One Mozilla Clubs

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In 2015, The Mozilla Foundation launched the Mozilla Clubs program to bring people together locally to teach, protect and build the open web in an engaging and collaborative way. Within a year it grew to include 240+ Clubs in 100+ cities globally, and now is growing to reach new communities around the world.

Today we are excited to share a new focus for Mozilla Clubs taking place on a University or College Campus (Campus Clubs). Mozilla Campus Clubs blend the passion and student focus of the former Firefox Student Ambassador program and Take Back The Web Campaign with the existing structure of  Mozilla Clubs to create a unified model for participation on campuses!

Mozilla Campus Clubs take advantage of the unique learning environments of Universities and Colleges to bring groups of students together to teach, build and protect the open web. It builds upon the Mozilla Club framework to provide targeted support to those on campus through its:

  1. Structure:  Campus Clubs include an Executive Team in addition to the Club Captain position, who help develop programs and run activities specific to the 3 impact areas (teach, build, protect).
  2. Training & Support: Like all Mozilla Clubs, Regional Coordinators and Club Captains receive training and mentorship throughout their clubs journey. However the nature of the training and support for Campus Clubs is specific to helping students navigate the challenges of setting up and running a club in the campus context.  
  3. Activities: Campus Club activities are structured around 3 impact areas (teach, build, protect). Club Captains in a University or College can find suggested activities (some specific to students) on the website here.  

These clubs will be connected to the larger Mozilla Club network to share resources, curriculum, mentorship and support with others around the world. In 2017 you’ll see additional unification in terms of a joint application process for all Regional Coordinators and a unified web presence.

This is an exciting time for us to unite our network of passionate contributors and create new opportunities for collaboration, learning, and growth within our Mozillian communities. We also see the potential of this unification to allow for greater impact across Mozilla’s global programs, projects and initiatives.

If you’re currently involved in Mozilla Clubs and/or the FSA program, here are some important things to know:

  • The Firefox Student Ambassador Program is now Mozilla Campus Clubs: After many months of hard work and careful planning the Firefox Ambassador Program (FSA) has officially transitioned to Mozilla Clubs as of Monday September 19th, 2016. For full details about the Firefox Student Ambassador transition check out this guide here.
  • Firefox Club Captains will now be Mozilla Club Captains: Firefox Club Captains who already have a club, a structure, and a community set up on a university/college should register your club here to be partnered with a Regional Coordinator and have access to new resources and opportunities, more details are here.
  • Current Mozilla Clubs will stay the same: Any Mozilla Club that already exists will stay the same. If they happen to be on a university or college campus Clubs may choose to register as a Campus Club, but are not required to do so.
  • There is a new application for Regional Coordinators (RC’s): Anyone interested in taking on more responsibility within the Clubs program can apply here.  Regional Coordinators mentor Club Captains that are geographically close to them. Regional Coordinators support all Club Captains in their region whether they are on campus or elsewhere.
  • University or College students who want to start a Club at their University and College may apply here. Students who primarily want to lead a club on a campus for/with other university/college students will apply to start a Campus Club.
  • People who want to start a club for any type of learner apply here. Anyone who wants to start a club that is open to all kinds of learners (not limited to specifically University students) may apply to start a Club here.  

Individuals who are leading Mozilla Clubs commit to running regular (at least monthly) gatherings, participate in community calls, and contribute resources and learning materials to the community. They are part of a network of leaders and doers who support and challenge each other. By increasing knowledge and skills in local communities Club leaders ensure that the internet is a global public resource, open and accessible to all.

This is the beginning of a long term collaboration for the Mozilla Clubs Program. We are excited to continue to build momentum for Mozilla’s mission through new structures and supports that will help engage more people with a passion for the open web.  

Reinventing Mozilla on Campus

Hello wonderful family.

We would like to share some exciting news about the status and the future of the Firefox Student Program Ambassadors program.

A few weeks ago George marked the beginning of the process for reinventing Mozilla on campus.

