sarah friedlander

Imperfect perfectionist living life to its fullest.

  1. Blogging BlogHer ’10 New York

    It’s been over 3 weeks since a handful of Mozillians (including myself) were at BlogHer ’10 in New York City.  I like to think we “took over the Big Apple” by introducing thousands of eager “blog-hers” to Firefox Add-ons in both the Geek Lab and our hospitality suite.  After months of planning it was great to see so many people excited to interact with us about Firefox or learn about their new favorite browser.

    There were a few things that were memorable for me and made the event a success.  Since I think “pictures are worth a thousand words,” I’ll write less and try to use more visual elements.

    BlogHer Toolbar & Add-on Collection

    Prior to the conference we worked closely with the BlogHer team and Briks Software to develop a toolbar that would make browsing and navigating the website a lot easier.  It was a lot of fun to be part of the development process and see how a few ideas can turn into a technical specification and finally into a coded product.  I’m very proud of the result and encourage you to give it a try!  Directly from the toolbar you are able to:

    • Get updates of new articles on BlogHer
    • Easily update your BlogHer Chatter status from anywhere!
    • Quickly access your BlogHer account
    • Share any website on BlogHer Chatter, Facebook, Twitter, or email
    • Learn more about the toolbar

    In addition to the toolbar we designed an add-ons collection especially for BlogHer ’10 featuring 7 all-star add-ons for bloggers and people who like to read.  The add-ons are:

    • Feed Sidebar
    • Morning Coffee
    • Read It Later
    • ScribeFire
    • Shareaholic
    • Textarea Cache
    • Yoono

    You can get the add-ons here.

    T-Shirts and the “Quickest” Survey Ever

    We had some pretty rad t-shirts that we gave away in exchange for taking a survey on Firefox and Add-ons.  I heard quite a few people say, “Gosh that was the quickest survey ever!”.  With 357 completed survey submissions we got some great insight into the “BlogHer”.  In our state of openness I’ll be posting some of the interesting results on Rock Your Firefox in the next few days.  Until then here are some interesting stats:

    • Do you use Firefox to browse the web?  Yes (91.6%) and No (8.4%)
    • If your primary browser is not Firefox, what is it?  Microsoft Internet Explorer (57.1%), Google Chrome (32.1%) and Apple Safari (10.7%)
    • What are your favorite add-ons?  Firebug, AdBlock, Delicious were at the top of the list.  Check out the word cloud for more insight.

    Room Decor, Magnolias Cupcakes and Swag

    I’ve never been a cupcake connoisseur but apparently Magnolia’s cupcakes are where it’s at in New York City if you wish to enter a blissed out state of sugar ecstasy.  Partner this with a funky 80′s theme suite (to match our Rock Your Firefox logo) and some great swag (including Foxkeh) and how can you not have a great time?

    I like to think that we (Mozilla) are masters of doing great events on a tight budget and this proved to be a great example: over the 2 days of BlogHer we got many comments that our suite was one of the best decorated and was the most inviting (furnished mostly with IKEA/Target).  (I’d also like to personally nominate our suite as ‘Most likely to give you an extreme sugar rush!’)

    The People

    Over the 2 days of BlogHer we had an estimate of 600+ people go through our suite.  I had the opportunity to talk to people on many subjects including Personas, Firefox 4, our beta program, Add-ons and of course the BlogHer Toolbar.  It was great to have so much face-time with actual  Firefox users – it leaves me feeling refreshed and reminds me how much Firefox affects and shapes peoples’ lives.

    I always wanted to give a huge thanks to all of the Mozillians that came in to spend the time at BlogHer.  We had some long days but had a lot of fun together. A special thanks to Mary Colvig, Marcia Knous, Justin Scott, Brian King and Jorge Villalobos.  Definitely couldn’t have done this one without all of you.  Now onward and upward to the next!

  2. SXSW Panel Picker 2011 – Vote for Mozilla Sessions!

    It feels like just yesterday we were wrapping up SXSW Interactive 2010, but now the Panel Picker is up and running and SXSW Interactive 2011 is ramping up.  This year we have three sessions submitted to the Panel Picker – including our very own from the Engagement team.  So – please vote them up (voting ends 11:59 CDT on Friday, August 27th) – just click the link!

