Webmaker and Local Content Creation in Cambodia and Rwanda

In January, the Mozilla Foundation partnered with Souktel Mobile Solutions to pilot new mobile content creation software in two countries: Cambodia and Rwanda. We showed that it’s possible for youth of any skill level to quickly become content creators and read, write and participate on the Web.
With the same 60 participants, we have now started the next phase: a case study that explores web literacy and local content creation using Mozilla Webmaker. It’s part of our partnership with GSMA.




Participants range from ages 18 to 37, are a mix of both genders, and are mainly first-time smartphone owners. The majority of participants access the Internet through mobile data, which is why Mozilla has worked hard to develop Webmaker for mobile.

This second phase started in June with a workshop led by local Mozillians. Each participant was gifted a smartphone running Android 4.2 with Webmaker pre-installed. Participants were also given a basic introduction to the Webmaker app.

Over the next four weeks, participants will be invited to create and share with the Webmaker app on their new smartphones. We will be observing their use of the Webmaker platform and individual profiles in order to better understand how people create local content, participate on the Web, and share in their community. Findings will shared in a report published with GSMA.

So far, early interviews provided great insight into how people are using the Web. For example, 73% of participants are interested in using the Internet to learn skills and open up employment opportunities.

More at the end of July!

Written by
Webmaker
https://blog.webmaker.org/webmaker-and-local-content-creation-in-cambodia-and-rwanda

Maker Party Phase 3 (21st February 2015)

The last day of our Maker Party event was held today. We were supposed to start at 2pm but some members came in late and we started at 4.00PM. Ready with our computers, we started teaching the new comers webmaker. We taught the 2 tools Thimble and Xray then let the new members try it out to get familiar with the tools. 

We had 3 new members, who had already registered to Kinyarwanda L10 and this was second thing on our agenda today. Everyone removed their phones and computers and we started translating Firefox OS V2 http://mozilla.locamotion.org/rw/firefoxos_2.0/

 

There was a lot of discussion and laughter as we could not translate words like Bluetooth and sync and make up words were being suggested. Jokes aside, we had to get back to serious business and the reason why we were meeting. Egide, a new member suggested we visit the Kinyarwanda Council and ask them translations of the hard words like Bluetooth, Sync, brand etc. None of the members know where the office is in Kigali but will ask and make a point to visit them in the near future to get translations of the hard words that most Rwandans think do not have a Kinyarwanda translation.

6.00PM, we were still translating and looking at the portal, there was so much competition among the members. I’d call it a very productive day. Time was not on our side because most members had to leave. So we had to wind up the group discussion and we would continue translating on our own and communicate online before our next meetup.

Last thing on our agenda was the Keon progress.

Savio is communication with Hezron from Mozilla Kenya and he is guiding him on working on it.

Irene’s team are still having difficulty and I will connect them to the Kenyan team to guide them through too.

Savio suggested we have a day once a month to meet and develop apps for Mozilla. Az is to write an email to all members and get the interested members then we will decide on what day we will meet every month for this. We then suggested names for the event and we had 4 suggestion: Andika Code (4 votes), FireApp (3 votes), MozillaHack (1 vote), AppDay (2votes)

Members voted for the four names and Andika Code was picked. Andika Code means write code.

There being no other business, we shared the Mozilla swag, soda and snacks and the eetiong was ended at 6.30PM.  Next translating event will be on 28^th March at Klab. Where Klab members and Mozillians will meet and translate Mozilla Firefox OS.

Maker Party Phase 2 (31st January 2015)

Omuganda. A community day that takes place every end month in our country. Our meet up was set up for 2.00PM but we started at 4.00PM because this is a day many of us choose to stay home and relax.

We had 2 visiting ladies from Girls in ICT Rwanda who got to Klab on time and I got a chance to chat with them before the other members arrived. Our community has been talking about starting a WOMOZ community in Rwanda for one year now and having these ladies here was an opportunity I saw to tell them about the program and if they were interested, they could initiate it in the Girls in ICT program. While we were talking about the WOMOZ project, I asked them what events they were planning soon that we can use to recruit Mozillians and Women in ICT and they mentioned the MS. GEEK RWANDA COMPETITION that takes place every year.