He talked about a participatory process which will help us synthesize a set of options for what Mozilla’s presence on campus could look like in the future.

As mentioned in the post, Mozilla has a lot of programs and activities targeting student campuses which are not aligned having been managed independently by different functional teams. We believe it is now time to align them all to strengthen how we channel the energy of passionate students who are bringing the Mozilla mission to their campuses.

We have started with this process of thinking how the FSA program can be integrated into a larger Mozilla on Campus initiative with the Regional Ambassador Leads along with the Executive Board showing their leadership by identifying the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats of the current FSA program. You can read more about the details of the process in this post on discourse.

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In the recently concluded London All-Hands, everyone involved in the Mozilla on Campus planning did two things— examining all the existing programs/ activities Mozilla have for students (which includes the FSA program, our recent experiment on the Take Back the Web campaign, among others) and planning how we can integrate them all to make a larger campus initiative (structure, activities etc.). You can check out the rough drafts of what we worked on during the All-Hands here. Everything is work in progress until we get a decision from the leadership on July 15.

Now what does this mean for everyone in the FSA program specifically?

FSA E-board and RALs will be joining together to form the Transition Team who shall arrange all the remaining logistics needed of the program until we get the decision in July.

  • We will continue supporting all of the amazing FSAs who are driving amazing efforts on the ground but we will not accept any new students and will be closing the signup form. This means existing FSAs can still continue their activities of promoting the Mozilla mission and our advocacy, but we will be diverting FSA sign-ups to encourage people to get involved with specific contribution areas at Mozilla.
  • The FSA E-board won’t be processing any budget requests for RALs and swag requests (by FSA Trainees and up) for now. Existing FSAs can ask for help from local Mozilla Reps for any relevant activity that you would like to work on that require budget.
  • Registration of Firefox Clubs and application for the recognition levels will be also be closed starting this June and certificates will be given out to everyone who applied. The highest recognition level attained will be the one used in the certificate.
  • Everyone who is involved with the FSA program is invited to join us in shaping what the future of  Mozilla on campus will look like, by following the developments and joining in the discussions on Discourse.
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Mozilla on Campus team in London

We thank everyone who has been involved with the program and who has been supporting our student communities ever since.While change is always difficult and we know many people are feeling uneasy, we believe this is the best opportunity to improve the areas which have been holding us back in the program so we can finally maximize the impact our energetic young people are making in Mozilla! Please join us in the Participation Team as we work on other teams across Mozilla in an effort of trying to answer important questions like: “What impact can we imagine with a coordinated effort on campuses around the world? What do students, staff and professors want and need to be involved with Mozilla’s mission? How might we evolve our existing programs? What programs and structures would we design, and how do they relate to one another? How can we invite people on campus to innovate with Mozilla?”
Let’s keep on rocking the open web!

March 2016 Updates: Take Back The Web Campaign, new RALs and more!

It’s time to Take Back the Web!

campus campaign

A new opportunity to make a difference on your campus is coming to the FSA program!

Every day we share information about ourselves online, but we don’t always know what happens to the data we share or whose hands it ends up in. In order to have meaningful control of our online lives we have to understand our choices.

That’s why the Take Back The Web Campaign is looking for students and mentors like you, who are ready to work together to raise awareness and empower people on your campus to make informed choices about how personal information is used online.

If you’re ready to make a difference, it’s as easy as building your team and applying!

Step one.
Put together a great team! You’ll need 2-5 members on your team. Think about the technical, organizing, community building, and facilitating skills you’ll need to have the greatest impact. This team can include people who are and are not student ambassadors!

Step two. Apply! Put your application together online and submit it here by April 15th.

Each team will receive training, support and mentorship from Local Coaches, through the campaign to help you make the biggest change possible on your campus. You can learn more about the program and the three Impact Areas on the website at https://takebacktheweb.mozilla.community.

