(Image Credit: iStockPhoto/Gawrav Sinha)
The web is vast, but it doesn’t yet represent everyone. Mozilla is on a mission to change this underrepresentation of some communities with the launch of their ‘Webmaker’ tool which aims to address “the lack of local content in mobile-first markets.”
Developed after extensive research (PDF) into how people use technology in emerging smartphone markets such as Bangladesh, Kenya, and India, Mozilla found that people in these areas weren’t producing content and therefore experiencing just a “read-only” version of the web through just consuming and not contributing.
Webmaker is built to empower first-time smartphone users to create web content in order for these communities to actively participate and help move towards a true World Wide Web for everyone to enjoy.
The free, open-source app is available on Google Play to enable the millions of users of low-cost Android devices to get started. It focuses on three building blocks of web content – text, images, and links.
(Image: Example of page created in a few minutes)
Although this may seem basic to you or I, for some people Webmaker is providing them with a voice on the web for the first time. A small business owner from Nairobi in Mozilla’s research prior to creating Webmaker was quoted as saying: “I cannot wake up and do something I know nothing about” whilst a teenager from Pune in India said about publishing web content in general: “The problem is that we are not aware that doing this is possible.”
The community has now built a host of creations including how-to manuals, photo albums, digital sketchbooks and wardrobes, exercise handbooks and more.
Beyond creating your own content, the app encourages a social element through allowing users to “Remix” other creators’ projects in a non-destructive manner to help build and expand their potential to reach new economic opportunities.
Development of the app is being informed by “hundreds” of volunteers. Although the app is functional now, it’s clear there is a lot of untapped potential to expand Webmaker in the future. If you want to get hands-on with the app, get started here.
Do you think Webmaker helps to make web content publishing more accessible? Let us know in the comments.