Ms. Geek Rwanda is a competition for Rwandan women encouraging them to showcase their knowledge and skills in ICT. It is an opportunity for them to network with others in their field. Girls in ICT Rwanda organize the competition and they were looking for sponsors to partner with them this year.

Other members arrived at 4.00PM and we were ready to teach the web and also talk about ongoing projects. Agenda of the day was

• Translating Firefox OS
• Web maker
• WOMOZ
• Firefox OS Keon - developing progress

Translating Firefox OS:

Arky reached out to me a while back and wanted us to start translating Firefox OS because they will launch it in Africa this year and they want it to have as many languages as possible. I told the members about it and we had a few volunteers interested in the project. I gave them instructions on how to register then linked them to Arky to help them with the next step. We got 2 members (Paul and Blaise) willing to be in charge of the project and they will be the link between Arky and the other translators.

Webmaker:

We had 8 new members and we taught them how to use the web. I introduced them to the tools, demonstrated how to use thimble and xrays then let them do it.

WOMOZ/ MISS GEEK RWANDA:

I briefed the other members about what Maria Claire, Emma and I discussed about Ms. Geek and asked the members what ideas Mozilla could do to support the event and we got answers like; get a booth at the event, pull up banners and give away swag to create awareness and maybe a brief talk by one of the Mozillians to spread the Mozilla word. We will have another discussion after talking to other reps about this.

Firefox OS Keon - developing progress:

Irene’s groups and Svio’s group took us through their working progress and experience of using the phone and they had some difficulty with the app they are developing. I connected them to Hez of Mozilla Kenya to answer any questions they hard regarding developing.

After the things on the agenda, Savio suggested we have a monthly firefox app day where we can invite anyone interested in firefox development to come work on developing the phone and apps. I have to get permission from KLab administration to let us do this so that anyone who wants to can join in and allowed to use the premises. We all agreed our first meet up for this will be on 21^st of February 2015 at 2.00pm.

There being no other business, we I distributed Mozilla swag then the meeting was adjourned. Next meet up is on the 21^st Feb 2015

Maker Party Month Rwanda Phase 1 30th August 2014

Maker Party is Mozilla's global campaign to teach the web. This campaign happens annually from June to October and the Rwanda community was not left behind on this campaign. Mozilla Rwanda has been conducting web maker events among friends and family during the months of June, July and August and we were planning to make these small events big and take them to schools.

We set our calendar from August and September for this event “Maker Party Month, Rwanda” and our target was two schools and one community building event to plan for the school events.

30^th August, 2014. We met at KGL fast food to plan for our events. Meeting was set to start at 12.00p but because of the last Saturday community cleaning day, members came late and we started our meeting at 3.00pm. Everyone came with their laptops and we were ready to start our agenda. Six members attended and 8 came when we were winding up. Agenda of the day was:

• ·         Maker Party Month activities
• ·         Firefox OS Keon project
• ·         Reports on community building and webmaker projects

First item on the agenda was Maker Party month activities. We all know Maker party is a campaign to teach the web. Plan was to visit two schools and teach them how to create something using the web using the web tools and also help them understand how the web works. All the members who attended do know how to use the tools and they split into two groups and will plan how they will conduct the two events. Paula and Irene are the team leaders. The two events were supposed to take place early August but because of unavoidable circumstances due to one of the leaders being away because of seeking medical attention, schools were on break and so we had to reschedule the dates for the school events. Irene was to inquire from her school when they can have us again after schools resume and Paula was to plan with other developers and pick a day when we can have a maker party event in a hub.

   

   

Second thing on the agenda was Firefox OS Keon project. Az received 3 Keons from Mozilla in June and she gave them to the members to take a look at them. We again split the members into three groups and they were to work together on the phone. Dominique, Paula and Irene are the group and will give reports on the working progress. Each of them was given a Keon.

