Sarah Doherty

Always thinking. Always dreaming.

  1. Happy Boy



  2. Blogging BlogHer ’10 New York

    It’s been over 3 weeks since a handful of Mozillians (including myself) were at BlogHer ’10 in New York City.  I like to think we “took over the Big Apple” by introducing thousands of eager “blog-hers” to Firefox Add-ons in both the Geek Lab and our hospitality suite.  After months of planning it was great to see so many people excited to interact with us about Firefox or learn about their new favorite browser.

    There were a few things that were memorable for me and made the event a success.  Since I think “pictures are worth a thousand words,” I’ll write less and try to use more visual elements.

    BlogHer Toolbar & Add-on Collection

    Prior to the conference we worked closely with the BlogHer team and Briks Software to develop a toolbar that would make browsing and navigating the website a lot easier.  It was a lot of fun to be part of the development process and see how a few ideas can turn into a technical specification and finally into a coded product.  I’m very proud of the result and encourage you to give it a try!  Directly from the toolbar you are able to:

    • Get updates of new articles on BlogHer
    • Easily update your BlogHer Chatter status from anywhere!
    • Quickly access your BlogHer account
    • Share any website on BlogHer Chatter, Facebook, Twitter, or email
    • Learn more about the toolbar

    In addition to the toolbar we designed an add-ons collection especially for BlogHer ’10 featuring 7 all-star add-ons for bloggers and people who like to read.  The add-ons are:

    • Feed Sidebar
    • Morning Coffee
    • Read It Later
    • ScribeFire
    • Shareaholic
    • Textarea Cache
    • Yoono

    You can get the add-ons here.

    T-Shirts and the “Quickest” Survey Ever

    We had some pretty rad t-shirts that we gave away in exchange for taking a survey on Firefox and Add-ons.  I heard quite a few people say, “Gosh that was the quickest survey ever!”.  With 357 completed survey submissions we got some great insight into the “BlogHer”.  In our state of openness I’ll be posting some of the interesting results on Rock Your Firefox in the next few days.  Until then here are some interesting stats:

    • Do you use Firefox to browse the web?  Yes (91.6%) and No (8.4%)
    • If your primary browser is not Firefox, what is it?  Microsoft Internet Explorer (57.1%), Google Chrome (32.1%) and Apple Safari (10.7%)
    • What are your favorite add-ons?  Firebug, AdBlock, Delicious were at the top of the list.  Check out the word cloud for more insight.

    Room Decor, Magnolias Cupcakes and Swag

    I’ve never been a cupcake connoisseur but apparently Magnolia’s cupcakes are where it’s at in New York City if you wish to enter a blissed out state of sugar ecstasy.  Partner this with a funky 80′s theme suite (to match our Rock Your Firefox logo) and some great swag (including Foxkeh) and how can you not have a great time?

    I like to think that we (Mozilla) are masters of doing great events on a tight budget and this proved to be a great example: over the 2 days of BlogHer we got many comments that our suite was one of the best decorated and was the most inviting (furnished mostly with IKEA/Target).  (I’d also like to personally nominate our suite as ‘Most likely to give you an extreme sugar rush!’)

    The People

    Over the 2 days of BlogHer we had an estimate of 600+ people go through our suite.  I had the opportunity to talk to people on many subjects including Personas, Firefox 4, our beta program, Add-ons and of course the BlogHer Toolbar.  It was great to have so much face-time with actual  Firefox users – it leaves me feeling refreshed and reminds me how much Firefox affects and shapes peoples’ lives.

    I always wanted to give a huge thanks to all of the Mozillians that came in to spend the time at BlogHer.  We had some long days but had a lot of fun together. A special thanks to Mary Colvig, Marcia Knous, Justin Scott, Brian King and Jorge Villalobos.  Definitely couldn’t have done this one without all of you.  Now onward and upward to the next!

  3. View from Treasure Island



  4. SXSW Panel Picker 2011 – Vote for Mozilla Sessions!

    It feels like just yesterday we were wrapping up SXSW Interactive 2010, but now the Panel Picker is up and running and SXSW Interactive 2011 is ramping up.  This year we have three sessions submitted to the Panel Picker – including our very own from the Engagement team.  So – please vote them up (voting ends 11:59 CDT on Friday, August 27th) – just click the link!

    Mozilla’s Army of AWESOME: Engaging Non-Technical User Participants

    Mozilla is traditionally known as a technology focused, open source geeky project. And, whilst Mozilla builds Firefox for all users, its community for many years remained heavily technical. Until recently. As online life expands and more people become aware of the true collaboration and communication potential of the Web, Mozilla has attracted artists, film makers, teachers and other less technical people into its community. Learn how Mozilla increased participation and engagement in the Mozilla project on a variety of levels truly opening itself up to everyone hackers — who side by side with coders are also building and shaping the web we all want.

    How to Create Prototypes and Influence People

    The value of an idea is zero unless it is communicated. To make a difference in your company, to get funding as an entrepreneur, to change the world, you need to be able to convince others of your ideas. Even the Palm Pilot started as a single-day prototype: a block of wood carried by founder Jeff Hawkins for weeks. Firefox Tab Sets started as a Saturday hack. The first wind-up radio was slapped together in a few hours after its inspiration. Many of the worlds most influential products have started as a prototype done in a day. This talk teaches you how to get a prototype done now, the right way and wrong way to give a demo, and how to start influencing people.

    Mozilla School of Webcraft @P2PU

    P2PU School of Webcraft: Web developer training that’s free, open and globally accessible. Mozilla and Peer 2 Peer University are creating the P2PU School of Webcraft, a new way to teach and learn web developer skills. Our classes are globally accessible, 100% free, and powered by learners, mentors and contributors like you. Our goal is to provide a free pathway to skills and certification to help people build careers on open web technology. Existing developer training is expensive, out of touch, and out of reach. We leverage peer learning powered by mentors and learners like you and self-organized study groups. We use existing open and free learning materials In this sixty minute session we’ll briefly cover the inception of the Peer 2 Peer University along with details and success stories from the first three cycles of courses. We’ll then dive into more detail about our collaboration with Mozilla Drumbeat including Mozilla’s mission to engage the next million Mozillians. We’ll present the P2PU School of Webcraft, and a case study of courses offered so far, including the first course, ‘Mashing Up the Open Web.’ Additionally, we’ll introduce our plans to separate learning from assessment and our community driven credentialing system. At the end of the session we will invite the audience, and all of SXSW, to join a course on open web skills to be offered during the week of the event. Read more.

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