Infect them while they're young !

Plan9 Summer Camp 2014 – a three week camp offering development of skills including computer programming, animation, photography, writing, public speaking and graphic designing – kicked off on 16th July 2014.

I saw this as an opportunity to teach these kids about the open web and Mozilla. Therefore, along with Muhammad Mehmood Ali, I took up the task to teach basics of web programming in this camp. We used the Webmaker tools to demonstrate how to make and remix webpages.

This workshop proved to be really fruitful since these kids understood what the open web really means. We showed them the code of any website that they wanted using the the 'inspect element' option. They were also asked to make a single page website representing Pakistan's culture and since it wasn't a pure maker-party, we gave them the liberty to use the editor of their choice. There were also videos queued up like 'The Mozilla Story", "The Web We Want", "I Am a Mozillian", etc, which were showed during these sessions to keep them motivated and informed. A lot of these kids switched to Firefox and promised to spread the word amongst their friends and family. 

 

Read More

Contributing to Mozilla @ Superior University

On 10^th of June 2014, along with the collaboration of Superior Connections (sister company of Superior University), I organized an introductory Mozilla session for the students there. The session included introducing the local Mozilla community to the students and helping them setup a Firefox Club at the University. Moreover, the students were given an overview of some cutting edge technologies and products by Mozilla e.g. Firefox OS, Webmaker, Appmaker, etc. There were also demos of the latest Firefox, developer preview versions of Firefox OS devices, and alpha version of the Urdu Firefox (a work in progress by Mozilla Pakistan). The attendance from Mozilla Pakistan included Muhammad Mehmood Ali (who also gave a talk on Firefox OS during the event), Talaal Burny (who played the role of a host), and Ma’am Huda Sarfraz (she provided us with swag, Mozilla standees, and presented the closing note). These introductory sessions are proving to be really effective as more and more people are joining the local community (as a result of these) to contribute to different Mozilla projects.

Event banner at the venue

My talk during the event

Mehmood presenting a talk on Firefox OS

Closing note by Huda Sarfraz

Audience

Receiving the guest of honor

Group picture

more audience...

Post-session euphoria ! :)

Read More

New Firefox Launch Event - Pakistan

Group Photo
Photo Credit: Zahbia Sarfraz

The most awaited UI update to Firefox arrived on the 29th April 2014. Mozilla last refreshed the browser's UI with Firefox 4, which launched in March 2011. It has been working on the new UI since at least May 2012. All Mozilla communities across the globe decided to celebrate the change by hosting Firefox Launch Parties in their respective regions. Mozilla Pakistan hosted their launch party on 10th of May 2014, at Beaconhouse National University, Lahore - organized by Huda Sarfraz. The purpose of this Launch Party was to introduce the latest version of Mozilla Firefox and educate the public in detail about the design change and the new added features to this version. Moreover, demo stations were setup to display the developer preview version of the Firefox OS devices and the alpha version of Firefox in Urdu - a work in progress by Mozilla Pakistan.

Tags
Photo Credit: Farooq Saleemi

Registration Desk
Photo Credit: Salman Ansari

I was part of the event management team and I was also asked to present a talk on ' Mozilla and the new Web '. We had a total of 150 expected attendees on our list, out of which around 100 showed up on the event day - we're counting this as a big success, considering this was our very first official event under the Mozilla Pakistan banner. The attendees were registered for the event on spot and they were handed their tags along with some awesome Firefox swag. Registration was followed by tea while the attendees enjoyed different videos (Mozilla Story Video, Firefox OS introductory video, Ylvis - The Fox - 'What Does The Fox Say?' ) playing in a loop. The event kicked off with Talaal Burny introducing the local community, explaining the agenda for the day, and giving away a Firefox cap to one of the attendees who had Firefox installed on his android phone.

(me) Demonstrating the Webmaker tools
Photo Credit: Farooq Saleemi

Talaal Burny joking about me having an IE tattoo on my right arm ... :D
Photo Credit: Farooq Saleemi

The first talk was presented by Asad Sajjad (Club Lead - BNU Mozillians) on how to get involved and different volunteering opportunities at Mozilla. Then it was time for the second giveaway of the day - anyone correctly identifying the Webmaker logo was given Firefox swag. Next in line was my talk on 'Mozilla and the New Web'. I started off with discussing what has Mozilla done, what do we do now, and how Mozilla is reshaping the web with some cutting edge technologies and products. I demonstrated Firefox OS, Appmaker, Shumway, and Webmaker to the audience - they loved it !
The third giveaway of the day was after my talk - anyone correctly identifying the Firefox OS logo was given Firefox swag.

Fawad Hasan introducing Firefox OS
Photo Credit: Farooq Saleemi

Our awesome social media team
Photo Credit: Farooq Saleemi

The next speaker was Fawad Hasan, who came in all the way from Islamabad to speak at this event. His topic was Firefox OS and application development using web APIs. He coded a Contact Viewer demo app in front of the audience to show how easy it is to get started with Firefox OS app development. The source code of this app can be found here: https://github.com/iFadey/FxContactManager ... Next came the tongue twister competition where the participants had to say 'the quick orange Firefox jumped over the lazy dog' (3 times) in-order to win Firefox swag. Watch the video here.

