Posts Tagged with “2010 goals”

When i went to finalize the Firefox goal for 2010 I realized it feels wrong, and in much the same way the “Mozilla as centerpiece” goal felt wrong.  (The current proposal is Reinforce Firefox mindshare and marketshare momentum). Mindshare and marketshare — and Firefox — are not ends in themselves. They are means to an end. So I’d like to restate this goal as:

Reinforce Firefox’s role as a driver of innovation, choice and great user experience

We probably need mindshare and marketshare momentum to accomplish  this. But having momentum isn’t the end goal. It’s what we do with that momentum that matters.

Let me know if this feels odd to you. This is a case where I’m going to take silence as a sign of agreement (or exhaustion )

Probably our last such discussion before the goals are done. I plan to focus on the revisions I’ve posted over the last few days. Today on Air Mozilla at 12:30 p.m. Pacific Time. You can tune in by logging in to air.mozilla.com, and IRC discussion will take place at #airmozilla.

Goal: Reinforce Firefox mindshare and marketshare momentum

I think this goal stays as is, other than changing the verb from “continue” to “reinforce.” Today Firefox is by far the biggest lever we have to make our values and other goals real. If this were our only goal it would be a problem; Firefox is not an end in itself. Similarly leaving the health of our most powerful tool out of the goals would be odd.

If you feel the need for subpoints to parallel the other goals let me know and we can work on those.

My proposed revision of this goal is:

Goal:  Make the explosion in data safer, more valuable and more managable for  individuals

This would be followed by some subpoints, along the lines of those below. They need some work, but I want to post the general idea for reaction before I spend more time on the subpoints.

1. products offer people realistic options for managing data created by or about them
2. people EXPECT access to their data, ability to combine it, move it, manage it as theirs

The change is because I don’t feel we have a solid enough consensus on the original proposal. This was:  provide leadership in

• helping people exercise better ownership and control over their data
• making anonymous, aggregate “usage data” more of a public resource

The idea of making any data available to anyone has generated concern. Some of this I think is due to a lack of concrete examples, or to a misperception that this would involve Mozilla software tracking people’s behaviors, or to a concern that it’s hard to anonymize data. But some of the concern is a basic discomfort with the currently invisible generation and processing of so much data, or the idea of a public “data commons,” or a concern about what’s happening “to” me through my software.

The data explosion is only just beginning, and it’s powerful. New forms of data can help us understand new things and solve new problems we can’t even see the shape of yet. But there’s a risk that each one of us will end up at the mercy of others who control the data. This risk affects our privacy, the degrees of choice and innovation available, and the degree of centralization of our online lives.

We should have a goal that reflects both the potential benefits and the risks of the data explosion.

One of the proposed 2010 goals is “Deepen Mozilla’s role as a centerpiece of the Internet.” I received feedback that this goal feels wrong: it seems to be about promoting Mozilla rather than a healthy Internet. Once this was pointed out, it’s obvious. I’ve edited the proposed goal to reflect this and capture ideas raised during the various discussions.

Goal: Make openness, participation and distributed decision-making more real in Internet life.

1. More and stronger communities practicing these values
2. Scope expands to include things such as the open web, hybrid social enterprises, organizational sustainability, shared decision-making, individual control, and portability in Internet life
3. Innovations emerge from varied sources
4. Projects and products based on these values become increasingly vibrant
5. Leadership through excellence, technological and otherwise
6. Creation of open content becomes easier