Hey Reps,
Lets have a discussion about the importance of remixing at the verge of the Internet of Things revolution!
After more than one year of work here at Rio Mozilla Club some characteristics from Internet users became apparent. Users relationship with devices and the Web has been largely a passive one, much like how they use cable TV or videogames. It doesn’t matter how interactive their experience was because they were not intervening in the process, the experience was molded and delivered to their usage. Even though they were using general purpose computing devices that could be also used to build their own creations, very few Internet users had the digital skills or the conscience that they too could create stuff, this is now changing and the spark of creativity is in the air.
Dan Shafer - a pioneer developer, technical writer and overall wise person - coined a term that is in tune with our efforts at Mozilla. He divided users into three groups, end users having a passive experience, developers creating those experiences and a third class between the other two called Inventive User. This user is a person that uses their current digital skills to remix technology and build their own solutions without necessarily having a background as a developer. You know them, people using Microsoft Excel to manage their minimarket, or using lego blocks to repair their air conditioning. Lets say that the inventive users remix whatever they are familiar with with the intent of solving problems that the original technology was not designed to solve. Much like I solve all my house repair needs with Meccano.
As our efforts such as Mozilla Clubs, MDN, Firefox Clubs, Reps and others unlock digital skills in their members who then multiply their knowledge inside their circles, we move more and more end users towards the inventive users space unlocking agency and paving the way for amazing remixes and new life opportunities for those that learn how to read, write and participate online.
Inventive users are in their first step towards agency over their digital experiences, they already have the spark of creativity to try new ad-hoc things. As they learn more and more through our offerings they put their newly acquired digital skills for good effect on their life.
All of this is at peril in the age of IoT because many of the IoT vendors are building black boxes. More and more IoT devices are just appliances designed not to be tampered with or remixed with solutions not blessed by the original designers. If we want a generation of creators in the age of IoT then we need to make sure that IoT stuff is actually remixable.
With the new Reps Innovation Fund process, our community has the opportunity to be inventive and ideate new solutions for the coming age. Lets build solutions that are flexible, that are designed in a way that the user is in control and that obeys their desire instead of ours. Think more like Lego blocks and less like Playmobill (which are awesome but not as remixable as Legos).
To guarantee agency in the future, we must put remixability into our designs now.
