and governments to provide rich digital programs, especially in underserved communities; and
  • Grow demand for events, communities and projects in new locations and sectors.

Together, we have evolved teaching and learning for the digitally connected world.

However, how Mozilla engages with these issues will be changing as we head into 2018. We will be ending the management and stewardship of local digital literacy initiatives over the coming year, including Hive, Gigabit Hive, Mozilla Clubs and our grassroots web literacy work.

It’s truly hard for me to see Mozilla’s stewardship of digital learning work winding down. Like many of you, I’ve been very close to this work for a long time. And I have been a strong proponent of hyperlocal and our work on web literacy ever since I started at Mozilla over six years ago.

But unlike the promise of a digital utopia that existed when we entered this work, when the Internet seemed like a grand path to greater participation and engagement, we now have seen the pendulum swing decidedly towards a dystopian narrative where surveillance, ever-connected devices, and pipelines of propaganda dominate. Of course, both and neither are completely true, and the binary choice further divides us and blocks thoughtful solutions from emerging. We are so excited about the Internet health framework because, like all ecosystems, the Internet is best understood when you realize that aspects can be both sick and healthy and need all of us to help tip the balance to health.

To do this, Mozilla’s attention needs to be on a more immediate and bigger set of fights. We need to use our assets — our brand, our megaphone, our global community, our money — to confront those challenges head-on.

So, what does this mean?

  • Mozilla has made a strategic decision to sunset its local digital literacy programs, which includes our Hive, Mozilla Clubs and other local digital literacy initiatives. These changes will happen over the course of the coming year.
  • We will remain active in web literacy and digital inclusion work through fellowships, research and curriculum.
  • We will be working with the networks, people and projects to ensure that there will be clear next steps into new opportunities and programs within the broader digital learning ecosystem.
  • We will honor all commitments to our grantee partners and donors.

It also means that some staff associated with these programs will be moving on from Mozilla, including myself. I just want to take a moment to say that these staff have been champions of this work and have helped to move the digital learning field forward with passion and expertise. It has been an honor to work alongside them and others who have contributed to this work. I am confident that all of us will continue to help bring real change to Internet health issues. Personally, I am very energized to enter the broader ecosystem as a contributor and active network member. The trajectory of my professional life has been deeply impacted and informed by the work we have done together.

Building a global and diverse community has always been a part of Mozilla’s work. It says so in the Manifesto — and it has been true in practice. Over the last 10 years, the Foundation has worked closely with traditional Mozilla volunteer communities and helped build rich new communities that had never connected to Mozilla before — MozFest is a great example of this. The same goes for the communities of interest we’ve built in science, journalism, policy, etc. You have been, and will continue to be, leaders within this movement for Internet health, and Mozilla will continue to find ways to support you and concrete ways for people from our local communities to plug into this work.

I am excited by what comes next for Mozilla and the work that we all kickstarted together. We have built the base that will propel the Internet health movement forward, just when the world needs us most. Onward!

Community Call: Open Data 10/12, 11ET

This next week, we’re hosting a community call on issues of open data in science, and we want you there! For background, the Science Lab community call takes place every other month, highlighting recent developments and work of the community relevant to science and the web. Join us to hear more about current projects, find out how you can get involved, and listen to others (or yourself!) discuss work in and around open research.

Our upcoming community call is this Thursday, October 12th.

The call is open to the public, starts at 11:00 am ET.

Call in details can be found on the call etherpad (where you can also find notes and the agenda). As with our June call, we’ll feature speakers on Air Mozilla, a video live-streaming platform which will be a departure from our typical dial in, and hopefully more accessible!

We have video for the call this month!

For August’s call, we’ll be talking about project management specifically, featuring speakers who build scientific projects and programs that solicit contributors and feedback from a broader open science community than their local lab. We’ll feature some speakers providing updates on their projects post-Global Sprint, and others sharing techniques in project maintenance and sustainable community development. You can look forward to hearing from the following group of speakers across research, industry, and institutional domains:

  • Jo Pauls – developing Open Heart, a data repo + message forum for biomedical research share, Postdoc, Prince Charles Hospital Northside Clinical Unit, Faculty of Medicine
  • Elizabeth Sylvan – hyperlocal science journaling, crafted visualization, and open data investigation, Open Data/Open Minds, @lisard
  • Nokome Bentley – a platform for Reproducible Research, Stenci.la, @NokomeBentley
  • Max Ogden + Danielle Robinson – desktop data sharing, DAT, @denormalize + @daniellecrobins
  • Lily Winfree + Robin Champieux – building community around open science Data, Reusable Data Project, @lilscientista@rchampieux

We’ll also hear our closing updates from our 2017 Mozilla Fellows for Science, our 2017 Working Open Workshop at the Institute Pasteur and our Mozfest Sessions/Participants! Should be a great call!

Check out Mozfest, October 27-29, London

Have an update, blog post or event you’d like to share relevant to open science? Add it to the etherpad (see ‘Non Verbal Updates’). It’s a great way to share what you’re working on and/or interested in with the community. Don’t be shy. Have a look at last month’s notes on trust in open science for an idea of what others contributed to the conversation.

Join via this link: 

https://air.mozilla.org/mozilla-science-lab-october-2017-bi-monthly-community-call/

Mark your calendars, tune in and help us spread the word – everyone is welcome. For call-in details and links to the etherpad, visit our wiki page. We hope you’ll join us!