May 1, 2012 0

BarCamp Canterbury 2

By in Mozilla

BarCamp Canterbury is an unconference that is a completely free to attend and based loosely around the theme of:innovative, unusual, and amusing examples of information and technology.

A technology conference with a difference: more like a gathering of enthusiastic people that are into tech, gadgets, science, crafts, or just about anything else that’s geeky and fun. There will be plenty of entertaining sessions and workshops on the day, and when sessions aren’t running, there’s usually other fun stuff happening: food and drink, games, conversation, silliness, and people hacking on projects. You can go to any session you like, and if you don’t find a session interesting, you can leave and go to another.

Last weekend was more than just fun, it was brilliant. BarCamp Canterbury had everything you could want from a gathering of geeks. It had robots, clocks, and lego! I feel privileged to have been able to represent Mozilla at such a great event, and even more so for having been able to attend!

I did several talks while I was there, and got a lot of good feedback from it. So what talks did I do?! Well, I used my short form “Who? What? Why? (Mozilla)” talk each morning, and both times got a good-sized audience, as well as a lot of interesting, in-depth, and sometimes difficult to answer questions (where I just didn’t know the answer but really wanted to know myself (did a little looking up in those cases). I got so many questions in fact that I had to do an entire extra session (AMA style) to get through them all. Questions ranged from getting people into web making, to how Mozilla got so big, to how to fix problems some people had encountered with Firefox.

I also did a talk on some of the new tools build into Firefox that make development easier, as well as the tools/resources created by Hackasuarus. Again, there were a good number of questions.

Something that I did off my own back was my presentation on being a good public speaker, which I made as interactive as possible by getting people to come up and use the first three picture slides from my deck to do a presentation on anything, using the tips and tricks I had just spoken about. This session was so popular that I ran it 4 times! I even took it a step further and ran a session at the end of the event on making slide decks using my favorite tools. HTML, CSS, JavaScript and DZSlides.

Was it worth Mozilla sponsoring this event. In a word… YES! There was a lot of interest in Mozilla, what we have done, and where we are going. I attended a talk on Teaching programming in 5 languages at once by Allan Callaghan. This talk was so inspiring and energetic, and on a topic that I think is still very relevant to Mozilla… Learning, Freedom, and the Web!

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April 26, 2012 0

More Mozilla UK work

By in Mozilla

Okay… so I am happy with the Analysis section of document I have been writing and so will transfer that to a wiki page in the next few hours, I am now moving on the development. This is where I am going to be talking entirely about my proposed system. This can be discussed etc… however after doing a lot of research there is not much out there in the way of up-to-date, lightweight cms that get out of your way in terms of the front end and database structure, yet make life super easy on the backend. Most that I found / know have either been left to gather dust over the past two years, or add way too much in the way of feature we are not looking for / want. So I have started / will continue regardless,  developing a small set of tools based on the open source php framework known as CodeIgniter.

The language choice is simply because I am very comfortable / have more experience with php, and the framework is chosen for being robust, secure, and still being developed.

The wireframes that I have created are currently being worked on very kindly by Jan to be come much prettier mockups.

So… the wiki page where I will be putting the analysis section is https://wiki.mozilla.org/Mozilla_UK/revamp.

As for the code I am working on the tools are being developed under the name SandCastle, and there is a public git repository at https://github.com/fuzzyfox/SandCastle.

As ever, feedback welcomed / wanted.

April 23, 2012 2

Mozilla UK revamp updates

By in Mozilla
Mozilla UK Draft Logo Vertical

proposed vertical version of Mozilla UK logo

Okay… so it appears that even though this revamp is still in the early stages there is a reasonable amount of interest in the project. So I thought I would make it easy for those of you who are interested to stay up to date. I will be periodically posting here about major updates, however for more minor things you should keep an eye on my tumblr where I will be posting about more mundane changes, as well as periodic photos of my paper based work. Until I get back to university and thus my scanner.

So for now here are the big changes since I last posted about the revamp. I have added the data flow and entity relationship diagrams to development the document, as well as added headings for future sections to be written, and the system requirements.

Biggest reason for not posting here every time a make a change, well… unlike with my A-Level I don’t have to blog this in every tiny detail, and I also now have my tumblr which is a much better format for quick updates than my blog which I am trying to keep free for more detailed, and important updates from myself.

