When recent construction worked forced me to go through my office “stuff”, I came across career goals I had written down about 10 years ago. The exercise asked for the things I would be looking for in a job.

Just checked my job at Mozilla against this old list:

- work on strategy: check

- build networks / connect people: check

- contribute to public debate / drive change: check

- use languages and travel: check

- continue to learn: check

- teach and consult: check

Not all things in life work as planned, but some do!

Why am I mentioning this? Because sometimes it is inspiring to look back to those basic principles that were powerful enough to inspire a hand full of people to create something amazing. Something that changed an industry and more. Thus,  time to re-read the Mozilla Manifesto. Working on some new projects, I was looking for that one phrase to help me define my goals.

And I found it: “We invite others to join Mozilla and make the Internet an even better place for everyone”. Add a bit of influencing to the equation and this is my mantra for the next few months.

Not the shortest vision statement. Maybe has a bit too much pathos for some. (Author is a very rational German after all). But I warned you. This blog is personal and bias. And this is how I feel right now. This is how I want to make a difference in 2012.

And, I just put a flag in my calender for July – will be interesting to see if my goals and vision have changed.

Hard to tell from my blogging history here, but I actually like to blog. And sometimes it takes a challenge to do the things one likes. Thus: I challenge myself to post a short “something” every day about Mozilla this year: thoughts, event news, pictures, trivia, stories about the people I meet.

Totally bias: yes!

Totally boring: maybe. We will see.

Right now all an idea under construction.

Then kinds of things people displayed at the Mozilla Summit World Expo

It has been a little over a week since I left Whistler after the Mozilla Summit 2010. A week that was filled with a lot of meetings and conversations and international travel that kept me busy – too busy to blog about my first Mozilla Summit. But maybe that was good. Had I written about the summit earlier, this blog might have been more generally about the impressive group of people, the professional organization or the fun party on the last evening. A week later – and I am sure this process will continue – the small things and the personal moments that made this gathering of 600 Mozillian’s so special for me are starting to dominate my memories. Moments like these:

Feeling the energy in the room rise during the keynotes with their impressive demos. And at the same time,  being taught, once more, the impact of technology on the individual. When watching my blind colleague Marco follow the demo that made the browser “speak”, all the possibilities this piece of software might entail were visible in his huge smile.

Connecting with a contributor from Jordan while holding up a sign for the “dine about”.  We had a ton of fun without speaking a word -  and created a memory we shared though out the summit.

Seeing the same long row of monitors and tables showcasing impressive demos and the widths of the Mozilla project transformed only hours later into a world expo that made the international impact of Mozilla very tangible (and palatable!).

Finding a different card on my pillow every evening that made me smile, think or dream big!

And then the countless small moments, that are only important to me, but make all the difference in turning an interesting event into a great experience: being asked to sit down and share a meal at a table full of stangers people I had not met yet, laughing with folks I see a few times a year at Mozilla events, dancing foolishly at 6000 feet with friends I get to see too rarely, and endless short but memorable conversations in elevators, the food line or at the bar.

Writing this, I start suffering from post-summit-blues again. Beware! Mozilla events are addictive.

I spend the last days attending meetings with media to talk about the upcoming release of Firefox 3.5 and all the work Mozilla invested to upgrade the web with this new version. During those meetings we talked also about our mission and goal to help insure the web will continue to be great and accessible place. But Firefox 3.5 is not the only project we have been working on in the past months to make the web experience great for as many as possible – here one other example:

The UK based Beatbullying initiative sees young people volunteer to offer support, help and advice to peers who are experiencing bullying, all within the safe environment of the CyberMentors website. CyberMentors receive specialist training from Beatbullying staff designed to help them deal with any bullying issue, including coping with online bullying.

Work for CyberMentors is being enhanced with the introduction of a new custom Firefox browser jointly created by Beatbullying and Mozilla. The new Firefox build keeps a CyberMentor’s workflow visible, meaning they have quick and easy access to content and tools including:

• Chatting with victims of bullying and other CyberMentors
• Reporting online bullying
• Providing tips for online safety
• Accessing the Beatbullying media centre

Firefox has been customised with buttons and a media-player which links easily to CyberMentors video and audio. The browser also has a customised theme in line with CyberMentor’s branding.

Glad to see we are continuing to build on our relationship with Beatbullying. Kudos to Patrick for all his work on this!

And the next great initiative is already underway: Sign-up for Mozilla Service Week!