banner1

Some of the things I love about Mozilla (and there are a lot!) are our mission to make the Web a truly wonderful place for everyone, and our participatory process and culture.  Not to mention the leeway and resources to try some pretty cool things.  Rather than chasing world records this Spring (which is pretty fantastic!), we’re looking outward to see how we can harness the amazing energy and skills of the Mozilla community to help organizations and individuals in need.  Enter:  Mozilla Service Week.

Mozilla Service Week (June 22-29, 2009) invites you to use your skills to help people:

  • Use the Web
  • Have better access to the Web
  • and, have a better Web experience overall

This will include a whole host of activities, such as helping a school set up a wireless network, refurbishing and donating hardware to a community center, creating documentation and tutorials on how to get started on the Web, helping a non-profit refresh its website and more.   The possibilities are endless for people of all skill levels to jump in and make a difference.

We’ll be posting more details on how the week will work and how you can all pitch in.  In the near term we could use some help on localizing the program name.  We’re looking to roll this out in as many languages as possible, including German, Japanese, French, Chinese, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and Polish.  “Service” can have very different connotations when translated directly and might not come close to meaning “volunteerism.”  So here’s how you can pitch in:

  • Work with your fellow local community members to come to a consensus on an appropriate translation for “Mozilla Service Week” (i.e. discuss in your IRC channel or other forum)
  • Comment with a recommendation below
  • Provide a translation for our preliminary start page snippet if you’re on a roll: “Be the Difference! Better your community during Mozilla Service Week,  June 22-29. Find out more.”
  • Let me know if you want to help translate or get the word out!

More details to come, but we’re all really excited to see what sort of impact we can make.   As Margaret Mead said:  “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”  This certainly rings true of the Mozilla community and we’re not so small anymore!