We can’t wait to meet you and your team! If you have any questions don’t hesitate to get in touch with the team at campuscampaign [at] mozilla.com. Continue reading …

February 2016 Updates

FSA @ Leadership Summit


Majority of the FSA team (E-Board and RALs) were accepted to be part of the Participation Leaders cohort and attended the Leadership Summit in Singapore last Jan. 22-24, representing student participation on the said event. The team also discussed the program’s direction for the year, changes and new activities. Expect some exciting new announcements and updates soon!

FSA Team

 

RSVP to February Office Hour (Internet of Things & Connected Devices)


Maker movement has been possible because of the evolution of tiny and simple electronic boards (Arduino, Raspberry Pi etc) have made this possible. Another way to approach IoT is using Firefox OS mobile phones which have all the sensors in it and there is a super easy way to interact with them (which no other OS provides). 

In the office hour, marketplace contributor Ram Dayal will be joining us to teach about the easiest ways to get started with IoT using Firefox OS and Web APIs. It is going to be very easy if you have a basic understanding of JavaScript.  Join us for the February Office Hour on Saturday, Feb 13, 2:30 PM GMT.

Ask any program related questions in the etherpad. We’ll be answering them during Office Hour! RSVP to the event here!

Positions for Regional Ambassador Lead are now open!


Apply now:

Deadline is 12th Feb,2016.

RAL Recruitment

Congratulations to these Ambassadors!


Recognition List

FSA & Club of the Month November 2015


For the first time we’re seeing active Firefox Student Ambassadors in the US and we’re so excited! Please give a warm congrats to Shubham Kichi, the FSA of the Month and Firefox at University at Buffalo for becoming the Club of the Month for November.

FSA & Club of the Month December 2015


FSA of the Month

Heartiest congratulations to December’s FSA of the month, Salman Rahman Desh.

The Club of the month for December is Firefox Student Club at AAST.

Club of the Month

 

[FSA Program] Updates and what to expect in 2016!

2015 was an exciting year for the Firefox Student Ambassador program as we continued the rebuilding effort we began in 2014.

FSAs spread Firefox and Mozilla’s mission around the world through creative marketing and outreach campaigns, hosted hundreds of event, grew communities new and established, promoted web literacy, and much more. We welcomed the 2nd set of FSA E-Board for 2015-16, a fantastic set of Regional Ambassador Leads, and had the highest number of active FSAs in the program’s history.

As we move on to the next year there are some changes to the FSA program. Here’s the summary: The FSA program, and involving University students around the world in Mozilla’s mission, is going to get even bigger, more active and more exciting in 2016!

We’re doubling-down on student involvement, not slowing down. And the opportunities for student leadership and contribution to Mozilla’s mission are only going to get broader and more important.

If you’re a student, this a great time to ramp up your involvement in the FSA program. If you’re a Mozilla Rep or contributor who is not in school, we also need your help in realizing the impact that’s possible on University campuses around the world.

 

So what’s changing?

First, the FSA Program has moved from the Engagement/Marketing Team to the Participation Team. Given the broad mandate of the team to grow participation in all parts of Mozilla’s work and mission, this change means more breadth for student contribution and leadership in Mozilla. We will also be working to bring more coordination between the Mozilla Reps and FSA Programs.

We would be remiss at this point if we didn’t recognise the leadership of Chelsea Novak and Mary Colvig in championing and driving the FSA Program within the Engagement Team. All of us on the Participation Team are truly privileged to be standing on a foundation of their hard work, smarts and passion.

Second, our team has made “supercharging our youth strategy with a reinvented campus program” one of handful of priorities for the first half of 2016. As part of this, we are working with the FSA E-Board and various teams around Mozilla to launch a Campus Campaign (kicking off on Data Privacy Day — January 28th — and lasting for a few months) that will have a menu of well-designed contribution options, from squashing bugs to advocacy to teaching to outreach and marketing. More details are coming in the next few weeks.

Finally, our community manager extraordinaire TJ Lee has stepped away from being a staff member at Mozilla to explore the world. Please tweet at TJ to thank her for her leadership of this program over the past couple of years.

 

What are your ideas?

