Friday, 8 August 2014

MozRide to a Village – Maker Party @ Gangadevipally



As you all know, I and Hitesh have started a campaign named MozRide as part of Mozilla Web Maker Project to host Maker Parties in the city of Warangal and raise awareness on Open source, Open Web, Net Neutrality, Mozilla and to teach the web.

MozRide got good response and many of our friends wanted to get involved in this campaign. Ajay – Mozilla Web Maker Super Mentor, M Santhosh, Bharath, Sudheer, Manoj, Samudrala Santhosh, Sai, Vineeth, Abdul Ghani and Vamshi have joined me and Hitesh for the MozRide to a Village and we all together have hosted Maker Party @ Gangadevipally.



It was a two day event; first day was train the trainer’s program - to all the newbie’s who joined the campaign. I, Ajay and Hitesh have trained the new people who joined the program upon Importance of Open Source and the Open Web, Mission of Mozilla and Web Maker Project, different ways to contribute to Mozilla, How to host Maker Parties, Web Maker tools, event guides to plan and host Maker Parties themselves. First day was very productive. All the newbie’s who joined us Day 1 are now in a stage to host Maker Parties on their own. All are satisfied with the training.


Second day was the Maker Party. We all were set and were very excited to host the event. Gram Sarpanch (A head of the village) has inaugurated the program. Many people of the village have joined us in the event. Children, farmers, Bank Officials, teachers, House wives were all the part of Maker Party. 



 First I have given a brief Introduction to all the people about who we are, what we do as part of Mozilla and how we do. Then people moved to different stalls organized, in the first half an hour, everybody have given awareness on Open Source, Internet, Open Web, Net Neutrality and Mozilla to the people and the rest of the event was showing them live about what Internet is, how to use the web using Firefox Browser, how webpage is loaded in to the browser, how it is built with html and the basic html tags. 



The village which we have chosen for MozRide has many credits. It is one of the best villages in India and it has been awarded as the Model Village.  There is 90% of literacy, no alcohol consumption, 100% children going schools, no child labor, purified drinking water at a very low price etc.
There was no Internet connectivity in the village, we used paper prototypes – we made a prototype to describe about internet, we used charts to describe about html tags. The second day of the event was also a great success.

Finally we took feedback from the villagers and gave a momento on behalf of Mozilla Warangal. People felt so happy for sharing the knowledge with them.



Make which we have created: https://merajimran.makes.org/popcorn/2791

Reps Portal Link: https://reps.mozilla.org/e/maker-party-gangadevipally/

Flickr Link: https://www.flickr.com/photos/82525714@N05/sets/72157646278828382/


Wednesday, 6 August 2014

Maker Party @ Navodaya Medical Store


Yeah, you heard it right. Maker Parties can be hosted anywhere to teach the awesomeness of the web. Me and Hitesh started a campaign called MozRide where we host Maker Parties all over Warangal City to teach the web.


As part of MozRide campaign, we have hosted a Maker Party @ Navodaya Medical Store for which we are regular customers. They have opened a new branch for their medical store, so Me and Hitesh thought why not we host a Maker Party and teach them how to make a web page for their store?

For this, Me and Hitesh first planned how to start and from where to start. We first made a basic plan to initiate the event by telling them about the uses of an Internet and the web page for their store, also we jotted down some points how their online presence will grow their business. Finally we arrived to the Medical store to host a Maker Party.

First, I spoke to the owner of the store, I Introduced myself as a Mozilla Rep, I told them what I do as part of Web Maker project and also I explained the purpose of visit to their store. Then I have explained her uses of Internet and a Web Page for their store and I told her the Mission of Web Maker Project that our mission is not just people consume the web but also create the web. She was so excited to learn and make a web page for their store. 

Hitesh was taking the pictures mean while. I gave the teaching part to Hitesh as I was happy to see one old grandfather coming in to their store to purchase medicines. I grabbed that opportunity. I introduced myself to him; I told him I want to teach you about Computer, Internet and the Web. He was so happy; he spent around 30 minutes with me.    

When I started telling him about computer, he listened carefully and he was enjoying learning.  He told me that there was not this much of technology when he was studying. He used Punched Cards and learn about computer in his days and now he is happy to see the technology.

I also taught him about the Internet and the web, also how Mozilla is striving to make the web open for all. After I completed my teaching, he was giving me examples for which I taught him. I felt so happy with the way he understood my teaching. He also told me that he had no knowledge of internet till date. He was very happy to learn about the web at an age of 61 years. This sentence made me proud of being a Mozillian.

As he was very new to the world of Internet, I do not want him to get confused. I just opened Firefox and shown him how the information is rendered in browser in the form of html. I taught him basic tags of html in a notepad and ended the discussion with him.

I then joined Hitesh in teaching the owner of the store about the creation of a webpage for their store. She too felt so happy and thanked us by saying we being their customers helped them to grow their business by teaching and making their online presence. I replied ‘’DOING GOOD IS PART OF OUR CODE”. She also told his son is also there, you can also make him get involved in Mozilla. This is how we also got a chance to recruit new contributor.


