Building a Better World through Technology
co-founder Mozilla
( from the LizardWrangling Archive )
Here’s a slightly revised version, based on the Tuesday Air Mozilla / IRC discussion.
Goal: Make the explosion in data safer, more useful and more managable for individuals
Based on Tuesday’s discussion, I settled on keeping the goal itself general, not specific to Mozilla, and then refering to Mozilla specifically in some of the subpoints.
Goal: Make openness, participation and distributed decision-making more common experiences in Internet life.
When i went to finalize the Firefox goal for 2010 I realized it feels wrong, and in much the same way the “Mozilla as centerpiece” goal felt wrong. (The current proposal is Reinforce Firefox mindshare and marketshare momentum). Mindshare and marketshare — and Firefox — are not ends in themselves. They are means to an end. So I’d like to restate this goal as:
Reinforce Firefox’s role as a driver of innovation, choice and great user experience
We probably need mindshare and marketshare momentum to accomplish this. But having momentum isn’t the end goal. It’s what we do with that momentum that matters.
Let me know if this feels odd to you. This is a case where I’m going to take silence as a sign of agreement (or exhaustion 🙂 )
Probably our last such discussion before the goals are done. I plan to focus on the revisions I’ve posted over the last few days. Today on Air Mozilla at 12:30 p.m. Pacific Time. You can tune in by logging in to air.mozilla.com, and IRC discussion will take place at #airmozilla.
Goal: Reinforce Firefox mindshare and marketshare momentum
I think this goal stays as is, other than changing the verb from “continue” to “reinforce.” Today Firefox is by far the biggest lever we have to make our values and other goals real. If this were our only goal it would be a problem; Firefox is not an end in itself. Similarly leaving the health of our most powerful tool out of the goals would be odd.
If you feel the need for subpoints to parallel the other goals let me know and we can work on those.
My proposed revision of this goal is:
Goal: Make the explosion in data safer, more valuable and more managable for individuals
This would be followed by some subpoints, along the lines of those below. They need some work, but I want to post the general idea for reaction before I spend more time on the subpoints.
The change is because I don’t feel we have a solid enough consensus on the original proposal. This was: provide leadership in
The idea of making any data available to anyone has generated concern. Some of this I think is due to a lack of concrete examples, or to a misperception that this would involve Mozilla software tracking people’s behaviors, or to a concern that it’s hard to anonymize data. But some of the concern is a basic discomfort with the currently invisible generation and processing of so much data, or the idea of a public “data commons,” or a concern about what’s happening “to” me through my software.
The data explosion is only just beginning, and it’s powerful. New forms of data can help us understand new things and solve new problems we can’t even see the shape of yet. But there’s a risk that each one of us will end up at the mercy of others who control the data. This risk affects our privacy, the degrees of choice and innovation available, and the degree of centralization of our online lives.
We should have a goal that reflects both the potential benefits and the risks of the data explosion.
One of the proposed 2010 goals is “Deepen Mozilla’s role as a centerpiece of the Internet.” I received feedback that this goal feels wrong: it seems to be about promoting Mozilla rather than a healthy Internet. Once this was pointed out, it’s obvious. I’ve edited the proposed goal to reflect this and capture ideas raised during the various discussions.
Goal: Make openness, participation and distributed decision-making more real in Internet life.
As part of finalizing the 2010 goals I’ve been working through the feedback to each specific goal. I’ll post the results for each goal separately and then assemble them into a complete document.
Here’s the mobile piece. Everything is framed as a goal, rather than a big goal with specific tasks Mozilla ought to accomplish. I think this is the right approach, though I’ve gone back and forth. Many groups within the Mozilla community will identify specific tasks to accomplish these goals.
Goal: Integrate mobile into one unified, open, innovative web
1. Product(s)
2. The web becomes the primary “SDK” for applications, rather than product specific proprietary SDKs.
3. New web standards are for all devices, not segregated into mobile-specific or “web” standards.
I’m going to consolidate the feedback received to date on the 2010 goals and create a new version in the next couple of days. I will do a brown bag Tuesday, December 16 at 12:30 Pacific Time (8:30 p.m. GMT) for final feedback. We’ll stream the discussion on Air Mozilla and moderated chat is available on #brownbag. We’ve had a lot of discussion so there may not be a lot of interest in this session. That’s fine. Also great if there is. The next version is likely to be very close to final, if not the final version itself. So if you have any thoughts you haven’t expressed, please do so asap.
Openness, transparency and massive participation are extraordinary tools for problem solving. They are also important tools for citizen engagement, providing positive alternatives to alienation and conflict.
Mozilla — like many open source projects — lives or dies by these same traits. Openness, transparency, massive participation — these are the traits that identify Mozilla. And we’ve seen success tackling problems conventional wisdom said couldn’t be solved.
During the US presidential campaign the Obama campaign expressed a clear commitment to using Internet technologies to enable increased openness, transparency and civic engagement into the government process. The Principles of Open Transition identify basic requirements for meeting these goals. We hope the Principles will be the start of a rich discussion about openness and citizen engagement. Many questions will come up over time. The Principles won’t answer them all. We hope they identify a few key, foundational elements that we need to get right for the rest to develop well.
Mozilla is an explicitly non-partisan organization. Mozilla supports citizen participation for people of different views and policy objectives. Mozilla is also an explicitly international organization. We hope that Mozilla’s experience with openness and participation directed toward effective problem solving can be of benefit to many organizations — government and otherwise — that seek to bring these approaches to their work.