GOING UP?

Describing ‘Open’ in TEN Seconds

The First Elevator Speech

When I signed on to pilot Mozilla’s web literacy resources in 2016, it seemed like a natural fit to the work I do in adult education. For the past 18 years, I have worked in a community based adult education agency teaching English as a second language and basic computer skills to adult immigrants. Our agency, RIFLI (Rhode Island Family Literacy Initiative) is housed in the Providence Public Library in Rhode Island and has classes in five other library systems throughout the state. In 2016, the Providence library (PPL) established an education department to oversee children, teen and adult education programs.

If you asked me a year ago to describe my work with Mozilla, I might have said, ‘’ I’m learning about resources to help people create, participate and use the Web more effectively.’’ The elevator speech has continued to evolve along with my understanding of the breadth and depth of Mozilla‘s work.

The Second Elevator Speech

As I began introducing Mozilla’s web literacy resources to library staff in different cities throughout Rhode Island, I needed a short introduction that could easily help library branch managers, program coordinators and technology specialists see the connection between their work and what I was about to pilot from Mozilla’s teaching and learning resources.

One day I was in the elevator talking about this work to library staff and I found myself adding phrases such as:

o Open access

o Learning communities

o Leadership opportunities

o 21st century skills

From the Ground Floor Up: Ten Seconds

I’m still learning about what it means to work in the open and describe Internet Health, but if you get into an elevator with me today, here’s what you’ll hear:

I’m doing some work with the Mozilla Foundation in promoting Internet Health. I would describe their work as global leadership that advocates, influences policy, and educates on issues around privacy and security, decentralization, digital inclusion and education -how to be creators and not just consumers of the Web. It’s really cool!

Making Connections through the Leadership Project

In the leadership project, I would like to bring an awareness of Internet Health first to our staff at PPL and then to our partner libraries and our adult education community. I think of this as an awareness campaign.

I chose one topic, security and privacy, as a universal concern that I can use as a springboard to Internet Health and what it means to work in the open. I am working with our IT Director at PPL to create a training on security/privacy and how it relates to the work of our library staff, specifically reference librarians and staff working at the circulation desk. Once the training is created, I will share it with other libraries in the state and then tweak it for the adult education community.

Working in the open in terms of this work, and as of today, means inviting others to participate, contribute, use, create and remix any parts of the training that we are developing and share it with other audiences. At the same time, I feel like an ambassador of Mozilla’s work around Internet Health and all it encompasses. So, as I learn more and become comfortable with my own understanding, I can better articulate it, share it, and get others involved in the movement.

My work is just beginning and I’m sure in a year from now, that elevator speech will change!

By Sherry Lehane, Providence Public Library