Introducing the Concept Series; Call for Participation

Laboratories are places where science and creativity meet to develop, research and explore new ideas. Mozilla Labs embraces this great tradition as a virtual lab where people come together online to create, experiment and play with Web innovations for the public benefit.

Today we’re calling on industry, higher education and people from around the world to get involved and share their ideas and expertise as we collectively explore and design future directions for the Web.

You don’t have to be a software engineer to get involved, and you don’t have to program. Everyone is welcome to participate. We’re particularly interested in engaging with designers who have not typically been involved with open source projects. And we’re biasing towards broad participation, not finished implementations.

We’re hoping to lower the barrier to participation by providing a forum for surfacing, sharing, and collaborating on new ideas and concepts. Our goal is to bring even more people to the table and provoke thought, facilitate discussion, and inspire future design directions for Firefox, the Mozilla project, and the Web as a whole.

Concepts may take the form of Ideas, Mockups or Prototypes.

  • Ideas
    It all begins with an idea. A sentence, paragraph, or even bullet-points kick-start the process. Ideas can be simple and non-technical. It should be easy for anyone and everyone to help shape the future of the Web. So throw your notions, inspirations, dreams and visions out to the community.
  • Mockups
    Turn your idea (or someone else’s) into an image, sketch or video. Words are great, but you know what they say about pictures. Mockups offer up a visual and communicate ideas in terms that are just a bit more polished and real. They draw the next person in, tempting them to pick up the concept and run with it.
  • Prototypes
    A prototype is interactive. Feel, touch and play with developing concepts. Prototypes get ideas across by showing off the moving parts. They aren’t always fully functional or pretty, but they’re more than a static image or two. They’re a dress rehearsal of sorts, with minimal programming. Make a prototype in HTML, Flash, or whatever puts things into action.

We only ask that all concepts and related source materials be freely redistributable and remixable under either a Creative Commons license (for Ideas and Mockups) or the Mozilla Public License (for Prototypes) so that we can all effectively collaborate on the exploration. Again, the intent is not for these concepts to evolve directly into new products but rather to provoke thought, facilitate discussion and provide inspiration.

Be bold. Be radical. The crazier, the better. Let’s explore the future together.

Inaugural Concepts

Aurora Concept (Part 1)
by Adaptive Path

Aurora explores new ways people could interact with the Web in the future based on projected technological trends and real-world scenarios. Learn More

Bookmarking & History Concept
by Wei Zhou

An investigation into a better way of visualizing and interacting with bookmarks, your history, and the browser in general. Learn More

Mobile Concept
by Aza Raskin

An experimental UI proposal for Firefox Mobile. Learn More

How to Get Involved
Join us on the Mozilla Labs site at http://labs.mozilla.com/projects/concept-series/.

Soon we’ll have a more structured way to contribute concepts. For now, all you have to do is use your favorite method of sharing an concept with the world. If it’s an idea, blog about it. If it’s a mockup, put it on Flickr. If it’s a prototype, host it on your web site. Tag it with “mozconcept” and then let us know about it by posting to the Concept Series discussion forum.