While we work on the details of the Campus Campaign (to be released soon!), we’d really love to hear your ideas for the FSA Program and student involvement in Mozilla.

What opportunities do you see? What contribution areas would students on your campus be interested in? How can we better reach students and increase the profile of Mozilla’s mission? How can we have even higher impact with our outreach?

What about leadership development? What skills do students want to learn? What professional and leadership development opportunities could we build for students?

How might students help Mozilla innovate? On our products and technology? On ways of bringing people together and advocating for policy change?

We’re excited to see your ideas in response to this blog post.

Otherwise, let’s all get ready for an amazing, high impact 2016!!

 

With Love,

FSA E-Board, George Roter and Rosana Ardila

Meet The FSA Superstars!

Meet The FSA Superstars!

Introducing some of the wonderful Firefox Student Ambassadors who have been working hard to support the open web by promoting Firefox, Firefox OS and the initiatives of Mozilla. Let’s see what they have to say about the FSA program.

 

Mijanur Rahman Rayhan

Mijanur Rahman Rayhan

What are the things that you have learned from the FSA program?  

I learned a lot from the FSA program. I learned leadership, I learned how to organize a club, how to manage committee members, how to arrange big events, how to speak publicly, how to collaborate with FSAs of different countries and many more awesome and important things.

What inspires you to contribute to Mozilla?

Making the internet a better place for everyone.

An experience that you would like to share with your fellow FSAs/Mozillians?

I started contributing for mozilla in Sylhet Division with the help of Mozilla Bangladesh. First, I started by creating a firefox club with the students of my own university. Later, I started awareness campaign with the students of my club in some universities in Sylhet. Mozilla got popular here and students started to take interest in contributing to mozilla. Then, we took the initiative to create a local community for Sylhet. After discussing with some students of different universities, we created four firefox clubs, arranged maker parties and started to recruit new FSAs. Gradually, the community grew bigger and bigger.

What else would you like to do within the FSA program?

I want to establish a FSA community where every single FSA will maintain brotherhood and fight for open web. They will follow the mission of mozilla, raise awareness of mozilla, promote Mozillas products, tech the students, mozilla’s philosophy and open web to the people, and make mozilla the largest open web organization.

 

Mohammed Adam

Mohammed Adam

How has the FSA program impacted your career?

FSA program has not only impacted my career but also my life too. Whenever I went for somewhere for an interview, I used to say I am a FSA. It has certainly increased my respect in the community.

What are the things that you have learned from the FSA program?  

I learnt marketing skills, managing a community, building a healthy community, localisation and many other things.

What inspires you to contribute to Mozilla?

I like that mozilla inspires the contributor in any pathway by giving recognition (in public or social media) and rewards. All these things and the recognition system inspires me.

An experience that you would like to share with your fellow FSAs/Mozillians?

My experience is contributing more and more towards mozilla by making events. Learn and contribute first, so that you can share your contribution or experiences by blogpost and then share with your friends.

 

Abdelrahman Samy

Abdelrahman Samy

How has the FSA program impacted your career?

FSA Program is the best project I have ever worked on. It helps me a lot in my career as a computer science student. I got the chance to deal with a lot of technology experts and professionals in different technology fields.

What are the things that you have learned from the FSA program?

The FSA program helped me shaping my life, building my future and career. I made new relations with a lot of people all around the world, got awarded with a lot of cultures and traditions. Actually Mozilla is my lifestyle grin emoticon.

What inspires you to contribute to Mozilla?

I’m an open source lover and I found Mozilla provide me with more than I want in this field. Also the great recognition system makes me proud of myself.

An experience that you would like to share with your fellow FSAs/Mozillians?

The major key for any success is organizing work and collaboration as I trust the quote : “Work smarter not harder”. Just love your work and wait for success.

What else would you like to do within the FSA program?

I wish I could be a mozilla employee in the future to have the opportunity to work with such great team of mozilla lovers.

November 2015 Updates

Tracking Protection is here!

