{"id":10149,"date":"2013-09-13T20:28:09","date_gmt":"2013-09-14T00:28:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/webmakerblog.wpengine.com\/?p=10149"},"modified":"2019-02-26T12:42:14","modified_gmt":"2019-02-26T20:42:14","slug":"maker-parties-in-asia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.mozilla.org\/foundation-archive\/mozilla-learning\/maker-parties-in-asia\/","title":{"rendered":"Maker Parties are a hit in Asia"},"content":{"rendered":"

More than 1,000 Maker Parties<\/a> have taken place around the world over the last three months, illustrating a widespread interest in creating on the web. Nowhere is this more evident than Asia where this year’s Maker Party celebration marked the convergence of a rapidly growing desire for web skills with the rise of a dedicated community of web mentors.
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Mentoring learners in Bangalore, India.<\/p><\/div>
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\nMentors are the backbone of the Webmaker project. They volunteer their time, energy (and occasionally even their homes!) to teach others how to create on the web. Using Popcorn Maker<\/a>, Thimble<\/a> and the X-Ray Goggles<\/a>, mentors give workshops and throw hackjams; they provide one-on-one guidance and introduce thousands of learners to their first taste of code using HTML.
\nWe’re consistently impressed with how these women and men come up with innovative, relevant ways to illustrate why it’s important to move beyond simply using the web to actively creating it. That’s why Mark Surman<\/a> (Executive Director of the Mozilla Foundation) and Michelle Thorne<\/a> (Senior Manager of the Global Mentor Network) recently traveled to the webmaking hotspots of Asia: India, Indonesia and the Philippines.
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Mark strikes a pose with webmakers in the Philippines.<\/p><\/div>
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\nOne of the most exciting outcomes of Webmaker’s growing popularity in Asia is the rise of Hive India<\/a>, a network of organizations that share resources to promote learning through the creative use of digital media. Michelle arrived just in time to catch Hive India’s Pop-Up Maker Party<\/a> in Bangalore. Umesh, a web mentor and one of the organizers of the event, described the party as “a stream of awesomeness.” We couldn’t agree more.
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Michelle with some Hive India friends in Bangalore.<\/p><\/div>
\nMeanwhile, Mark had the privilege of connecting with webmakers and mentors in both the Philippines and Indonesia. Inspired by his tour, he wrote a blog <\/a>inviting people to help him answer some big questions about Mozilla Webmaker including:
\n1. What do people want to make and learn?<\/strong>
\n 2. Does our \u2018making as learning\u2019 approach work?<\/strong>
\n 3. What value can we provide people who want to teach the web?<\/strong>
\n 4. Can we grow our reach by working with partners?<\/strong>
\n 5. How do we build a global community of mentors?<\/strong>
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Mark at a giant Maker Party in Surabaya, Indonesia<\/p><\/div>
\nThe global Maker Party continues to roll across Asia with this weekend’s Mozilla Festival in Tokyo<\/a>. Regardless of where you live in the world, you can join the Maker Party. Visit webmaker.org\/party<\/a> to learn more, or connect with web mentors around the world on Twitter using #makerparty<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Get Involved:<\/h4>\n