This Friday marks the start of our sixth-annual Mozilla Festival, better known as MozFest. Each year, community members from around the globe gather in London to build, teach and learn about the Web, and create an Internet that’s more open and accessible. MozFest runs from Nov. 6 – 8, and will host hundreds of Mozillians from dozens of countries.
MozFest’s theme
This year, MozFest’s theme is leadership and advocacy: how we can empower others to mobilize their communities and make a positive impact on the Web. Leaders aren’t preordained; they’re simply Web users who leverage their skills — teaching, hacking, advocating — to improve web literacy, preserve net neutrality, and more. MozFest participants should seek to share their expertise with others, learn often, and bring the festival’s open and collaborative ethos back to their communities.
How to participate
The heart of MozFest are its sessions, interactive workshops that touch on everything from the Internet of Things and open hardware to net neutrality and 3D printing. Sessions are held Saturday and Sunday.
Sessions are parsed into Spaces, physical hubs dedicated to specific topics. There are eight Spaces at this year’s MozFest: Journalism, Science, Digital Citizenship, Mozilla Learning Networks, Global Village, Participation and Youth Zone. We’ll explore the way these topics intersect with the Web — like how we can create an Internet for all languages; how open journalism makes for a more informed audience; how communities form online; and more. You can learn more about these Spaces, and the Mozillians running them, here.
This year’s festival also includes Pathways, or series of sessions that thread through multiple spaces. Pathways are built around a specific theme and seek to teach a set of skills, like online learning and storytelling. You can learn more about Pathways here.
Saturday and Sunday will also feature lightening talks, conversations and fireside chats. Lightning talks and keynotes are scheduled for Saturday morning from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m., and Sunday morning from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. on the main stage.
Conversations are 30-minute discussions between Mozillians and journalists from Medium.com, our media partner. Conversations topics include “Leading in the Open,” “The Inclusive Web,” and “Networked Learning and Advocacy.” These segments are scheduled for Saturday evening from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. on the main stage.
Fireside chats are casual conversations between two Mozillians, carried out in front of an audience. Chat topics include “The Mobile Web” and “The Web Ahead,” and are scheduled for 1 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.
Other MozFest happenings include the Friday evening Science Fair and Sunday evening demo party. For those joining us in spirit, but unable to visit London, learn more about remote participation here.
For a more detailed schedule, visit https://2015.mozillafestival.org/expect.
How to share your experiences
We encourage participants to share their experiences and photos. If you’re tweeting about the festival, be sure to use the hashtag #MozFest — and be sure to follow @Mozilla for regular updates.
MozFest also has its own publication on Medium.com. Check in regularly to read what others are up to. To add your blog to the publication, create a Medium account, pen your blog, and tag it “MozFest.”
Learn more
For more information about MozFest, visit festival.mozilla.org. Questions? Tweet us with the hashtag #MozHelp.
The Sixth-Annual MozFest Starts Tomorrow