Tracking Protection ShieldWhen you’re happily surfing the web, you’re often unknowingly sharing information about yourself. Just beneath the surface, third party trackers gather, store and sell information they learn about you.

The launch of Firefox 42 comes with the new Private Browsing with Tracking Protection. It gives YOU control over the data you share by stopping third party trackers from following you online. Keep your personal data to yourself. Share this exciting launch with friends and family!

C/P this and share on Facebook or Twitter: Wow! Private Browsing with Tracking Protection is here to stop third party trackers from following you online: http://mzl.la/fsatp

RSVP to November Office Hour

FSA September Office HourJoin us for the November Office Hour on Thursday Nov 11, 2015 at 5PM UTC. This November Office Hour, we’re going to dive into the world of tracking. What are cookies? How do you protect your personal information? What other privacy resources are out there? And most importantly, how do you teach this to students at your school? Be the educator and help people take control of the Web!

Ask any program related questions in this etherpad. We’ll be answering them during Office Hour! RSVP to the event here.

Congratulations to these Ambassadors!

FSA List October

App Contest

App ContestCongratulations to Mohamed Fayis for developing Battery Notifier. Battery Notifier helps your smartphone stay alive while you are at school or at work by notifying you of your battery level.

We’re now back to our monthly app contest! The contest theme for November is Device Storage API. Develop an application using Device Storage API (accessing images, files etc). Winner will receive a Very Splendid Swag Pack! Deadline November 25th.

More info here.

FSA & Club of the Month

Coherent @ UIT 

Coherent Firefox ClubA group of folks who are the open source enthusiasts from Bhopal and are contributing in various Mozilla projects to make internet better and accessible to all. They work in a collaborative way and share knowledge with other contributors. Coherent@UIT has conducted a series of events and has participated in the events conducted by our community. All the club members love to spread the knowledge of open source not only in their city but also in the nearby cities. Also they organised Hindi campaign in their college recently with great success.

Abbackar Diomande

Abbackar DiomandeHe is one of the most active FSAs at this time from Ivory Coast. He recruited 50 new FSAs during his last event. He has mobilized more than 200 people on Mozilla Firefox and Firefox OS. Recently, he participated in all the mozilla meetings in his country and lead workshops on Firefox OS apps development. He was an initiator of the Ivorian FSA summer campaign. He loves to do French Translation. 

October 2015 Updates

RSVP to October Office Hour

FSA September Office HourJoin us for the October Office Hour on October 13th 9AM PT, 4PM UTC where Jai Pradeesh Senior App Reviewer at Firefox OS Marketplace will be joining us to talk about Firefox OS Apps with a demo of Camera and Alarm API’s.

After, you’ll be ready to participate in the App Contest! Ask any program related questions in this etherpad. We’ll be answering them during Office Hour! RSVP to the event here.

FSA & Club of the Month September 2015

Abelrahman Samy

FSA of the MonthAbelrahman Samy is a superbly active FSA from Egypt. So far, he has hosted 2 successful events, localized more than 500 string & 10 articles for Firefox OS launch, recruited over 30 student ambassadors, and is now preparing for 5 additional events in his region. He’s climbing up the ranks as a FSA Junior and a participant in all past campaign challenges. What a rockstar student leader. Check out his club website here.

 

PUP – Sta. Rosa Campus Firefox Club

PUP - Sta. Rosa Campus Firefox ClubPUP-SRC Firefox Club is one of the most active and inspiring clubs! With more than 30 passionate members, PUP-SRC Firefox Club recently launched a #YearofTheFirefox Campaign in Philippines aiming to recruit new ambassadors and encouraging a year filled with Firefox love. From maker parties to MozMeriendas (introduction to Mozilla event) to MozTours to leaders camp, the Sta. Rosa Campus Firefox Club is making a true effort in keeping the web open. See how they’re making a difference here.

Congratulations to these Ambassadors!

FSA September List

App Contest

App ContestThree months, two APIs, one app and one winner. The new theme is developing a Firefox OS application using Camera API and Alarm API. From August to October, create an app using any or both of the listed APIs. Hurry up ambassadors, 25th October is the last date of submission. Winner will receive a Very Splendid Swag Pack!

