Big Changes, Big Questions
This post is part 6 of the Openness at Mozilla series. Read part 1, Building an Open Movement for Internet Health, part 2, What does Openness Mean To You?, part 3, What does Transparency mean to you? , part 4, What does working like a movement mean to you?, and part 5 What kinds of successes and challenges have you faced in working open?
Our part six question is a big one. It’s a hard, soul-searching, butterflies-in-the-stomach kind of question. And this post will take you on a quick time traveling journey, so hang on to your virtual hats!
Here’s the question:
“On a scale of 1–10 (with 1 being “not at all” and 10 being “very”), how open and transparent is the Mozilla Foundation? What actions do you think we can take to improve your rating and help us continue to build the movement for internet health?”
At the Foundation we sometimes say that “open is part of Mozilla’s DNA.” I would say, actually, that openness is part of Mozilla’s “origin story,” how we came to be. But that story is decades long now, with many chapters. When I read this question, another set of questions come to mind. Questions that call for time-traveling, a tour of my own history with “open.” These questions are:
What are your core values? Was there a moment, for you, when those values took hold? Since then, how has your life changed, and how have your values evolved?
I remember reading my first-ever “zine,” a little booklet crammed with handwritten stories, tiny drawings, and ramblings about punk music, social justice, cross country road trips, and whatever else the creator had on her mind. It was 1991 and I’d picked up the zine in little indie coffee shop on a quiet street in St. Paul, Minnesota, USA. These few photocopied sheets of paper were my entry point into a Do-It-Yourself creative subculture, loosely organized around punk music, where anyone– especially a complete beginner– could start a band, self-publish a zine, make art, or take political action.
These were the days before widespread use of the web, so “the scene” (as we called it) unfolded in scruffy coffee shops, warehouse art spaces, and community centers all around the world. People traded cassettes and zines via snail-mail, and (in the midwest USA anyway) bands drove hundreds of miles in rusty tour vans just to play in a basement or backyard. People started their own community organizations, like the anarchist day care center that popped up in my town. Throughout the 90s, for better or worse, this was my scene. I made my own fanzine, volunteered, protested, and traveled cross-country to visit penpals or see bands play.
Some of the values of “the scene” (as I experienced it) were:
- Creating without asking permission
- Sharing and trading creative material widely
- Fiercely questioning the status quo
- Free expression and experimentation over profit or “selling out”
Enthusiasts of “open” and “open source” may resonate with a few of these values. I, too, recognized them in Mozilla, when I was first hired at the Foundation in 2015, nearly 25 years later.
But… Let’s rewind.. By the end of the 90s, I’d drifted away from “the scene.” I was still making stuff, but I’d enrolled in an “official” art school, was watching obscure New Wave films and listening to 1960s French pop. In the following decade, my wandering path would take me to Paris, France then back to the US… from art school to building museum exhibits… then back to school for a tech degree… to teaching community college… with a short detour into the world of corporate design.
I brought my punk rock/open values with me on this journey, and along the way they were affected– deepened, realigned, or affirmed– by each situation. I think it would be strange– problematic even– if my worldview didn’t flex in response to my adventures. My values were strongly held, but they weren’t static, and they weren’t (like DNA) expressed mechanically. My understanding of them was mutating here and there — kind of like a good story does, when you tell it many times.
There were moments, too, when I felt challenged, disconnected from my roots. I found myself in plenty of places and spaces where competition (not collaboration) was the norm, where profit was valued over relationships (or pretty much anything else), where the loudest voice won the day, where being a “VIP” (Very Important Person) or a “VP” (Vice President) of something was all that mattered.
In the meantime (unbeknownst to me) the Mozilla Foundation was forming, with a strong open source ethos… and rapidly growing, testing out new programs and initiatives. In 2015, when the Foundation and I finally met, the organization was still experimenting, iterating on ideas and approaches. In the years I’ve worked at Mozilla, we’ve taken big risks, sharpened our vision, and found a new strategic direction. As we’ve transformed, our organizational values, our connection to “open,” have come on this journey with us, responding as we go. Which brings me back to the big “Openness Survey” question:
“On a scale of 1–10 (with 1 being “not at all” and 10 being “very”), how open and transparent is the Mozilla Foundation? What actions do you think we can take to improve your rating and help us continue to build the movement for internet health?”
For me, cueing up a favorite punk song or flipping through a much-loved zine reminds me of where I started, and how I’ve grown and changed. I go there when I’m feeling adrift, to reconnect with my core values, to a sense of boundless energy, hope, and inspiration.
I love this question because it’s a chance for each of us to take a good look at the Foundation today, and ask if, and where, it’s deeply rooted in “open”… and where we may have come adrift.
I don’t love the part of the question where I’m asked to assign a number to our openness; to me it’s way more complex than a number. But that’s the required question, so I’d put us somewhere on the left of that scale, towards “not very” or “needs improvement”– just because I don’t think “open” is a box we check once, pat ourselves on the back, and head out for some celebratory drinks. It’s something that we’ll always need to work towards. Because mainstream culture (at least here in the USA in my opinion) is set against open values, in so many ways, in so many hierarchies and exclusions.
So when we answer this question, we might take a hard look at the pressures that tug us away from our core values. And we might recall moments– past or very recent– where the open “force” felt strong in us, and the organization. For me, these are the moments when the work itself feels bigger and more powerful than the org, where that work is shared and energized by an expansive community.
What does this mean for you–what are your most “open” moments? How open do we seem to you? If you’ve been with the organization or part of the community for a while, how does your brand of “open” need to flex and change to function a new context? And how can we keep “open” at the core of the movement, wherever it takes us next?
Please join the discussion! How would you answer this question for Mozilla? For your community, organization, or project? For a healthier internet? Leave a comment below and let us know what you think. Have feedback, questions, or suggestions? Let us know at leadopen@mozillafoundation.org or @MozOpenLeaders. Learn more about the OLE team and our work here.
