Mozilla Drumbeat: Building your open web idea. Together.

Mozilla Drumbeat can help your big idea succeed. We're a global community of web makers, leaders and innovation ninjas. And we're ready to help turn your open web idea into reality through smart collaboration and hands-on participation.

We're looking for projects that make the web better. Building an Internet that is a shared public resource, built and protected by all; more innovative, more open, more awesome.

All you need to get started is a project idea that helps make the web better. Drumbeat can help with online tools, awareness raising, expert advice, skilled volunteers, and fundraising.

Ready to get started? Submit your project now!

Think big. Get help.

Mozilla Drumbeat is:

• an online platform to help your open web project succeed
• a global community of makers, web experts & problem-solvers building a better web together
• inventing the future of the Internet, through open collaboration, community & hands-on participation

How can Mozilla Drumbeat help your idea or project succeed?

Drumbeat can help with:

• An online hub for your project. Your Drumbeat project pages provides an online "workspace" to help drive your project forward.
• Volunteers. Invite a global community of experts to donate their time and skills.
• Expert advice. Gain access to thought leaders and global visionaries in your field.
• Fundraising. Featured Drumbeat projects are able to accept contributions online.
• Seed funding. A small handful of the most promising projects will receive seed funding, with Mozilla matching amounts raised online.

What makes a good Drumbeat Project?

• Must make the web better. Drumbeat projects help people innovate, take control of their online experience, and understand the open web better.
• A clear, measurable outcome. The more specific & doable, the better. With lots of opportunities to build and make.
• Uses 'Internet DNA.' Working in the open. Crowd-sourcing, collaboration and participation.
• Strong leadership. A team of people able to draw volunteers and help steer the project.
• Progress. A series of small victories & successes.
• Participation. Helps everyday web users get involved to help make the web better.

Sidebar: Example Drumbeat Projects

(include list of current featured project links, to illustrate by example)

How does it work? How do I get started?

Step 1: Create your Project

All you need to get started is:

• A project headline. Your big idea in 140 characters or less.
  
• A short description. The idea you want to build or problem you're trying to solve, and how people can help.
  
• A one-sentence explanation of how your idea makes the web better.

Once you submit these, you can invite friends and colleagues to help work on your project. And flesh out your page with more details, content and tools.

Step 2: Develop your Active Project Page & attract helpers

Once you've got the basics filled out, your next goal is to:

1) Fill in your Project Page. Add project details, tools & content to help people collaborate and make progress.

2) Attract helpers. Invite community members to collaborate and volunteer their skills.

3) Provide clear requests for participation. What exactly do you want your community to do? Provide clear, concrete opportunities for participation.

Step 3: Becoming a Featured Project

If your project has:

• a great project page
• an active community of helpers, and
• some progress and community momentum behind it...

...it's eligible to become a Featured Project! These projects will get featured on the Drumbeat home page and receive special recognition and help from Mozilla.

This gives you access to more volunteers, enables you to raise money for your project through donations, and get expert help from web leaders and visionaries.

The most promising featured projects will have their organizers and top contributors flown to the Mozilla Drumbeat Festival, to share your project with the world!

Submit your Drumbeat idea now

Ready to get started? Submit your project now!

Notes, questions and suggestions for next iteration

• Chelsea's edits and re-orgs complete. Removed some jargon. Recommend moving the steps 1,2,3 to another page. Perhaps add text like "Think you have the next great idea for the open web, click to get started"
• One question: should we just move all the "Step 1, 2, 3" life-cycle stuff to a different page? To simplify and shorten this one? (yes - ms)

MS notes Feb 15:

• in general, the steps and the value proposition don't feel right (describing how it will actually work) or strong enough (what are you offering me?). not sure why -- probably still sounds too much like filling in a form, doesn't say much about what you need to do get to 'featured' or stress how hard that will be. also, doesn't really set up sense of competition or striving to get to the top, the sense that being featured is like 'winning', and it's a rare commodity that only a few will get.
• should probably replace crowdsourcing language w/ open source language -- e.g. contributor vs. volunteer, or participate vs. help. We should discuss. But I definitely think of these as mini-open source projects (shared ownership and commons goals) and not as crowdsourcing (you help me get my thing done)
• the 'all you need ...' section at the top (3rd bullet) sounds like we offer help including fundraising to all projects, which is dangerous -- need to set up the 'ladder offer' right from the beginning?
• probably needs to say more about what we mean by 'better internet' or at least link to something. also, i'm leaning back towards 'open web' as the anchor term rather than better internet
• 'what makes a good project' feels like it's got too man items -- and also doesn't have the 'maker test' in it explicitly. list recently has been:
  • Making something concrete, not just talking -- making happens using a participatory, open-source style project
  • New kinds of contributors -- teachers, artists, educators, others not developing software are the ones doing the making
  • Makes the web better -- in some pretty direct way, helping people understand, participate or take control of their online lives
  • Not sure if these are right or not. Just fodder. But six seems too many.

In conversation w. Mark:

• Big picture and steps in process
• What are the contest rules?
• What are the rules for winning

• Applying Mozilla's unique, open source way of working to other projects
• Include more tips -- on drawing people to project page and build buzz

Dharmishta re-write of projects faq

I have an idea to make the web better, how do I get started?

What's the deal with projects? Why would I do a "project" here as opposed to somewhere else?

• Have 'maker' attitude -- they are about building, creating and tinkering with things that make the web better.
  * Invite new people to contribute to Mozilla -- teachers, artists, lawyers, everyday internet users lend their skills and creativity to the open web cause.
  * Make the web better in some concrete way. A more open web should be a direct objective of your project, not a side effect.

...and eventually could get funded by the Mozilla Foundation.

Wait, so there's money?