I am sure many of you have received an email last day whose subject line was "Invitation to MozCamp Beta India". I am not sure if you were surprised (or confused) with the 'Beta' word and its significance in the event name.
Personally, I have never been to a MozCamp before but what I understand after my conversations with several former MozCamp attendees (please correct me if I am wrong), it used to be a gathering for all Mozillians of a region (mostly continent level) to be able to interact with each other. People who have been working virtually were given a chance to meet in reality during this. Also,these MozCamps used to focus a lot on cross community interactions and cross-cultural learnings.
The structure of MozCamp is getting a bit modified from this year. Starting this year, MozCamp is going to be more like a 'Train the trainer' sort of event. Unlike previous MozCamps, not all active Mozillians will be called down to attend a MozCamp. Only selected ones will be invited to come and get trained to be better trainers in respective pathways (task-forces as we call them in India) and will also be responsible to recruit new Mozillians in their respective communities.
Why this new design of MozCamp?
If you remember, one of the biggest goal for Mozilla this year is, getting a million Mozillians. And only an active Mozilla global community can make this dream come true. Inorder to do that, we will need a lot of Mozillians to be able to host events, train (and mentor) newcomers and keep encouraging new people to be a part of this awesome community.
How are the participants of a MozCamp going to be selected?
In general, the plan is to make this process application based (i.e. Mozillians will apply to be a part of MozCamp and from the list of applicants, selection will be done). But for MozCamp India we didn't have sufficient time for an application process and thus the pathway and community leaders together nominated the probable applicants and then these nominations were voted to be final participants.
Ofcourse all of these were not done randomly, there were some definite pre-requisites for the formation of this participant list. Please check this wiki page for the invitation criteria for the MozCamp Beta India.
Why is the "Beta" tag attached to the event name?
Since MozCamp is being restructured, the first event in India is going to be like a test version of the original ones. The new structure, the content covered and also the overall conduction of this event are the major testing criteria. Thus, just like a software release is preceded by a 'beta' release, before the original MozCamps, we are having the 'beta' event.
Will there be other MozCamps after the beta one this year?
Yes. Just like we used to have, we will continue having MozCamp Asia, Europe Latin America and all the other ones. And yes the Indian participants will again be invited to attend MozCamp Asia but since you will be already trained once, get prepared to hold more responsibilities in the bigger MozCamp.
What is the venue for MozCamp India?
June 20 - June 22, 2014 in Bangalore, India
JW Marriott
24/1, Vittal Mallya Rd, Ashok Nagar, Bangalore, Karnataka 560001, India
For more information, you can refer to this wiki page.
What is there in it for the community?
This is probably the most important question we should all ask ourselves. One of the main reasons why India was chosen as the venue for test run was the active contribution from this region of the globe. When an event of this scale was being planned in less than 6 weeks time, it was a challenge for the entire community to get together and make this happen and yes, we have boldly accepted the challenge. The Indian community (I believe) has all the skill-set required to make this event a super success.
So, before I conclude, I would like to remind you that incase if you have not received an invitation for this MozCamp beta, its no way an implication that you are not awesome or your contribution is not being valued. There was a limitation on the number of participants that could be included in MozCamp India and thus, there might be some criteria based on which someone else had to be accommodated this time.
Personally, I have never been to a MozCamp before but what I understand after my conversations with several former MozCamp attendees (please correct me if I am wrong), it used to be a gathering for all Mozillians of a region (mostly continent level) to be able to interact with each other. People who have been working virtually were given a chance to meet in reality during this. Also,these MozCamps used to focus a lot on cross community interactions and cross-cultural learnings.
The structure of MozCamp is getting a bit modified from this year. Starting this year, MozCamp is going to be more like a 'Train the trainer' sort of event. Unlike previous MozCamps, not all active Mozillians will be called down to attend a MozCamp. Only selected ones will be invited to come and get trained to be better trainers in respective pathways (task-forces as we call them in India) and will also be responsible to recruit new Mozillians in their respective communities.
Why this new design of MozCamp?
If you remember, one of the biggest goal for Mozilla this year is, getting a million Mozillians. And only an active Mozilla global community can make this dream come true. Inorder to do that, we will need a lot of Mozillians to be able to host events, train (and mentor) newcomers and keep encouraging new people to be a part of this awesome community.
How are the participants of a MozCamp going to be selected?
In general, the plan is to make this process application based (i.e. Mozillians will apply to be a part of MozCamp and from the list of applicants, selection will be done). But for MozCamp India we didn't have sufficient time for an application process and thus the pathway and community leaders together nominated the probable applicants and then these nominations were voted to be final participants.
Ofcourse all of these were not done randomly, there were some definite pre-requisites for the formation of this participant list. Please check this wiki page for the invitation criteria for the MozCamp Beta India.
Why is the "Beta" tag attached to the event name?
Since MozCamp is being restructured, the first event in India is going to be like a test version of the original ones. The new structure, the content covered and also the overall conduction of this event are the major testing criteria. Thus, just like a software release is preceded by a 'beta' release, before the original MozCamps, we are having the 'beta' event.
Will there be other MozCamps after the beta one this year?
Yes. Just like we used to have, we will continue having MozCamp Asia, Europe Latin America and all the other ones. And yes the Indian participants will again be invited to attend MozCamp Asia but since you will be already trained once, get prepared to hold more responsibilities in the bigger MozCamp.
What is the venue for MozCamp India?
June 20 - June 22, 2014 in Bangalore, India
JW Marriott
24/1, Vittal Mallya Rd, Ashok Nagar, Bangalore, Karnataka 560001, India
For more information, you can refer to this wiki page.
What is there in it for the community?
This is probably the most important question we should all ask ourselves. One of the main reasons why India was chosen as the venue for test run was the active contribution from this region of the globe. When an event of this scale was being planned in less than 6 weeks time, it was a challenge for the entire community to get together and make this happen and yes, we have boldly accepted the challenge. The Indian community (I believe) has all the skill-set required to make this event a super success.
So, before I conclude, I would like to remind you that incase if you have not received an invitation for this MozCamp beta, its no way an implication that you are not awesome or your contribution is not being valued. There was a limitation on the number of participants that could be included in MozCamp India and thus, there might be some criteria based on which someone else had to be accommodated this time.
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