Calling all Coders: 10 reasons to join us at MozFest 2019
MozFest is Mozilla’s annual celebration of the internet and internet health. Each year in London, over 2500 participants gather to share new ideas, collaborate, and connect. This year, MozFest is in London, from October 21st–27th.
Technologist and engineers have always had a home at MozFest. It’s a great place to launch a project, learn a new skill, prototype a feature, hack together something cool over the weekend, or just hang out and with like-minded friends! Here are just a few of MozFest 2019’s offerings for engineers, coders, and technologists of every stripe. (For more, browse the full schedule.)
Build Your Own Cyberspace with Georgiy Shibaev / @RangerMauve / Mauve Software. Using WebVR and P2P to create your own virtual reality world. Discuss direction that VR is currently heading, its challenges and disadvantages, and how WebXR and P2P technology can make cyberspace accessible and free.
Open Internet Engineering Lightning Talks with Matogoro Jabhera / @jaberamatogoro /Mozilla Fellow. Learn what Mozilla Fellows working on Open Internet Engineering to connect under-connected and unconnected populations in the global south will be building intheir communities in Bangladesh, Kenya, Nigeria and Tanzania.
Designing a cooperatively run cloud platform for open source with Adam Souzis / onecommons.org. Can we build an open source and cooperatively-run alternative to proprietary cloud platforms? One that can provide end-users with guarantees of transparency, privacy and control? And is capable of Internet-scale resilience and growth so it can compete with the largest corporations?Brainstorm and explore how we might define and secure user rights, choose applications and open licenses, and balance competing interests.
Building the Tor Network with Gabriela Rodriguez Beron / Tor Project. An intro to the Tor project, software, and community, followed by an interactive activity on how Tor works and a Q&A about the Tor and running relays.
Redecentralizing the Web using IPFS, BitTorrent, and Gun with Michał Woźniak / Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project. Explore the use of decentralized content delivery technologies with JavaScript implementations (IPFS, BitTorrent, Gun) to circumvent Internet censorship without the need for users to download additional software. Discuss if this idea is viable to scale, and what other technologies could be used.
Publishing your first Decentralised Website with Dat with Georgiy Shibaev/ @RangerMauve / Mauve Software. Get a high level introduction to Dat archives and dat:// URLs, then dive into a crash course in creating and storing a website using this technology; discuss the potential for P2P and owning your own data.
Build Your Own Biased Algorithm! with Matthew Claypotch/ @potch /Glitch Software. Experiment hands-on with a remix-able software project designed to demonstrate the vulnerability of supposedly “”neutral”” algorithms; dig deep into the underlying and explore how software can inherit the biases.
A Bayesian framework for decision-making with Apoorv Anand/ @APo_ORV / CivicDataLab. Learn how we can simulate systems and processes to tell powerful and holistic data stories, even when we don’t have big data. Discover the Bayesian system of decision-making using real world scenarios and case studies in an interactive, collaborative session.
Breaking Down Barriers in Tech Whistleblowing with Cori Crider/Foxglove and Tanya O’Carroll/amnesty.org. Learn how tech workers with a conscience can contribute their skills to human rights projects, and to speak up with ethical lines are crossed. Explore how we can combat the culture of fear and intimidation inside tech companies and create a world where tech whistleblowers are enabled, encouraged and respected.
Patterns to help communities build healthy AI datasets with Fionntán O’Donnell/ @fionntan_tech/ Open Data Institute. Discover how design patterns, like those used by collaboratively maintained datasets such as Open Street Map and MusicBrainz, can help the AI community reduce bias through community input.
Get your tickets to MozFest 2019 now! Can’t make it to London? Follow #MozFest on twitter, and check our website for streaming content during the Festival, 21–27 October, 2019.