Mehmood Ali & Hasan Ahmad on stage to unveil the new Firefox
Photo Credit: Farooq Saleemi

Panel - Q & A session
Photo Credit: Farooq Saleemi

The most important presentation of the day was saved for the last - THE UNVEILING OF THE NEW FIREFOX ! Muhammad Hasan and Muhammad Mehmood Ali took to the stage and unveiled the latest version of the Firefox, explaining in-depth about the new design and key features that were introduced with this new version. Immediately after this presentation the core team (including reps and core contributors) stepped up to answer any questions regarding the new Firefox. As expected, people had a lot of questions regarding the change in design and about some of the new features like Firefox accounts. The panel answered each and every question to complete satisfaction of the audience. To conclude the program, Huda Sarfraz was invited on stage to talk about Mozilla's mission and why you should become a contributor. After her talk, Talaal Burny announced 2 more contests (apart from the 'The Best Tweet Contest' announced at the start) - 'Best Firefox Selfie Contest' and 'Best Photo-Booth Picture Contest' - that were carried out during lunch break and the winners were announced when everyone came back after the break to enjoy awesome Firefox Cake ! :)

Firefox Cake ! :D
Photo Credit: Salman Ansari

Firefox swag at work
Photo Credit: Farooq Saleemi

Photo Booth Contest
Photo Credit: Farooq Saleemi

Audience's favorite photo
Photo Credit: Zahbia Sarfraz

The host (Talaal Burny) cracking up the audience
Photo Credit: Salman Ansari

again...
Photo Credit: Farooq Saleemi

yes, everybody went gaga over the cake ! :D
Photo Credit: Salman Ansari

this shirt says it all ...
Photo Credit: Farooq Saleemi

Read More

13 years of age, loves programming, and passionate about Mozilla !

I met Raffay Ansari at Plan9 - Tech Incubator. He is the youngest intern who works there with incubated start-ups on the technical side. A few minutes into a conversation with him will make you realize that he is no ordinary kid. With his proficiency in programming, exuberant creativity, and sheer confidence, he sure has the right ingredients to cook success! Just recently, he joined my start-up as an intern, to assist us and learn from the experience. On his first day, I introduced him to the concept of Free and open-source software (FOSS) and discussed some Mozilla products like Firefox and Firefox OS. He took keen interest in the conversation and expressed his desire to start contributing to Mozilla by uploading a game of Tic Tac Toe, that he coded in JavaScript, on the Firefox Marketplace. Moreover, he joined our local Mozilla Pakistan community to contribute further into his areas of interest, hence, becoming the youngest contributor from Mozilla Pakistan so far ! :)

Left to Right: Mehmood Ali, Raffay Ansari, Shahmir Khan

A screenshot of Raffay's desktop

Tic Tac Toe - by Raffay Ansari
soon to be revamped and uploaded on
Firefox Marketplace

Read More

Data Privacy Day !

Being an entrepreneur, the trait of loving risks and taking action is something that you're born with. However, this post is not about risks - but taking action !
On 29th January 2014, I received an email from Mozilla asking all Mozillians to help raise awareness and promote data privacy education. In honor of this day, Mozilla pulled together a number of opportunities for Mozillians to get involved and earn a Privacy Action-Taker Badge - just in-case anyone thinks that doing good isn't much a reward itself ... :)

My start-up 404-Solutions is currently incubated in Plan9 - Pakistan's largest Tech Incubator, so along with Mehmood Ali (CTO - 404 Solutions), I planned a little activity to help spread awareness about Data Privacy among fellow incubated start-ups. We went to each one of the start-ups individually and educated them about Data Privacy by explaining the six privacy principles that stem from the Mozilla Manifesto and demonstrating the use of Firefox Add-on Lightbeam that how it enables us to track the trackers! Moreover, we had a fresh copy of Firefox (for windows and Mac) which we installed in the machines of those people who were not ready to compromise on their data privacy.

In the pictures below, Farhan Ahmed from the start-up Tourplanner.pk is installing a copy of Firefox on his personal laptop. Also, he recently became a Firefox Student Ambassador.

Next, we have One Step Solutions - already Firefox enthusiasts, enjoying the Lightbeam demo.

Start-ups Baby Planet and Bookme.pk also showed keen interest in the topic under discussion and installed fresh copies of Firefox on their machines

 

The most interesting discussion took place with Court Piece (RUNG) - A game studio reviving traditional and popular games of the sub-continent. They even declared their support for Firefox and installed fresh copies on their machines.

This is how I took action and (rightfully) claimed the Privacy Action-Taker Badge. Mozilla Open Badges is not proprietary. It’s free software and an open technical standard any organization can use to create, issue and verify digital badges. You can collect badges from multiple sources, online and off, into a single backpack. Then display your skills and achievements on social networking profiles, job sites, websites and more.To earn Mozilla Open Badges, visit the following link http://openbadges.org/earn/ and follow the instructions. Chao !

Read More

Firefox OS App Development Workshop @ Code for Pakistan

On 25th January 2014, Fawad from Mozilla Pakistan was invited to present a talk on Firefox OS App development at the Code for Pakistan event held at LUMS. Mozilla, being one of the sponsors of the event, made arrangements for me and Mehmood Ali to attend this session, thanks to Sheba (event organizer) for obliging our request on such a short notice. The talk on Firefox OS App development was highly informative and very well presented ! It started with Fawad explaining about Mozilla and it's mission - to keep the web open and accessible for all, followed by an introduction of Firefox OS. Next, the target market of Firefox OS was discussed that how the next billion people who don't have smartphones have created a niche for affordable replacement for featured and low-end smartphones. The talk concluded with Fawad explaining the tools required to start Firefox OS app development, the different types of apps, and the use of different APIs (Contacts API, Battery API, Geo-location API, etc). The participants at Code for Pakistan were very excited to learn about Mozilla and it's mission. The talk was followed by a Q and A session and after that people had some hands-on with the Keon (developer preview device). We (me and Mehmood) were really excited to meet Fawad as it was our first (un)official meetup. We had detailed discussions over lunch regarding Firefox OS, open web technologies, and our local Mozilla community. A day well spent ! :)

Read More