Three Days Just Isn’t Enough: Introducing MozFest House
Three days just isn’t enough for some Internet health enthusiasts. We get it.
That’s why we created MozFest House, located within the Royal Society of Arts (RSA) from 23 October through 27 October, in conjunction with the MozFest weekend happening from 27 October through 30 October.
MozFest House gives extra time for those in the Mozilla network in London and global participants who arrive in London before MozFest 2017. The MozFest Festival is fast-paced with a wide range of sessions in quick succession. MozFest House provides a space for slower and more focused discussions, brainstorming, and building before that weekend of blissful chaos.
When Executive Festival Director Sarah Allen and Program Designer Erika Drushka wrapped up last year’s MozFest, they began thinking about how to keep growing the festival. They didn’t want to change the venue of the immersive Ravensbourne College and adding more days would not work with the college’s tight schedule of classes.
Sarah scouted out a venue for a new space that could have all the characteristics of MozFest: celebrating learning, conducive to creativity, large and small rooms to facilitate the ebb and flow of activity, and focused on accessibility and diversity. The RSA fit the bill and a new relationship was formed.
MozFest House features films, workshops, conferences, and talks. Programming will include:
- MisinfoCon, an event exploring solutions to misinformation online
- Detox & Defend for Women, an online privacy workshop for women
- OpenNews Journalism Tech Unconference, a conference about the intersection between journalism and technology
- A-Frame/WebVR Workshop, an educational talk on how to code VR experiences
- BBC Hack, a presentation and open discussion about adaptive narratives
- Intertech Meetup, a networking event for the LGBTQA community
- Databox HackDay, a conference for anyone interested in privacy and security issues
- View Source, a conference for viewing programming and web apps from technical and design perspectives
Mozilla is providing a physical location for others who care about the state of the web. Participants will come from diverse backgrounds and geographies, and the hope is that their interactions will deepen ties within the network of Internet health activists, coders, policymakers, and educators. Anyone can book a co-working room and create without feeling a time crunch. To use the space, sign up here.
“MozFest gives room, gives space, and is a platform for the network to be seen and to be heard — MozFest House is no different,” said Executive Festival Director Sarah Allen. “MozFest House is still that open, collaborative space that the network can come and be part of, but with more focus and time to a singular topic. The event is a lovely screenshot of what the network is.”