Makes:




  


Tuesday, 15 July 2014

Maker Party @ My Home



 Hello Mozillians,

I am back with my Maker Parties this year again...:), I am so happy as Webmaker time has started where I teach and learn many things. When I saw an email from Amira saying Maker Party starts today, enthusiasm cherished in me. I was so excited to host a maker party on the same day and finally hosted Maker Party @ My home with kids.



There was no planning, All of a sudden I decided to host a maker party then I have invited kids in my home and said let's  learn and make some thing on the web. Kids are very fast today. They already knew how to access internet. It was a time for me to teach about the ethics of Internet. Few of them which I taught are:

1. Acceptance

One has to accept that Internet is not a value free-zone .It means World Wide Web is a place where values are considered in  the broadest sense so we must take care while shaping content and services and we should recognize that internet is not apart from universal society but it is a primary component of it.

2. While using e-Mail and chatting

Internet must be used for communication with family and friends. Avoid chatting with strangers and forwarding  e-mails from unknown people /strangers.

3. Pretending to be someone else

We must not use internet to fool others by pretending to be someone else. Hiding our own identity to fool others in the Internet world is a crime and may also be a risk to others.

4. Avoid Bad language

We must not use rude or bad language while using e-Mail, chatting, blogging and social networking, We need to respect their views and should not criticize anyone on the internet.

5. Hide personal Information

One should not give personal details like home address, phone numbers, interests, passwords. No photographs should be sent to strangers and  hide personal details from strangers because it might be misused and shared with others without their knowledge.

6. While Downloading

Internet is used to listen and learn about music,It is also used to watch videos and play games  We must not use it to download them or share copyrighted material.

Then It was a for me  to teach about how the content on the web is created and published. As children have many stories with them, I asked them to tell me any story. A 12 years kid replied I know a story on mother's love. He told the heart touching story to us, then we wrote it on a notepad.

We searched for a suitable make in the gallery and found a News Paper Make which can be remixed very easily. We remixed it and finally we published the story and a kid who told the story was so happy. I also demonstrated them about Mozilla Popcorn. We also made a Popcorn Make on Mother's love.

Here are the below links for the makes:

https://merajimran.makes.org/thimble/LTEzMjUzMzQyNzI=/a-story-on-mothers-love

https://merajimran.makes.org/popcorn/25s7

Reps Event Page:
https://reps.mozilla.org/e/maker-party-my-home/ 

Flickr Link: 
https://www.flickr.com/photos/82525714@N05/sets/72157645303392589/

Tuesday, 8 July 2014

Mozilla Club Warangal Half Yearly Meet Up



Hello Mozillians,


I am happy to share the Insights of Mozilla Club Warangal Meet up which was very successfully conducted on July 6th, 2014. The meeting was chaired by Sai Kiran and around 15 people have attended the meet up.  


The meeting was initiated with brief Introduction of everyone who attended and then the contributions of the club in last 6 months have been discussed in which major contributions from MCW were Webmaker Events, Evangelism, Firefox Club Inaugurations and Firefox OS Apps Development.


Also major problems being faced in MCW were sorted out. Few of them are:
1. Only Club Leads are active in each Firefox Club
2. No follow up with club members by the Club leads
3. Less number of regular meet - ups in colleges and in the Mozilla Warangal Community
4. No active Women Involvement
5. No team coordination among Firefox Club members
6. No effort recognition for the activities done by FSA’s
7. Lack of documentation skills among FSA’s for publicizing their events.
8. FSA’s being unhappy for not inviting to any of the Mozilla India Events
9. Lack of awareness among FSA’s on different projects of Mozilla.
10. Very few Tech contributors

Solutions for the meet up have been discussed and each leader has been assigned with set of work items and deadlines.


Sl.No
Work Items Discussed
Responsibility
Deadline
1
Make all the Firefox Clubs Active by:
Organizing FSA Training Event
Sai Sharan, Bala Subramaniyan
19th Jul 2014
2
Increase Women Involvement by:
Organizing WoMoz Event
Hema Bhanu
9th Aug 2014
3
Increase Tech Contributors by:
Organizing Mozilla Hack and Developer Code Sprint Event
Sudheesh
6th Sep 2014
4
Help Mozilla Warangal Organize 100+ Maker Parties
Meraj Imran, Rahman
15th Oct 2014
5
Organize monthly Mozilla Club Warangal Meet up on first Sunday of every month and ensure smooth functioning of MCW
Saikiran,Meraj Imran
              -
6
Mozilla Warangal Online Presence
Ajay,Bhargav,Sai Kiran
              -
7
Create a Wiki and a thimble page and build online reputation for Mozlla Warangal
Sudheesh
31st Jul 2014
8
Mozilla Warangal Graphics team for publicizing the every event of MCW
Hemanth, Sonu Sandeep
              -
9
Media and Proof reading of Articles which are to be sent to the press
Sai Kiran, Hema , Meraj
              -
10
Send monthly updates of Mozilla Warangal to Mozilla India Community
Sai Kiran,Meraj
By end of the month
11
People of Contact for Mozilla Warangal
Sai Kiran,Meraj
              -
  



People Attended:  Saikiran, Meraj Imran, Hema Bhanu, Bhargav, Bala Subramaniyan, S Santhosh, Bharath, Sudheer, Vineeth, Sai Sharan, M.Santhosh, Mahboob -ur –Rahman, Hemanth, Samad,Sonu Sandeep.