English translation by Guillemette and Matt Brubeck
Hi all!
Here is the third issue of the Mozfr newsletter.
The community is still taking care of the settled regular events:
Clarista has met the newbies, every Friday morning at 11 A.M., for the « Newbies’ Friday » on the IRC chan #mozfr. This allowed those who so wished to ask all of their questions about Mozilla, be they technical or not.
Events that took place in the month of November:
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Mozilla Senegal takes the floor first, with « Mozilla for the Enterprise » in Dakar (http://mozillajkl1.eventbrite.fr/ ; https://www.facebook.com/events/388547314549011/?ref=ts&fref=ts ). This meetup, organized in collaboration with Jokkolabs, a coworking space in Dakar, was dedicated to young entrepreneurs, project maintainers, future business leaders, and future IT directors. Camara and Niang gave talks on:
- Thunderbird ESR – Firefox ESR
- WebFWD – WebMaker
- And they finished with a Q&A session on the different Mozilla projects and their future.
Once more, Mozilla Senegal makes a place for themselves in the future of the country, showing their dedication to keep abreast of the essential economic changes taking root in Senegal, especially in the digital realm. Bravo Mozilla Senegal!
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Meanwhile in Paris on November 8th: the first edition of « Drinks with the newbies » (http://bonjourmozilla.fr/?post/2012/11/09/Apero-des-nouveaux ). The idea is simple: The francophone community has not stopped growing, and as so many of us live in Paris or its neighbourhood, Clarista suggested that we all meet over drinks. (We are French, after all!) So Clarista, Kinou, Pascal, Jérémie, Pandark, and Tristan got to meet feedoo and banban. And vice versa. The atmosphere was great; it gave us a chance to put faces to names, and also to better understand our new contributors’ expectations. More cocktail hours will follow, no doubt. 😉
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A major first on November 10th: this day saw the first public event from Mozilla Mauritius (http://bonjourmozilla.fr/?post/2012/12/07/Bravo-Mozilla-Mauritius- ). “Mozilla JCI at the Open Day” drew hundreds of people in the charming city of Port Louis, capital of Mauritius. Our Red Panda representatives took part in the recreational day organized by City Plus, one of the local branches of the island’s Junior International Chamber.This day included a painting competition and other cultural events. Among the participants, there were orphans supported by NGOs for children from across the country. The Postal Service of Mauritius, the United Blood Donors and Mozilla Mauritius also participated!Mozilla Mauritius has fulfilled its objective of raising popular awareness of the Red Panda’s presence on the island, and of its products. Ganesh and Pamela, our local representatives, had a booth and organized a lottery involving around a hundred people who won various goodies (t-shirts, backpacks, stickers, bracelets, pens, pins, etc.). Every child also received a little Mozilla-stamped gift, and fell in love with the plush Firefoxes, as you can see in this beautiful photo. But that’s not all! They also conducted a survey to get an idea of the use of Mozilla software such as Firefox and Thunderbird among the public. The analysis of this survey is ongoing and Mauritius Mozilla will publish the data soon. Finally, Mozilla Mauritius gave a demonstration of Mozilla’s products, which was highly appreciated by the 500 or so people who attended. A true success.Above all, do not miss the magnificent photos taken by Ganesh. Delightful! (http://www.flickr.com//photos/78293002@N05/sets/72157632164757606/show/ )
- La preuve !
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Another huge event: The Mozilla Festival, from November 9th to 11th. The francophone community was represented perfectly by Benoit, Gerard-Majax, Mounir, Alice, Tristan, Paul Adenot, Nical, and Pandark. Feast your eyes on these photos by Tristan:
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MozFR was also present at MozCamp Asia, from November 16th to 18th. Camara and Protz represented the French-speaking world (and Thunderbird). A real treat for both of them: Protz who was already a fan of Asia, and Camara who discovered this culture so different from his own, with his always-present smile and his curious eyes. Thank you to Mozilla for making these magical encounters possible! While awaiting Camara’s complete report, you can view his photos. http://www.flickr.com/photos/mmkmou/sets/72157632119987871/with/8229401627/#
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First there was the Ubuntu Party in Paris (http://ubuntu-party.org/ ). A mainstream event at which we always make our presence known!Pascal in particular manned the booth and answered a great many questions about Firefox OS. He gave a presentation with the recently released emulator, and also gave a talk on MozFR and ways to contribute.Webatou came from Belgium to join Kinou for a talk about accessibility, in which they are the MozFR community’s specialists. They spoke, in particular, about Mozilla’s work to promote software that is accessible to everyone. Kinou always keeps an eye on the Firefox OS team, very focused on this subject (as you will see!). The video is not yet online, but while you wait you can find this picture: http://accessibilite.kinouchou.org/conf-a11y-UP1210.jpgBut the big event of this Ubuntu Party was the first Firefox Clinic held in France (https://reps.mozilla.org/e/firefox-clinic-paris ). It was made possible thanks to Barzogh, with the help of Ioana and Ziggy, who came from Romania and Belgium respectively.Over a dozen Mozillians in all could be found at Ubuntu Party, ready to help and answer questions, or just to discuss Mozilla’s projects and community (http://www.flickr.com/photos/barzogh/8194818596/in/set-72157632036468352/lightbox/ ). We also dedicated a Bonjour Mozilla post to the event (http://bonjourmozilla.fr/?post/2012/11/21/Firefox-Clinic-a-l-Ubuntu-Party ).