More info here.

See all the Firefox for Windows 10 events so far!

A big thank you to all the amazing people who have participated in the Firefox for Windows 10 Campaign!

September 2015 Updates

How Far We’ve Come…

It’s been a year since we last revamped the program. It’s been a year full of awesomeness, challenges, changes, and opportunities. Ambassadors please join us in celebrating a year of wonderful contributions. Read and share this blogpost about what the FSA Program is, who we are, the impactful things students are doing daily, and what we’re looking forward to.

FSA Campaign Challenge Firefox for Windows 10

Firefox for Windows 10The optimized Firefox for Windows 10 is here! Help us to promote Firefox by participating in the FSA Campaign Challenge. The campaign runs for the rest of 2015. Go through this presentation for more details on how to be an active participant in this campaign!

RSVP to September 22nd Office Hour

Think you know social media? But how do you effectively use it for marketing? Join rockstar Mozillian Jafar Muhammed, Community Marketing Lead of Mozilla India on tuesday September 22nd at 10PM IST (9:30am PT), as he shares online marketing best practices. Learn his tips & tricks to better promote your club and community events!

Ask any program related questions in this etherpad. We’ll be answering them during Office Hour! RSVP to the event here!

August FSA & Club of the Month

FSA of the MonthJayesh KR started his career as a mozillian in the month of january 2015 . He then helped form Mozilla community in Tirupati . He studies in a well reputed university called SASTRA University in Tamil Nadu all the while serving a Firefox Club called SRCMozillians. He did a lot of efforts for FSA recruitment in Webmaker and Firefox OS development as well.Due to his awesome contributions, we are pleased to feature him as August 2015 FSA of the Month

Club of the MonthCMR Insitute of Technology Firefox Club is one of the most active Firefox Clubs in the FSA Progmra! Stationed in Hyderadad, the CMRIT Club have a huge membership of active ambassadors, learning developers, and passionate students who want to share and know more about Mozilla products and initiatives. Just recently, they’ve hosted a series of events including a Mozilla Hackathon on Web and App Development, a Bugzilla, and Securing the Web session. What a group of tech savvy Ambassadors! You can read all about their contributions here.

Congratulations to these Ambassadors!

Recognition List

App Contest

Three months, two APIs, one app and one winner. The new theme is developing a Firefox OS application using Camera API and Alarm API. From August to October, create an app using any or both of the listed APIs. Winner will receive a Very Splendid Swag Pack!

More info here.

Thank You, Makerparty Hosts!

A big thank you to all the amazing people who have hosted Makerparties to encourage web literacy and an open web!

Makerparty Blogposts and Videos

[FSA Program] How Far We’ve Come & How Far We’ll Go!

A little into our background…

On August 2014, a group of long-time contributors got together under the team name FSA E-Board with the goal to regroup and rebuild the Firefox Student Ambassadors Program. Community contributors banded together to help expand the program regionally under the names Regional Ambassador Leads. With E-Board, RALs and existing Ambassadors and their Firefox Clubs, we set out to continue spreading Mozlove at universities and college campuses all around the world. It has officially been a year since then and we want to share with you where we are today and where we want to go.

What is the FSA program?

The Firefox Student Ambassadors program exists to empower students with the tools and resources needed to:

Who are Firefox Student Ambassadors?

Firefox Student Ambassadors Philippines

Firefox Student Ambassadors are individuals who are passionate about Mozilla, the open web, and the many benefits of Firefox and its products. Creative and resourceful, FSAs lead campaigns and projects at their colleges and in their communities to encourage others to contribute to Mozilla’s mission and utilize our products.

Groups of Ambassadors work together to create Firefox Clubs at their college/university. Together, they strive to keep the power of the Web in hands of users everywhere.

How are we different?