If you have any feedback on this revamp feel free to drop a line to me, or if you are part of the UK community mailing list then send it there. In fact… I should probably post my updates there as well as my tumblr… so I will :P

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April 22, 2012 0

Mozilla UK meetup and mozilla.org.uk revamp

By in Mozilla

Okay so this post is actually two rolled into one. I decided it would not be worth doing them separately as there is just way to much cross over.

Mozilla UK meetup

Not long ago, about a week ago in fact, was the second Mozilla UK meetup that I have been to. This time in the new London space. It was really nice to see the new London space now that it has been completed (for the most part). This time round the talks lasted a little longer than last time (by about a day) and a whole lot more productive this time. We took the discussion right back to basics.

What is the point of a Mozilla community in the UK? Or in other words, what should a Mozilla community in the UK be focusing on? This is a question that helped lead most of the discussion on the first day. Gerv was a big help in putting us on this track, and it is to him I would like to say a big thank-you. I doubt we would have been as productive as we were, had he not been there. The discussion lead us to the conclusion that one of the main focuses we should have is web making.

Leo has done a great job of writing up the talks (see the wiki) so for the rest of this section will focus on other aspects of the trip.

It was nice to be able to visit the new London space now it has been completed and I have to say it is one of the nicest places I have been. The communal area is amazing, relaxed, and yet still somewhere that I could get a lot of work done. It was also nice staying in the hostel on the first night. I met a number of people who new of Mozilla, and recognized it to be the people who make the Firefox browser. I also had the chance to teach some web making skills to a lovely girl there who was studying business and had a web programming module. Something I didn’t even know existed in a business course. It was quite a nice irony for me that the following day we decided as a community to focus on web making.

The second nice thing, separate from the amazing meeting rooms at the new space, was that a couple of people came to visit the office at the end of the first day, and we had a nice chat about a number of things. I also found out about an amazing project to do with storing information for a million years, using ice, and a space craft in an orbit near the edge of the solar system. Little did I know that one of the people involved in this project happens to lecture at my university. I will have to track him down and have a good chat when I get back to uni next week.

I also got to meet some people at the space that I have not seen for a long time, as well as some new faces. Something I love doing. You know… I think I’m going to leave this part of the post as it is. There was just too much to talk about, I should have tweeted/tumbled the whole thing to be able to explain how amazing it was. I will add one more thing to this section,and that is to say that on the second day those of us that were still around focused on what to do with the website.

mozilla.org.uk revamp

So it may not seem like that long ago that there was someone writing about a revamp of the Mozilla UK portal. However since the recent meetup at the new London space work has been happening on the new direction for the UK community. Some of this work revolves around the website which is being stripped out, and replaced with a new system that provides only the key information specific to the UK community. This information is going to be focused on events, and the blogs of those around the community.

I have spent the past week working on the new site, its design, a logo, etc… and over the course of this week I am going to be writing up a lot of what I have done, as well as sharing with you updates and changes suggested by others within the community as well as myself. So, today I have spent the afternoon (seeing as how I only got up at lunch time) working on putting most of the analysis that has been done on the site, into a single document similar to the one I last had to create for my A-Level project Affero. There are some bits missing for a number of reasons, mostly due to needing to talk more with others, some due to my need to convert some hand drawn sketches to a slightly more digital form.

Anyway, I would like to share with you the document so far, so as to get your opinions, suggestions, etc… The document is just a simple markdown doc, so I ask forgiveness on it not being as collaborative as it could be were it a wiki, however this is just my rough works so far, and I have a lot more to do. I will be adding this to a lovely, lovely wiki once I am happier with the state of the doc.

You can find either both the markdown and HTML version of this document in my public dropbox folder. To find out more about my logo ideas read my tumblr post about it.

My preferred, and the logo which I have had the most positive feedback on can be seen below:

mozilla uk draft logo

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March 20, 2012 3

Bang Goes The Mozillian?

By in Things About Me

Okay… so despite the title there this post is not listed as being in the Mozilla category… why… well this one is more personal than anything else. It is a funny thing in life, as to what you can end up doing while waiting on people to arrive from another country, one you recently left in fact, to also arrive.

