Mozilla Festival 2012: Making, Freedom and the Web

Thrilled to again lead the Mozilla Festival, and a yearly celebration of learning and innovation for and with the web. The event will take place in London, November 9 -11.

“We want everyone to tap the full creative power of the web. The Mozilla Festival is a magnet for people interested in learning about — and playing with — the web’s future.” –Mark Surman, Executive Director, Mozilla

Coders, designers, journalists and educators will join with filmmakers, gamers, makers and youth from more than 40 different countries. Together they’ll participate in a series of design challenges, learning labs and fireside chats spread across four floors of the Ravensbourne design and media campus in East London.

Unlike traditional conferences, the Mozilla Festival is on hands-on making and collaboration. It’s “more hack, less yack.” You won’t see slides or sages on the stage. Instead, it’s a big, bustling tent for everyone who shares Mozilla’s vision for a more open, web literate world.

“Technology is at the point where learners don’t just use the tools, but make the tools. This happens at places like the Mozilla Festival, where geeks and practitioners get together.” – Joi Ito, Mozilla Foundation Board Member, Director of MIT Media Lab

This year’s key themes:

Coding for Kids. Including an entire track of activities for youth and led by youth with leadership from Hive NYC, WYNC’s Radio Rookies, DigitalMe, O2 Think Big and more.
Hackable Games. Pushing the frontiers of the web through gaming, opening games to remix, and creating games that teach web mechanics to the world.
Making the Web Physical. Interactive prototypes that explore the potential of a physical internet. Hack with the MIT Media Lab, Product Design at the University of Dundee, TinkerCAD and more.
Skills and Badges. Exploring how projects like Mozilla’s OpenBadges and others are rewarding achievement and unlocking the web’s full learning potential.
Source Code for Journalism. Coding and working open for newsrooms and journalists, including news partners from the Knight-Mozilla OpenNews project like the BBC, the Guardian, ZEIT Online, the New York Times and others.
Web-Native Cinema. Exploring how HTML5 and new technologies like Mozilla Popcorn are changing the way film-makers, documentarians and everyday people tell stories on the web.
Webmaking for Mobile. Coding and playing with mobile devices driven by the web. The web as platform for whole new devices and experiences.
Hacktivate Learning. Build a generation of webmakers. Seed a global movement to spread digital literacy and empower a new generation of digital creators.