Firefox Student Ambassadors is an open volunteer program that empowers students to be self-starters. While any student at an university or college can join, only those who contribute and follow through program activities gets recognized and experience fully the personal and career development opportunities of the program. We strive to provide students with the leadership knowledge, network, resources and tools needed to make an impact at their university that expands beyond product promotion.

Why the FSA Program is important to the growth of Mozilla?

Students are passionate, curious, and actively seeking out new opportunities to exercise their skills and lead others. They are Mozilla’s on-the-ground marketers and the best referral team. Their reach at an university spans to thousands of students. For Mozilla, the program is:

  • The first touchpoint for many Firefox users & fans to deepen their commitment to Mozilla
  • Amping online and offline word-of-mouth efforts for our products, mission, and values
  • The source of on-the-ground support for campaign and product launches
  • Cultivating and retaining the next generation of young & passionate contributors
  • Building new and vibrant communities around the world, even places where no previous community existed

Why the FSA Program is important to students?

FSA of the Month March Ranodeep

“The FSA program taught me to be a good coordinator, a leader and a helper alike. It provided me with ways of contributing and keeping in touch with something I’m really in love with. Moreover, it boosted my self-confidence and also made me aware of the huge world of Open Source Technology.“

– Ranodeep Saha, FSA Senior

 

Student Ambassadors are given the opportunity to learn new skills, earn recognition, and advance their leadership in not just the Mozilla community, but in their school and local community. The program gives back to students entering the program with:

  • Ample leadership development and team building skills
  • Marketing experience in the fields of event planning, social media, and more
  • Exposure to participation in both technical and nontechnical contribution pathways
  • Connection to a strong network of contributors from their region and around the world
  • Knowledge and understanding in what it means and takes to build a better internet committed to privacy, and an open web

How students are making an impact:

DSC03726“I conducted a MozMaker event at Bharati Vidyapeeth Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Technology  for 150+ girls to introduce them to our browser, features, and most importantly, to encourage women participation.” – Prasad Seth, FSA

Firefox Club at AAST, Egypt presenting about the history, releases, and features of our browser.

 

 

 

 

 

With thousands of Ambassadors banded together to promote openness, opportunity, and innovation on the Web, they’re contributing and making an impact on Mozilla’s mission and initiatives. Just some things include:

…and these Firefox Student Ambassadors are just getting started.

What we’ve accomplished in the past year:

FSA E-Board Term 1

  • Building community
    • The Firefox Student Ambassadors Program, aside from one staff, is a community-run program made up of six Executive Board members, fourteen Regional Ambassador Leads, 154 officially registered Firefox Clubs (in just the last few months), 560 students in process to becoming Club Leads, and hundreds of student supporters. We are so grateful to have connected and built out a program structure consisting of passionate community members. Today they are the heart and soul of our program’s growth.
  • Integrated Marketing
    • The Firefox Student Ambassadors Program, under the Community Marketing Team, comes up with interactive and fun activity for our Ambassadors to engage it during every campaign. For example, Firefox Hello with our Say Hello Challenge & Foxyeah online and offline, and Firefox for Win10. Our Ambassadors work tie in closely with Mozilla’s marketing efforts on user retention and acquisition.

FSA Recognition Badges

  • Recognition
    • In addition to recognizing monthly FSA & Firefox Clubs and featuring events on different social, we’ve also developed a three-tier recognition system in hopes of properly recognizing our students who’ve contributed in the last few months. This will offer a clear pathway for Ambassadors who need more guidance. Read more about it here.