    Mozilla’s Army of AWESOME: Engaging Non-Technical User Participants

    Mozilla is traditionally known as a technology focused, open source geeky project. And, whilst Mozilla builds Firefox for all users, its community for many years remained heavily technical. Until recently. As online life expands and more people become aware of the true collaboration and communication potential of the Web, Mozilla has attracted artists, film makers, teachers and other less technical people into its community. Learn how Mozilla increased participation and engagement in the Mozilla project on a variety of levels truly opening itself up to everyone hackers — who side by side with coders are also building and shaping the web we all want.

    How to Create Prototypes and Influence People

    The value of an idea is zero unless it is communicated. To make a difference in your company, to get funding as an entrepreneur, to change the world, you need to be able to convince others of your ideas. Even the Palm Pilot started as a single-day prototype: a block of wood carried by founder Jeff Hawkins for weeks. Firefox Tab Sets started as a Saturday hack. The first wind-up radio was slapped together in a few hours after its inspiration. Many of the worlds most influential products have started as a prototype done in a day. This talk teaches you how to get a prototype done now, the right way and wrong way to give a demo, and how to start influencing people.

    Mozilla School of Webcraft @P2PU

    P2PU School of Webcraft: Web developer training that’s free, open and globally accessible. Mozilla and Peer 2 Peer University are creating the P2PU School of Webcraft, a new way to teach and learn web developer skills. Our classes are globally accessible, 100% free, and powered by learners, mentors and contributors like you. Our goal is to provide a free pathway to skills and certification to help people build careers on open web technology. Existing developer training is expensive, out of touch, and out of reach. We leverage peer learning powered by mentors and learners like you and self-organized study groups. We use existing open and free learning materials In this sixty minute session we’ll briefly cover the inception of the Peer 2 Peer University along with details and success stories from the first three cycles of courses. We’ll then dive into more detail about our collaboration with Mozilla Drumbeat including Mozilla’s mission to engage the next million Mozillians. We’ll present the P2PU School of Webcraft, and a case study of courses offered so far, including the first course, ‘Mashing Up the Open Web.’ Additionally, we’ll introduce our plans to separate learning from assessment and our community driven credentialing system. At the end of the session we will invite the audience, and all of SXSW, to join a course on open web skills to be offered during the week of the event. Read more.

  3. Recapping Mozilla Summit 2010 in Whistler, BC

    The fact that Summit is over still hasn’t hit me. I think it’s the same feeling at the end of a really great family reunion or wedding that many months of planning and preparation went into – how can it be already over?

    Now after 2 weeks of reuniting myself with the “normalcy,” I feel like I’m ready to recollect and recapture three memorable days of Summit in written format. Before I go into too much detail, for my non-Mozillian blog audience think of Summit as 3 mind-blowing days, focusing on the future of the web with 600 of your best friends in beautiful Whistler, BC. I think that sums it up pretty well!

    Open Web Goosebumps

    Close your eyes and think about try to recall some amazing experience that gave you goosebumps and chills. Maybe it was a trip to a Broadway show where the singer just hits that perfect pitch, or the feeling when you climb to the top of a mountain and see a sunset. These moments are rare and remind your senses what you find truly incredible. Shaver’s keynote and presentation of Flight of the Navigator did it for me. I’m an incredibly visual person and while there were so many keynotes talking about the changes to the open web platform, being able to see it all converge into one solid presentation gave me chills up my spine.

    Why is this so cool? Normally video/audio requires plugins like Flash in a browser. This video is a perfect demonstration about the power of HTML5 with WebGL, JavaScript and the use of the Audio API — no plug-ins required! (Processing.js is used for animated textures, WebM video for videos and BeatDetektor.js for audio analysis and visualization). Simply stunning.

    Session + Lightning Talk = WIN

    Session: Moving from Local Events to Strong Local Communities

    I was incredibly fortunate at Summit to be able to have both a session as well as a lightning talk. My session, “Moving from Local Events to Strong Local Communities” was co-presented with Nathaniel James from the Mozilla Foundation/Drumbeat. We discussed best practices from a local community level and how to uplift this information. Some of our key takeaways were:

    1. There are many types of events that the community and Mozilla are hosting and organizing, and there is inconsistent deployment around the world. This means the people in the various countries have varying levels of skills.
    2. Community (local community participants around the globe) need assistance in best practices for event management, as frequently they are not marketing experts, nor do we expect them to be.
    3. Organizers on different ends of the Mozilla enterprise can’t reach each other communities – a shared community contact database would be very helpful.

    There are a number of great pieces of information that arose from this session – keep your eyes peeled over the next few months for some cool new additions that I think will make planning and organizing events around the world a lot easier.

