Recapping Sunday at MozFest

At MozFest, the gadgets demoed and prototyped have a purpose. Participants and session facilitators are interested more in helping than showing off the coolest new tech. This desire to use tech for good is what brings MozFest participants together and reflects what Mozilla is really about.

Day two (night three) of MozFest delved deeper into the critical questions raised at the beginning of the festival. There were friendly debates on the future of online dating and reclaiming public spaces online and offline, as well as workshops on 3D rendering and Raspberry Pi, net neutrality, empowering army veterans with digital skills, freedom of expression in Africa and South Asia, and much more.

“Whatever you learned, whatever you built, I invite you to take it back and flesh it out,” said Mark Surman, the Executive Director of Mozilla Foundation, at MozFest’s closing.

By the end of MozFest, everyone saw the Internet in a different way than their usual interaction with the web. We all spoke to someone from another continent, learning about their interpretations of emojis or how they consume the news. We taught each other so that we could go back to our homes, our jobs, and our communities to relay that information and keep the conversations going. Based on the intelligence and capability demonstrated in the MozFest sessions, we clearly have the power to make the Internet healthy — let’s do it.