So it is the day after FOSDEM and I am waiting on Santiago to arrive into the UK from Brussels, and I have a good 4 hours to wait… so I spent some time getting a coffee… mooching around… using the free wifi that resides in St’ Pancras, patiently waiting for the EuroStar to come in. When I get asked by someone of that tellebox thing (not sure what it is… I have only ever heard of the interwob) if I can spend a few moments to help with an experiment for Bang Goes The Theory… I then get asked again later on…

Your never going to guess what TV show I was on today :P Visit iPlayer to see me, on Bang Goes The Theory!

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March 8, 2012 2

The problem with filtering off posts.

By in Mozilla, Things About Me

Okay… so here is my two cents to the discussion happening on what content should be on planet.mozilla.org. It is a simple little thing however it is a problem as I see it, and that is this.

I currently, as I know others do, rather enjoy reading the posts from those that are aggregated on planet that may not always have a link back to Mozilla. I like to know how people in the community are doing. I also like to find out about new things that are of interest to myself, that others within Mozilla are interested in, could be interested in, or maybe in some cases Mozilla should take an interest in, or could help with. However what I dislike…. is when I have duplicate posts in my feed reader. It happens from time to time, however it would happen a lot if planet became 100% Mozilla only. This is not a bad thing entirely… it is good that those who subscribe directly to our blogs see the Mozilla related content, but what if I am subscribed to planet (thus getting all the Mozilla posts), and then directly to the blogs to know how people are doing? Well then I see twice as much Mozilla content, but not extra value. Just duplicate content.

I know it’s a small issue, that realistically I should be able to find a way to solve (maybe create a custom feed that merges both either my end or planets?) but its nice to have it all in one place as it is right now. I’m not sure that planet really has a problem with excessive amounts irrelevant content right now… so why change it?

Anyhow… as always this is just my opinion on the matter, and in no way tries to represent any views Mozilla or its community (except self) may have.

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March 5, 2012 0

Chapter One: The Beginning of The End

By in Misc, Things About Me

Okay, so right now it is about 1:30 in the morning, and I am finally feeling like I might be able to sleep, when I realize that my pen (a fountain pen) may need a new ink cartridge. So I decide to quickly check it before I go to bed. I do so by grabbing a pad of scrap paper made from old exercise book parts that were never used. Not only do I find that, yes the pen does really need some new ink in it, but will do for the time being, but a piece of long forgotten creative writing that I think I did for practice before one of my GCSEs.

After giving it a quick read I feel a sense of both pride, and inspiration to improve the work. So here is my before and after. First the 4 – 5 year old piece, then my improved version written not 5 minutes ago.

The attic door creaked open. Something rustled in the darkness. I stared but could see nothing beyond the vague shapes of old suitcases and boxes pile high. It smelt damp. Thick dust powdered every surface.

I carefully made my way forwards, balancing on the floor beams. I kept thinking I could put my foot through the plaster and fall straight into the room bellow. A cobweb brushed my face and I felt a sudden tickle of a spider crawl across my cheek.

I stopped at a pile of old camping equipment. It was a jumble of guy ropes, torn canvas, poles, and wooden pegs. Then I saw the hand, quite still and white. At first I thought it was marble. But then it moved.

The door to the attic was, to my dismay, right above my bed, and, on this night (a stormy one at that), it decided to open. I stared at it for a moment in disbelief only to hear something moving in the darkness. Unlike any rational or sane person I took this a cue to explore. So up I went.

In the darkness I could just about make out the vague, dark shapes of old suitcases and boxes piled high. The air was thick with dust, and yet somehow the place smelt damp.

Carefully I made my way forward, trying not to loose my footing on what little boarding there was. A cobweb brushed my face causing its eight legged occupant to scurry across my face, tickling me as it scrambled for safety. Something I should also have been seeking.

I stopped at the opposite end of the attic by a twisted heap of knotted mess on the floor. I knew it to be some old, unused camping gear and could just about make out some of the poles, ropes, the odd wooden peg, and a few bits of torn canvas poking out near the bottom. This however was not what had caught my attention. What had was much easier to see. It was white, and looked a bit like marble. Perfectly sculpted into an incredibly dainty hand. One that was sat slap bang in the center of the heap that was camping gear.

At least I thought it was marble, until I realized that the darker vein of material was actually a trickle of blood. Until the hand decided to move.

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February 29, 2012 0

The Two Things about Mozilla

By in Mozilla

I recently learned about The Two Things question from William Reynolds and wanted to respond with what I’ve learned about the Mozilla Community.