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Another very, very important event for the French community, which unfortunately took place the same weekend: Free Software Days in Lyon (« Journée Du Logiciel Libre à Lyon » or JDLL) (https://reps.mozilla.org/e/jdll-2012/ ). Why is this event important? Because it attracts big crowds, and because once a year it allows members of the community from northern or southern France to meet each other, thanks to its central location in Lyon. Additionally, Lyon is home to the engineering school INSA, a major source of Mozilla contributors, interns, and employees. (Mounir, Paul Adenot, and Nicolas all studied there.) For all these reasons, JDLL is essential, so once more we participated in large numbers.Mozilla’s « pandas » gave five presentations:– Flore gave a talk about WoMoz– Kazé spoke about Firefox OS (with a huge crowd in attendance, and a plethora of questions)– Clarista discussed the complicated and vital relationship between Free Software and the public interest– Benoit and Théo Chevalier on localization– Taratatach on application development for Firefox OSJDLL would not be the same without Flore and Bobo, our local hosts and true linchpins of this event. They set up the booth, brought the papertoys, and made plans for our sustenance. Thank you to both of them! And thanks also to Vivien, Jérémie (who was introduced into the community during this event), and Jean-Marie (it was a pleasure to meet you!).During the event, Claire, Théo, and Benoit took note of every question, plus the contact information for a dozen people interested in contributing to Mozilla. Soon they will each receive an email containing much more information.
- Finally, still on November 17th and 18th, as part of a weekend of workshops put on by the organization Starting Block, Alexis Métaireau gave a talk presenting various open-source tools and tackled the subject of free software licenses.
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Next, let us journey to Tunisia. On November 23rd at Bizerte, the Tunisian Mozillians launched the « BeGeek » project (http://mozilla-tunisia.org/begeek-nouveau-projet-et-de-nouvelles-voies-a-explorer/ ). This consisted of three sub-projects: GeekKids (for events in primary schools), GeekTeens (middle schools and high schools) and GeekStudents (universities). This ambitious project for teaching Free Software to all ages commenced on the 23rd with a GeekTeens in the Lycée Pilote high school in Bizerte. A project well-suited to Mozilla Tunisia, and without doubt a future success!
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Returning to France… to the Sophia Antipolis research park, to be precise. November 23rd and 24th were the Mediterranean Free Software Days (« Journées Méditerranéennes du Logiciel Libre » or JM2L). And guess what? Well, it was Jérémie, newly « recruited » during JDLL, who represented us, notably giving a talk on privacy in web browsing on Saturday the 24th at 1pm. But Jérémie was not alone; Emilio and Jefferson, our two Colombians, were also present: they are studying at Sophia Antipolis! Proof that MozFR is a fantastic melting-pot of cultures and camaraderie.
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The same weekend, another notable event took place on November 24th and 25th: Capitole du Libre (https://reps.mozilla.org/e/le-capitole-du-libre/ ; http://wiki.mozfr.org/Capitole_du_Libre_2012 ). Théo Chevalier was our panda-in-chief! Also present: Paul Rouget, Vivien, Alexis, and Clarista. Clarista, Théo, Paul, and Vivien worked the booth and answered many questions about Firefox OS. But that’s not all: Clarista and Théo also took down email addresses of another dozen people interested in participating in MozFR. They too will receive an email with more information.In all, four presentations were given by the « pandas »:– Alexis gave a presentation about Circus for Djangocon (one of the tracks at CDL)– Clarista and Théo gave two talks: one on « What is Mozilla? » and another on « How to contribute »– Paul Rouget was much applauded for his talk on « HTML5 and Friends. »Finally, Clarista spoke about Mozilla on the radio during the program « Weekend Extra » on Toulouse 89.1. You can listen to it as a podcast (http://dascritch.net/post/2012/11/24/Suppl%C3%A9ment-Week-End%2C-samedi-24-Novembre-2012 ). One of the hosts was none other than Xavier Mouton-Dubosc (alias dascritch), a major Mozilla contributor and a Toulouse celebrity with his devastating banter (http://bonjourmozilla.fr/?post/2012/12/03/Xavier-Mouton-Dubosc ).
