What inspires? A list of projects with impact from a Teach Mozilla crew.

Pointers

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Great list of organizations and projects that are doing wonderful work in tech today.

In the future, I think CLOH.org can get into these conversations with our efforts for Creating Literate Olympians Here.

*http://mzl.la/inspiration <http://mzl.la/inspiration>*
These are projects and organizations that inspire us right now, as
generated by you in Tuesday’s Mozilla Learning community call
<http://mzl.la/call>.

The links are a great way to step back and think big about the impact we
want to have with our own leadership and advocacy work.

We also got some great feedback on our draft Impact statements and
milestones, which the working groups will refine and update in time for the
next call on Sep 8.

More on that soon — but in the mean time… have a look. And please add to
the list.

–Matt

*Mozilla Learning calls:* http://mzl.la/call
*Notes from the last one: *https://etherpad.mozilla.org/aug25
*Video recording: *
https://air.mozilla.org/mozilla-learning-community-call-aug-25/

Who inspires you?

– *Free Code Camp <http://www.freecodecamp.com/> *— learn to code by
helping non-profit organizations *(Amira)*
– *18F* <https://18f.gsa.gov/> — kicking ass when it comes to bringing
open source to government *(Kaitlin)*
– *The Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergencies
<http://www.ineesite.org/en/>* — cool network and community of practice
for 15,000 people teaching in refugee camps and other emergency settings
around the world *(Surman)*
– *The Engine Room* <https://www.theengineroom.org/>— small and scrappy,
but doing amazing work with teaching open tools for social change
*(Michelle)*
– *GDS <https://gds.blog.gov.uk/>* — because they somehow manage to work
like MoFo, even though they are part of Government *(Adam)*
– *Keyboardio <http://www.keyboard.io>* — open source mechanical
keyboard with a wonderful backlight, shipped with a screwdriver so that you
can tinker around and reprogram. * (Shreyas
<https://twitter.com/dun3buggi3>)*

– *Born Accessible
<http://benetech.org/our-programs/literacy/born-accessible/>* — thinking
about web content as “born accessible.”*(Emma)*
– *WikiSpeed <http://wikispeed.org/>* — a non-profit that’s building
open source, energy-efficient cars in 17 countries,  with no org chart or
management structure *(@OpenMatt)*
– *NESTA* <http://www.nesta.org.uk/> — engaged in some interesting
thought leadership that relates well to our work *(Sam)*

– *Ocean Cleanup
<http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/great-pacific-garbage-patch-researchers-devastated-by-sight-1.3201111>
*— addressing “The Great Pacific Garbage Patch” with business /
philanthropy / sponsorship / science / data / youth vision all coming
together to stem it *(Rebecca)*
– *Conservation International*
<http://www.conservation.org/Pages/default.aspx>— I’m digging their
current campaign: “Nature doesn’t need people, people need nature”
*(Paul)*
– *Mercy for Animals <http://www.mercyforanimals.org/>* — they take a
big, often controversial topic and make it approachable — and they have a
massive, engaged volunteer force *(Lindsey)*
– *Truth and Reconciliation Commission Canada
<http://www.trc.ca/websites/trcinstitution/index.php?p=3> **(Simona)*
– *Generation Squeeze <http://www.gensqueeze.ca/>* — taking on the
impossible task of advocating for worklife balance, childcare and
affordable housing on a living wage *(ErikaD)*

– *NYT documentary of bieber + skrillex + diplo
<http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/08/25/arts/music/justin-bieber-diplo-skrillex-make-a-hit-song.html>*
–  Love the focus on storytelling and combo of graphics / animation.
*(Cassie)*
– *model view culture* <https://modelviewculture.com/>— cranky and
continuous analytic deconstructions of intersections between technology,
inclusion, diversity with anger and no apologies and a paper journal that
arrives on a regular basis. *(@leahatplay)*
– *Colors <http://www.colorsmagazine.com/>* magazine — open contribution
*(Jordan)*
– *the Unilever rapper campaign
<http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/01/world/asia/indian-rapper-calls-out-unilever-to-a-nicki-minaj-beat.html>*
— because it was a long-stale pollution problem that was revitalized with
creativity *(Andrea)*

– *Hollaback*
<https://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CB4QFjAAahUKEwj97YzFz8nHAhXJGD4KHUxWBKo&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ihollaback.org%2F&ei=hTLfVb2XFcmx-AHMrJHQCg&usg=AFQjCNGyaNNkC16a20E-FG2Ixrp8XhZ4Tg>—
uses online tools to work with young people and confront street harassment
*(Sara)*
– *Craigslist <http://www.craigslist.org/about/sites>* — because their
success is based on the assumption that most people are good. *(David)*
– *Dark Mountain
<http://dark-mountain.net/about/the-dark-mountain-project/>* — thinking
through how WebLit does / does not survive in the anthropocene. *(Chad)*
– *NPR* <http://www.npr.org/> – They strike a successful balance between
mass appeal and education. *(Simon)*

takeaways?

The above examples are…

1. *Crisp*. Our group was able to communicate the story for each of
these projects — in their own words, off the top of their head, in a single
sentence. That means the mission is telegraphic, simple and sticky.
2. *Viral*. Each of these organizations has succeeded in creating an
influential, mini-evangelist to spread their story *for* them: you!
3. *Edgy*.  Many of these examples have a bit of punk rock or social
justice grit. They’re not wearing a bow tie.
4. *Diverse.* There’s a broad range of stuff here, not just the usual
tech / ed tech suspects. This is a party you’d want to be at.
5. *Real*. There’s no jargon or planning language in any of the
descriptions people provided — the language is authentic and human, because
no one’s trying too hard. It’s just natural and unscripted.

*Can we get to this same level of natural, edgy crispness for MoFo and our
core strategies?* Would others put *us* on a list like this? Food for
thought.

About the author 

Mark Rauterkus

Swim, SKWIM and water polo coach in Pittsburgh, PA, USA. Also the webmaster for the International Swim Coaches Association and a publisher at CLOH.org, 4Rs.org, SKWIM.us and a former small-press, Sports Support Syndicate. Former free-market candidate for public office on various occasions, generally as a Libertarian.

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