Mozilla Reps from Southeast Asia (SEA) will agree with me: we are the most quiet gang of awesome Mozilla community leaders and volunteers when it comes to online meetings (but otherwise when it comes to face-to-face meetups and conferences). Perhaps it could be due to the time difference (most of the online meetings are held just before or past midnight for SEA timezones) or could be cultural. This brought the idea of me calling for an online meeting of SEA-based Mozilla Reps, as the last time most saw each other was in MozCamp Asia 2013 (Singapore). Now is the best time to get in touch with one another (even if it is just an online meeting) and for each of the Mozilla Communities (and community members) to be updated on what’s going on in their countries.
A quick rundown of ASEAN (Association of SouthEast Asian Nations) member states and breakdown of Mozilla Reps per country (a total of 46 Reps in SEA):
- Brunei Darussalam (NIL)
- Cambodia (01)
- Indonesia (16)
- Lao PDR (NIL)
- Malaysia (09)
- Myanmar (01)
- Philippines (11)
- Singapore (01)
- Thailand (02)
- Vietnam (05)
As agreed upon using a Doodle(.com), the online meeting was held tonight 1400Z (UTC/GMT) via Vidyo hosted by yours truly. It was attended by around 15 Mozilla Reps (ReMo) from different ASEAN countries. Such an awesome thing to see familiar and new faces:
Attendees were asked to introduce themselves (by telling their Names, from which city/country they are from, who their Reps Mentors are and what do they do outside of the Mozilla Reps Program).
Topics discussed during this online meeting include:
- On Budget Requests
- PayPal issues for Reps based in Myanmar.
- On Swags Requests
- Slow processing of swags requests.
- Shipping costs are too expensive.
- Times wherein Reps pay taxes when receiving swags (particularly in Indonesia; experienced the same too in the Philippines).
- Community Building
- (Currently) No Community Manager for Mozilla Malaysia Community
- Mozilla Indonesia Community just had a workweek(end) with Gen Kanai and William Quiviger.
- Mozilla Philippines Community had a strategic planning last JAN 2015.
- On-going recruitment of Mozillians in Myanmar.
- Why don’t we have a Mozilla Singapore Community when we have Reps who are now based in that country?
- Reps attending FOSSASIA 2015 in Singapore (13-15 Mar 2015) — can have a meetup of MozCoffee session.
- Firefox Student Ambassadors (FSA)
- Only Indonesia and the Philippines have RALs (Regional Ambassador Leads)
- FSA Office Hour sessions
- Proposal for an Annual Meetup of SEA Reps (and Mozillians, if possible) — similar to MozCamp Asia.
- SEA Reps to think of a joint campaign about Mozilla across member states.
The online meetup/meeting ended just before we hit the 90-minute mark.
NEXT STEPS:
SEA-based Mozilla Reps to determine the frequency of the next online meetups/meetings via this Doodle (Weekly, Bi-Monthly or Monthly). Online discussions and follow-up can be done via the Reps-General Mailing List or via Discourse.
SIDE NOTE:
Then saw Mark Surman blogging about Participation, Permission and Momentum … just in time for the first meeting of Mozilla Reps from SEA.