- Alexis au Capitole du Libre
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Clarista and Vivien have acquired 8
lovelyridiculous beanie hats with fox ears. Starting now, and until we can find more and send them to all the francophone communities, in every event taking place in France, the attending team will wear those hats. Introduced for the first time during JDLL, then Capitole du Libre, they have made quite an impression and drawn many curious onlookers. Now we only have to convince them to participate 😉
- Les bonnets !
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Most importantly, Feedoo, a newcomer in the community (he came to the drinks with the newbies, see above) gave us a wonderful gift: some flyers to distribute!Those two came in addition to this poster Julia had already created, which is also very useful: http://wiki.mozfr.org/Fichier:Affiche_de_stand.png
- BlackSheep, another newcomer, will soon give us another wonderful gift: a logo for the francophone community! His last suggestions have been greatly valued, and you will doubtlessly have occasion to discover our emblem soon. Thank you, BlackSheep!
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This month, we also must thank Ibrahima Sarr, in particular, as he has once more done countless useful things: he talked about Mozilla during a programme on the radio http://www.kassataya.com (http://kassataya.com/technologie-et-science/mozilla-vient-de-lancer-officiellement-son-navigateur-firefox-en-version-peule ), and he made a video in which he explains how to use the Firefox Social API (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZWv72oWQBw ).
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As for the articles about Mozilla, this month, the most memorable were:– GeekShadow’s Article about his Mozcamp (better late than never!): http://blog.geekshadow.com/lang/fr/2012/11/25/mozcamp-2012/– Clochix’s remarkable (as always!) article about « why Shumway »: http://esquisses.clochix.net/2012/11/14/Shumway/– Mozinet’s very thorough article about Firefox 17: http://blogzinet.free.fr/blog/index.php?post/2012/11/24/Mozilla-Firefox-17– Not to mention this article by Xavier Mouton-Dubosc about Firefox OS: http://dascritch.net/post/2012/11/30/2012%2C-fin-d-un-monde-du-web
- Lastly, still in November, Clarista worked a lot on writing a press release for Mozilla Ivory Coast, which is planning their first event in December. She has therefore interacted a lot with Bacely, who is working relentlessly for this event. To be continued!
Now, about localisation:
Like always, it’s a thriving business thanks to Goofy and his team of valiant translators.
- Nicolas Pierron, our froggie exiled in the United States, is still translating the articles from the blog « Javascript » = http://tech.mozfr.org/. This month, he translated an article explaining how to optimize JavaScript variable access, and another about the ins and outs of invalidation.
- As for Guillemette, she translated some Firefox tips again from the blog https://blog.mozilla.org/theden/category/firefox/firefox-tips/ and published them on http://blog.mozfr.org/
- Another regular and oh-so-indispensable localisation: the collaborative translation of the November issue of « Firefox & You » (which you can subscribe to here: https://www.mozilla.org/fr/newsletter/ )
- Not to mention the articles about MDN translated into French (https://mercredidoc.etherpad.mozilla.org/all )
- Last, but not least, in October, our dear Ibrahima Sarr (yes, again! :D) localised Firefox OS in – brace yourselves – Fula!!! Congratulations and thank you, Ibrahima!
While I’m at it, I’d like to give the warmest thanks to Matt Brubeck, this Mozilla employee is de facto a Mozfr contributor: he is the one to translate most of this newsletter into English!
What about development?
Well, tell you what, there are more and more contributions in that area.
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First up, Gerard-Majax’s unceasing work on Firefox OS. In particular, he was responsible for porting the Android app Fil@Tours (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.gitorious.scrapfilbleu.android ) to HTML5/FirefoxOS. See the video at https://twitter.com/376b78fc7223/status/272831449017774080 or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7VMuJSitXY and find the GPLv3 source code on https://gitorious.org/scrapfilbleu/scrapfilbleu/trees/master/FilATours_HTML5. The purpose of this app is to provide simplified and mobile-optimized access to information from the Fil Bleu transit site (schedule search, route maps).
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GeekShadow developed another web app, for listing to RTL2 radio: https://marketplace.mozilla.org/app/rtl2-player/A notable landmark in development this month: FlynnV, new but already becoming quite involved in the community, discovered a PDF.js bug which he reported here: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=812755 – a great first bug!
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And we mustn’t forget that November 12th saw the launch of Mozilla Senegal’s new web site – development version available at http://dev.mozilla-senegal.org/Bravo to Camara and his team!
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Finally, Gerard-Majax (him again!) made a Beamer template for Mozilla slides, which you are invited to use: https://github.com/lissyx/mozbeamer
But this November’s real miracle was in the IT space: