690821 - Create a design for an interactive history of Mozilla that can replace the current History page

Status: REOPENED

(Marketing :: Design, task)

Description

[David Boswell]

Now that the mozillians.org phonebook has launched, we can use it as a way to allow everyone in the community to tell their own version of the history of Mozilla that can be included in a visualization on www.mozilla.org.

I'm opening this bug to create a design for what that visualization would look like.  I'd then like to use that design as a way to get contributors excited about coding this particular visualization as well as coming up with ideas for other visualizations that use the public phonebook information.

For background, there was a project a few years ago that was similar to this and it got as far as creating wireframes, so we could look at leveraging that.  The project idea was a bit complicated though, so it's also fine not to build on that if it doesn't make sense.

For next steps, would it make sense to find some time to talk through this in person or would it be helpful for me to start a draft design brief on a wiki?

Comment 1

[Tara (musingt)]

Hi there!  I <3 visualizations.  I have a few initial questions, and then -> yes... lets definitely talk in person (Monday afternoon, or Tuesday).  Then move into a design brief.  I'd like to get a better understanding of the scope, scale, and your overall vision first.

Few initial questions:

* Is this a visualization of the "history" of mozilla or the phonebook? you mentioned both above and I'm a little unclear as to what information we're visualizing here.
* Is the visualization intended to be mostly static, or interactive? 
* So, you're looking for a concept + high fidelity mockups (PSDs, design assets) which you'd then hand off to the community to build? 
* Timing: this all depends on our detailed discussion, but was curious to see if this was tied to a particular goal, a nice to have, or simply something you want to start this year and land early next.

Thanks.

Comment 2

[Tara (musingt)]

Actually, a draft design brief would be helpful, and will likely answer most of my questions above.  I just would rather talk through it first before asking you to spend time on a brief.  But a basic outline of the project to hint at the scope/scale would certainly be helpful and appreciated. It'll also give me something to review before we meet in person.

Comment 3

[Tara (musingt)]

D'oh! the title says "interactive" :)

Comment 4

[David Boswell]

(In reply to Tara from comment #1)
> * Is this a visualization of the "history" of mozilla or the phonebook? you
> mentioned both above and I'm a little unclear as to what information we're
> visualizing here.

This would be a visualization that would make use of data that is in the phonebook.  For instance, someone can create a profile that includes the year they joined Mozilla and a link to photos, video or a story about how they got involved, what Mozilla was like, how it has changed, etc.  Those profiles can then be the data that the visualization would use.

For instance, Mitchell's profile could link to the history video from her All Hands talk that she just posted.

From what I understand about the Mozilla Memories project, it was put on hold in part because it become clear that something like the phonebook would need to be built first in order to allow people to add their information into the history visualization.  Now we have a system that lets people add and manage this information in their profiles.

> * Is the visualization intended to be mostly static, or interactive? 

Interactive.

For example, we could have a timeline that goes from 1998 to the present and each year could be made up the people who joined at that time and people could interact with the timeline to watch, listen or read that person's story.

> * So, you're looking for a concept + high fidelity mockups (PSDs, design
> assets) which you'd then hand off to the community to build? 

Yes.

> * Timing: this all depends on our detailed discussion, but was curious to
> see if this was tied to a particular goal, a nice to have, or simply
> something you want to start this year and land early next.

We have a Q4 goal to get a majority of community members to set up a profile in the phonebook and having this design would help.  

We could get people excited about the chance for them to share their story and promote phonebook sign-ups as part of that since people would need to have a profile to be in the interactive history.

So although we don't need to have this built in Q4, it would be nice to have at least some designs to start building excitement and engagement around this.

I'm happy to answer any other questions about this.  I also have the wireframes from the Mozilla Memories project we can look at on Monday (I'll go Zimbra something up...).

If you have any other questions for me before then, let me know.

Comment 5

[David Boswell]

For more context, here is a post Mitchell made a couple years ago about wanting to do a contributor-focused interactive history project.

http://blog.lizardwrangler.com/2009/06/04/7-years-of-mozilla-product-releases/

She probably describes it better than I did earlier :)

She mentions a timeline (and I did too earlier) but I don't think that's necessarily the only way to visualize things.

Comment 6

[Mike Taylor [:bear]]

What David described is what I was thinking about after trying to location places where Mozilla History is located on the web - only a handful of sites have information and it's disjointed.

If the new community phonebook allows for a unique Id and that Id could then be used to start connecting events with people, then we could have a data set that would allow for all kinds of visualizations.  That data set would also be community managed and maintained - win!

(I'm hoping my comments make sense to others and i'm not just generating noise)

Comment 7

[David Boswell]

For an update, I met with Tara about this earlier this week and she was going to respond with her thoughts about moving forward.

Comment 8

[Tara (musingt)]

Hey guys, where do things stand here?  I spoke to John before I left and I believe he spoke with you (Boswell).  I'm also not sure if this went on hold given the latest freeze on most projects.  Please let me know where things stand and status of this bug, thanks.

Comment 9

[David Boswell]

John reached out to a couple of designers but neither of them were available.  At this point there's not enough time to identify a designer that is available and have anything produced to use in Q4.  Let's revisit early next year.

Comment 10

[Tara (musingt)]

Outdated/outstanding bug, closing out. 
Please ping/re-open as needed. Thanks!

Comment 11

[David Boswell]

Reopening.  

At the Summit Assembly there was strong feedback around the need to update the history of Mozilla so that it is current and participatory.  Not having an accurate and engaging place where people can learn our history was seen as a blocker to effectively understanding and working with a growing community of staff and volunteers.

Also, the content for an up to date and interactive history of Mozilla is being collected right now in preparation for the Summit.  See more at:

https://wiki.mozilla.org/Timeline

The details of the Summit haven't been sorted out yet, but I would request that we look at what we can do to put a design together before so that we could build this either before or at the Summit.

Comment 13

[Kohei Yoshino [:kohei]]

Google's interactive stuff: 
http://googleblog.blogspot.ca/2011/09/happy-third-birthday-chrome.html