When was the last time you had a chat with your friends from abroad since the start of the ongoing pandemic? Had you checked with them if they are still OK?
Last Monday, 07 March 2022, I called for an online meetup (meeting) of all Mozilla Reps from the ASEAN++ region. Why ASEAN++ you may ask? Let me explain in this post.
What are Mozilla Reps?
Reps are passionate Mozillians who mobilize and develop functional and local/regional Mozilla communities. They are committed to educate and empower people to support Mozilla’s mission and contribute to the project based on Mozilla’s leadership agreements. They are also creating collaborations with other local communities to expand Mozilla’s outreach in the open source ecosystem.
From https://community.mozilla.org/en/groups/mozilla-reps/
ASEAN++ What?
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is both a political and economic union of member states established in 1967. The official members of the ASEAN are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. Often during Mozilla gatherings that require travel, Mozilla Reps from these nations bump at each other during connecting flights, etc. For one, our native languages are somewhat related to each other.
During the previous regional online gathering of Mozilla Reps, we invite our colleagues based in Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan — they may not be officially part of the ASEAN but geographically, we are neighbors with most sharing the same timezones. Thus, the term Mozilla Reps ASEAN++.
Meeting Proper
Hosted by the Mozilla Philippines Community via Zoom, the meeting was attended by Mozilla Reps from Hong Kong, Indonesia, Taiwan, and the Philippines. As of this writing, we do not have Mozilla Reps based in Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam; while the rest of the Mozilla Reps from the ASEAN++ region were not available to join us online last Monday.
Present at the online meeting were Dian Ina, Fauzan Alfi, and Irayanni Queencyputri from Indonesia; Sammy Fung from Hong Kong; Irvin Chen from Taiwan; Frederick Villaluna, Kim Domanog, and myself from the Philippines.
Based on the Mozilla Community Portal, there are eighteen (18) Mozilla Reps based in the ASEAN++ region (and we had a 44.44% attendance that night).
Each of the communities gave an update about their respective events and activities since the offshoot of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020.
Hong Kong
- Activities related to Common Voice in Cantonese (Chinese – Hong Kong) are ongoing.
- Continuous participation in different Mozilla campaigns.
- Hong Kong is currently under another round of pandemic spike. The original plan of having in-person conference has changed to online format.
- Due to recent political unrest, some people in the IT industry are leaving Hong Kong, affecting the local Mozilla community. Online meetings/meetups are still possible.
Indonesia
- App usage of Firefox Focus has increased in Indonesia — the local community is putting focus on this.
- Localization efforts for Bahasa Indonesia, Javanese, and Sundanese are ongoing.
- The local community is trying to make the Jakarta Community Space survive.
Philippines
- Localization efforts for Cebuano, Hiligaynon, and Tagalog are ongoing.
- Sentence collection is ongoing for Mozilla Common Voice in Tagalog.
- Holding monthly online meetups with community members (learning sessions; sometimes with invited guests from other communities).
- The country has recently opened its borders to foreigners. Virus infection is slowing down.
Taiwan
- The local community’s main focus are with Common Voice (Taiwanese & Mandarin) and MDN (after it has evolved to become Github-based).
- The Taipei Community Space remains open with events, meetings, etc. happening weekly. Slightly fewer events with almost half original number of contributors become active lately due to the pandemic.
- Local monthly open source communities hackathon and privacy meetup being hosted at the Taipei Community Space.
- Life in Taipei is pretty much back to normal (you can not go out; only restriction is to wear facemasks). Some community members are still not showing up in person.
Concerns & Observations
Burnout is Real
With the ongoing pandemic, individual priorities changed. Some of the Mozilla Reps in the call were unable to return to their homeland due to travel restrictions, while some had been stuck at home for quite some time now. Without anyone admitting it during the call, I can feel signs of burnout from some of the attendees.
As most continue to work-from-home (WFH) and adapt to what would be the new normal, much of their time is now divided between office/work stuff and family.
The question now is: how can we motivate Reps to actively participate especially during these trying times?
Some even feel that there is a lack of direction or focus from Mozilla in as much as the Reps program is concerned.
Community Growth is More Challenging
With different countries implementing COVID-19 restrictions, face-to-face (or in-person) events are not yet allowed in most territories. The interest of community members in attending online meetings, meetups, and events is dwindling.
One meeting participant even said, “it is now harder to motivate new people (community members) with (generally) less exciting products.”
Next Steps & Future Meetings
I intend to continue having this kind of online gathering for ASEAN++ Mozilla Reps in the coming weeks or months as we try to find solutions and discuss some of the concerns initially raised during the last online gathering.