For every subject, there are really only two things you really need to know. Everything else is the application of those two things, or just not important. – Gary Whitman

The Two Things about Mozilla

With this one I don’t think it could have been put better, so instead I am just going to copy William here:

  1. Create products (such as Firefox, Marketplace, Persona, B2G) that disrupt controlled platforms in order to build a better Web
  2. Develop projects in an open way that allows contributors from all over the world to participate and work towards the mission of keeping the power of the Web in people’s hands [from About Mozilla]

The Two Things about the Mozilla Community

  1. The community is truly global and as such holds great potential, and respect.
  2. With great potential comes a great responsibility to take control of our online lives, to encourage others to make it easier for the masses to do so also, and that is something this community does better than most.

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February 25, 2012 1

The Free and Open Source Software Developer’s European Meeting ’12

By in Mozilla, University

Okay, so at the time of writing this it has now been more than a few weeks since I finally left FOSDEM, and I am ashamed to say that it has taken me this long to get round to blogging about it properly. I have some notes for the post however I cannot remember where they are, and to top it all off I didn’t take any amazing photos (well actually the last one is no surprise).

photo by m0dlx cc-by-sa

This year was my second visit to the amazing event and I have to say things seemed very different to the last time I went in 2010. It seems more organized and less… how to put it in clean terms… cluster f*** (I gave up on clean) in regard to the booths. There was a nice steady stream of people to the Mozilla booth, and from what I hear (I spent most of my time at the booth) it was much the same in the dev room.

So how do you sum up two days of amazing talks? Be they more formal presentations like those in the dev rooms, or less formal but just as important, like those I had at the booth. The answer… you can’t. It would take me two entire days of your, and my, life to explain the awesome sauce that is FOSDEM and even then I don’t think I would quite get it right. To say something that I have seen in many others blog posts and that I say time and time again. This has to be the best {insert event here} ever!

As always the first night is beer night, and yet again (I’m not sure how this has happened twice however I wont complain) I ended up with a reasonable number of the beer tokens :P . It was a night of catching up, having a laugh, and getting drunk enough to say “yup… I was drink” (yes that did say drink), but not so drunk as to have a hangover the next day (unlike some people who forgot that this is how it is meant to be (you know who you are).

photo by Pieros Papadeas

Day one of the event was different this time to the last I went to. There were more buildings to go to and the whole event was a little more spread out which I think worked to the advantage of not only the booths (what with having more space) but also the dev rooms (as people could get in and out easier between sessions).

I attended a talk on behalf of one of my lecturers at my university as I was lucky enough to be flying off to another country for possibly the geek event of the year while she was stuck teaching a maths lecture I was meant to be attending. I also got to know a whole heap more Mozillians as well as have a number of rather long, yet interesting convocations with people at other booths around the ULB campus. Not only that but also a great collection of talks with people interested in Mozilla. Some had questions that we were unable to get answers to straight away and so something that happened was a nice little hack that I am rather proud of that allowed us to collect these questions and reply to them after the event. You may even be seeing more of this at future events, however in a slightly more polished form.

photo by Julia Buchner cc-by-sa

Day two was much the same as day one however I got to attend a few more talks that I was interested in, as well as find out that due to what the UK calls “severe weather conditions” my flight home that evening was cancelled. This meant another night in Brussels. Turns out this was a good thing as I spent an amazing night with some friends from around the community having a great dinner as well as showing off a couple of magic tricks (yep, I’m one of those people :P ).

photo by Julia Buchner cc-by-sa

What is the big takeaway from this event though? What made this FOSDEM so different and so awesome from a Mozilla point of view other than the obvious? Well… this year, for the first time ever. The whole thing (Mozilla involvement not FOSDEM) was organized by the community and not full-time staff. So an extra special thank you goes out to the Mozilla Belgian community as well as Beniot Leseul for dealing with the logistics and being such an exultant restaurant guide :D

More on FOSDEM:

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January 11, 2012 0

Update on the markdown blogging

By in Misc

Okay, so I have finally settled on a choice for my markdown blogging after recently discovering that Tumblr allows you to use markdown while writing posts. This makes me happy as Tumblr provides a lot more in the way of customization and extra little features that make life a little easier for the sort of blogging that I wanted to be doing on the second blog. So without any more delay you can follow my Tumblr by visiting tumblr.wduyck.com.

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