Last thing on the agenda was reports on community building and the webmaking projects. We have 3 new members through Irene and Az. Paula is doing a great job spreading the word and teaching her acquaintances the web. She will plan a webmaker session and will let us know to help facilitate.

There being no other business, the meet up ended at 6pm. The next event will be set after Irene and Paula confirm the dates.

MozRw Webmaker 31st May, 2014

Webmaker is a Mozilla project that helps us create something awesome on the web with tools like Google X-rays, thimble and popcorn maker which allow web makers to create and understand how the web works. Awesome right? Having this knowledge, one can make a web without limits. Webmaker project has built everything so that we see how it works, take it apart and remix it.

Remix? The first time I heard that word in a webmaker meetup (my 1st ever meet up), i got confused. I had to ask our rep then who is now my mentor what he meant. It simply means remake.So webmaker allows us to remake the web which takes us to our goal - encourage millions of people around the world to move beyond using the web to making it.

On 31st May, 2014, Mozilla Rwanda Community joined the Mozilla webmaker community at KLab - Kacyiru Rwanda.It was the community's 1st webmaker sessions so we covered Introduction to webmaking.

   

Everyone had their laptop and excited to learn about making the web. I introduced the team to Webmaking (what it about) webmaker.org then introduced them to the tools
Google X-rays, thimble and popcorn maker. After a brief explanation of each tool, the members present tried to remix several webmaking projects in the website. The experience was exciting for both the members and I. We covered Xray, Thimble and Popcorn. Below are some of the projects the members remixed and published.

      

After a two hour thirty minutes session of fun - teaching and learning the web tools, we all agreed to have another session to move to the next level.

FSA @ KIST - 21st March 2014

Friday 21st March 2014. A day we had planned for months and was in the dark for so long had finally seen the light. We requested this opportunity last year and after several reminders, they finally gave us an opportunity to  talk to the students.

Mozilla Rwanda Community, Represented by Ezres Anitah Az +Az, had a talk with the University of Rwanda - College of Science and Technology students. Given the school's schedule, the turn out was amazing. 50+ students showed up. 

With our our MISSION, the plan was to recruit FSA's in Kigali and set up an FSA club in the institution. 

Az gave her presentation on Mozilla, Mozilla Rwanda and the Firefox Student Ambassador Program and also talked about starting a Firefox Stdent Ambasador Club in the institution.

The presentation included trivia questions about Mozilla and Firefox to see how much the students knew about Mozilla and Firefox. Not many people know about Mozilla or Firefox but many know about Mozilla Firefox browser. They were surprised to find out about Mozilla as an organisation, its products and the Mozilla community. Funny how many think we were recruiting students to work for Mozilla organisation :).

After the presentation, many seemed to be interested and the audience had many questions about the presentation and how they can be part of the community. With the help of their Head of Department, Arthur Joash who is willing to be our contact person (Ambassador) in the institution, we managed to pick a name for the club, and a student rep Adelene. Name picked for the Club is COSTECH FSA Club. Az was tasked to create a club then the students can join online. 

After all this, it was time to share the Mozilla gear we received for the event. Students were excited to recieve something after the talk.

None of this would have happened without the help of Hezron Richard & Alex Wafula from Mozilla Kenya and our contact from the institution Arthur Joash, Univeristy of Rwanda COSTECH. Thank you.

Mozilla Rwanda Meet up 15th March, 2014

It was a rainy afternoon in Kigali. We planned to meet at 2.00pm but ended up meeting at 5.30pm. The turn out was low. We were only 5 Mozillians present namely Irene, Benjamin, Chris, Deus and Az.

Agenda of the Day Event was to plan the upcoming Firefox Student Ambassador event at KIST, which was scheduled for Friday 21^st March 2014.

Az took them through the presentation I had prepared for the event and also assigned tasks to them. What they would do at the event. Benjamin and Irene suggested we plan a future event for their school next semester. 

The meeting ended at 6.30pm.