    Lightning Talk: Host Your Own Firefox Education Event!

    What can I say? Being able to stand up on a stage and talk to 600 people about something I’m passionate about is a blast (and more-so to get such great feedback and interest after the talk put a silly grin on my face for the rest of Summit). I’ve spoken in front of large groups before, but nothing at this size and with this amount of lights (seriously, the lights were so bright that I couldn’t see anyone in their seats). I think my short presentation speaks for itself so I’ll let you page through it below.

    Community, Community, Community

    This is the section where I get emotional and I find myself at a loss for words.

    Sure the sessions were great, we’re changing the web, and we’re awesome, but we wouldn’t be anywhere near where we are today without so many people that spend countless hours contributing to our codebase, marketing our products, and localizing our content.

    Our community (I believe) is made up of some of the most humble and amazing people I have ever met in my life. Thank you. You are the reason I wake up every morning and want to work so hard at my job.

    At the top of the beautiful mountain in Whistler I became so clearly aware of how lucky I am – At what other time in my life would I be able to have a conversation with someone from México, Paraguay, Bolivia and Serbia? I’ve learned so much from all of you, and see you as my peers, mentors, friends and most importantly, my inspiration. Together I truly feel that we can make a difference in the world.

    Thanks and here’s to the next few years!

  4. SXSW 2010: Sessions, Parties, Intellectual Stimulus and Good Food

    Nearly two weeks have passed since SXSW Interactive, yet I still can remember the overwhelming feeling of excitement and happiness that passed through me during the warm Austin weekend thinking that I actually *belonged* at this conference.

    Although I’m a self proclaimed geek where programming lingo and coder’s jokes put me at ease, I don’t spend hours hidden behind bash shells, fighting with svn or checking on the stability of a server.  My days are are spent in marketing where I live and breathe social media, creative campaigns, and the power of engaging a wonderful community to promote Firefox.

    As a SXSW Interactive “first-timer” I came in not knowing what to expect but leaving with the feeling that this was the first conference where I truly felt like I was *home*.  The material of each of the sessions was tailored around my interests and although I’ve heard  complaints that SXSW has changed, I still felt that I  left with lots of insight, new connections and a revived passion for the field I am in.

    Sessions

    I was fortunate to attend a lot of great sessions on Saturday and Sunday.  Some of my favorites were:

    • Web Fonts: The Time Has Come
    • We F*cked Up: Happy Cog and Friends, Exploring Failures, Together
    • danah boyd‘s keynote; Opening Remarks: Privacy and Publicity
    • Offering Your Content in 100 Languages
    • What’s Open Video and Why Does It Matter?
    • Wow, That’s Cool…Fun With HTML5 Video

    Although this is just a snapshot of some of the sessions and panels that I attended the few that still stick out in my mind is the We F*cked Up Panel and danah boyd’s keynote.  In the session it was wonderful to hear about projects that fall apart and the tremendous opportunity to use our failures to grow both professionally and personally.  I left this session inspired to take risks and to not be afraid to try something new for fear of failure.

    danah boyd’s keynote was inspirational for a two reasons.  For one, there were two illustrators creating real time drawings of the content being discussed.  Being a very visual person this was a great way to take in the information and to process afterward.  The second was the actual content – her discussion on privacy and publicity and how it fits into the realm of social media was awakening.  As social media continues to become a huge part of our everyday life what risks are we taking by putting our content out publicly?  What privacy concerns does this bring up?

    Mozilla SXSW Events

    In addition to the many sessions that, we had some great events including the Add-ons “All You Can Mini Golf Meetup” and our SXSW Happy Hour party, which were both featured in ZDNet’s “15 SxSW 2010 Parties and Meetups You Can’t Miss“.

    The Mozilla Happy Hour party at Cedar Door had a line that started forming out the door over an hour before the event event started.  Throughout the night we saw 700+ attendees come through the door to learn about Mozilla and get some great Rock Your Firefox swag.  One of the perks of the night had to be when Joi Ito announced the three Jetpack for Learning winners that then received the “ride of their life” in the pimped out Firefoxin’ Local Motors Rally Fighter Car.

    Miscellaneous

    In addition to some great sessions and Mozilla Events I was able to attend to some great parties including Happy Cog’aoke and the Mashable Party, enjoy good Austin cuisine and soak up the Austin sun on my brisk walks between the hotel and conference center.  I’m excited for 2011 and what SXSW will hold for me!

  5. Mashable Party

    Enviado desde mi iPhone

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