FSA Office Hour

  • Training
    • Club Lead Training have always been an important focus to ensure students who wish to start a Firefox Club on campus and take a leadership position have the right knowledge moving forward. Now we have a well-built application process, detailed training modules, final exam, and new club leads on-boarded monthly. Read more about it here.
    • Teaching and showcasing our Ambassadors to varying parts of Mozilla as well as different marketing-related skills is vital to the growth of our students. Every month, we now host Office Hour as a way to introduce ambassadors to our community, to teach them something valuable, or to offer in-depth explanation of campaigns and new programs. You can see our past Office Hours on How to Host a MozCoffee, Public Speaking 101, and What is open source and how to contribute?
    • We also work closely to provide in-person, offline training in countries where we have active FSA communities. Whether it’s large scale bootcamps, (see also India’s FSA Bootcamp and Philippines Leaders Camp here) or regional meetups, our E-Board, Regional Leads, Reps and Ambassadors have collaborated closely to provide these opportunities. And we’re looking to do more!
  • Communication
    • To improve communication with our Ambassadors, we’ve:
      • Redesigned and optimized our monthly newsletter, seeing a 200% rise in engagement.
      • Designed and implemented a four-part e-mail series via Exacttarget to allow for a better onboarding experience for students upon sign up.
      • Are active on social channels providing relevant and conversational posts to our Ambassadors, see Facebook & Twitter.
      • Blogging monthly going into extensive details, to keep students updated.
      • Updated wiki, with everything you’d ever need to know about the program!
  • Events
    • To better support Ambassadors event planning, we’ve implemented a swag request system to deliver swag to students who are hosting events. Based on event activities and scale, the gear received will differ in amount. While handing out swag is only a minor part of being a FSA, we recognize the importance of having gear as token of appreciation or as a form of delight to participants and Ambassadors alike.
    • Our Regional Ambassador Leads are on-the-ground providing event support, whether it’s through helping with the planning and execution, or supporting in attendance. RALs play a significant role in our program and we’re now providing RALs with the necessary budget, gear, and resources needed to succeed.

Challenges we face:

We recognize that the program can always be improved and it is, always improving. Along with the many awesome things we face, we also face challenges:

  • With an open program, we receive many interested students who want to support our mission. Although retention becomes difficult with the inability to offer one-on-one guidance to such a large community.
  • Ambassadors are working tirelessly online and on-the-ground but it is difficult to track activities and measure exact impact without proper tracking tools.

Opportunities ahead:

If there’s one thing the FSA Family prides ourselves on, it’s our ability to turn challenges into new opportunities. Our focus for the next year include building the following:

  • A community hub/platform for our Ambassadors to discuss, collaborate, bond, create events, and more.
  • An online training curriculum that self-guides an Ambassador through topics of Mozilla knowledge to leadership/team building skills and carrying out events.
  • Better support of Regional Ambassador Leads in providing guidance to students.
  • Expansion of the FSA program in regions where there are no communities.
  • Better integration and streamlined contribution pathways.

But we need your help!

We cannot do it alone and we are constantly looking for passionate Mozillians -whether you are staff, community, or a student- to help take this program to the next level. We love to hear your suggestions, feedback, and new ideas. Please chat with us at fsaeboard@mozilla.org, cc-ing fsarals@mozilla.org. Let’s work together to bring Mozilla to campuses across the world.

And finally, a thank you:

To the following community members who’ve helped grow this program into what it is today and helping bring all the awesomeness that will come tomorrow:

Our amazing first term and second term E-Board members: Faye Tandog, Galaxy Kadiyala, Biraj Karmakar, Gauthamraj Elango, Kemuel Domanog, Mayur Patil, Santosh Viswanatham, Tanay Pant, Viswaprasath Ks, Bala Subramaniyan.

Our current and past Regional Ambassador Leads: Abhiram Ravikumar
Aka Brou Yannick, Akshay Tiwari, Alifiyah Ganijee, Giovanni Joseph Legasto, Fauzan Alfi Agirachman, Jefferson Durán, Joshua Rubin, Karthic keyan, Kumaresan.C.S., Leye Odumuyiwa, Mohammed Migdadi, Muhammed Hasan Ahmed”, Ratul Minhaz, Rizky Ariestiyansyah, Talaal Burny, Ujjwal Hatuwal, Yuktarth Nagar.

To the Mozilla Reps, members of the Participation Team and Community Marketing Team for offering support, guidance, and all the love to our students.

And most importantly, to all our Firefox Student Ambassadors for the incredible work you’ve done. Continue to shine and rock the open web. We <3 you!