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| Hello,
We announced in March that the next MozFest will be held in Amsterdam in March 2021.
Since then, we’ve watched our allies across the event ecosystem cancel, postpone, or restructure their events due to Covid 19. Questions about MozFest’s offering for 2021 have been heavy on our minds:- How can we use this time to be good online citizens while supporting our community?
- How can we plan a festival for our allies, friends, and partners to thrive and stay safe?
At Mozilla, we work in the open and want to be transparent about how we are planning for the festival during this time of uncertainty.
Here’s what we can share with you:- We still intend to host a physical event in Amsterdam in March 2021, but will monitor how easy or safe it will be to travel during that time. Rest assured, we will be working closely with local health and safety guidelines to keep everyone safe. This might mean that it’s a local event in person, and a virtual event for others.
- We’re wrestling with how to open our call for proposals when we don't yet know how much of our event will need to be online. The entire team is working hard to evolve with the times and reimagine what a virtual event could be.
- MozFest is committed to racial justice. We stand for people all over the world and we pledge to offer space for difficult conversations, raising up typically marginalized voices in the tech community, and learning together. Discrimination and prejudice of any kind will not ever be accepted at the festival. The killing of George Floyd and the subsequent voices rising in protest underscore the racial inequality present in our world today. In honor of all people fighting for equality, we’ll be taking extra steps to ensure MozFest remains a safe and welcoming place for everyone.
These events also remind us that online mis/disinformation adds to the general feeling of uncertainty we are all feeling. It targets our feelings and emotions and pushes content on us that is false or misleading. As we’ve seen with the events of the past weeks, this is not only dangerous for the health of our internet, it "points people in harmful directions and chips away at our democratic fabric."
In this time of uncertainty, it’s important to stand together, and take action. Below, you’ll find a collection of resources you can use today to begin identifying one of the issues on social media: mis/disinformation in your work and personal life. If we all take action, we’ll see positive change towards certainty and trust online.
With hope for the future,
The MozFest Team
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TAKE ACTION: Your Mis/Disinformation Toolbox | |
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There are many ways that you can spot both misinformation (false information shared accidentally) and disinformation (false information shared purposefully). Take action today by using the resources and tools below.
Watch The Future of Disinformation, a panel discussion from MozFest 2019. And mark down June 30 in your calendar — Mozilla will be hosting a virtual panel about the ways disinformation is intersecting with the pandemic. Details will be published soon on our blog. |
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| Play “Choose Your Own Fake News,” a web-based game exploring how disinformation spreads across East Africa. The premise: disinformation is a chronic problem everywhere, intersecting with everything from employment to public health to real-world violence. This interactive game is created by Pollicy, a Mozilla Creative Media Awards winner. |
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| Get Your Facts Right with Hackastory News. While this tool was created for journalists, anyone can use this tool to help them think critically about information. There’s also a B.S. detector browser extension that searches links and references for unreliable sources.
Note: While Mozilla recognizes that this may be useful for verification, we don't necessarily endorse it outside of that context. |
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Want more? Dig deeper here. Have something to add to the list? Let us know by tweeting at @mozillafestival. |
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Keep The MozFest Momentum | |
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1. Connect with us on Slack
As we gear up for MozFest 2021, former MozFest Facilitators, Wranglers, Volunteers, and the entire production team wants you to be a part of the design process. Join the conversation today!
2. Share Your Feedback on Creating Trustworthy AI
Mozilla has published a white paper on Creating Trustworthy AI. Give it a read and share your questions and comments with us by filling out this form.
3. Contribute to the Cause
Financial support from people like you fuels Mozilla’s efforts to fight misinformation and shapes the future of the web for the public good. Please consider making a donation or asking your company to sponsor the Mozilla Festival. Thanks!
4. Apply for a Community-led Mentoring Program
Open Life Science, a 16-week mentoring and training program for early-stage researchers and potential academic leaders, was born out of Mozilla’s Open Leaders program and is now fully community-led. The call for applications is open for their next cohort, which will begin in September 2020. The deadline for application is 30 June 2020.
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There is power in numbers, and we need your help to reach the global community and raise awareness for the internet health movement.- Know a friend who would love this newsletter? Forward to a friend.
- Tweet this: What steps can we take to fight #disinformation this month? Sign up for the @MozillaFestival monthly newsletter mzl.la/newsletter to be part of the conversation.
- Have a MozFest story or working open opportunity to share? Email us at festival@mozilla.org.
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