Here is an interview of Melek Jebnoun, active member of
Mozilla Tunisia and a wonderful woman I had the honor to meet in Tunis back in February
 |
| Melek and Mitchell at Mozilla Arabic First Meetup 2011 – photo by Nozom |
- How did you come to know about free/libre software?
Concretely it’s been a year. I have often hear about open source and
free software because I studied science. Last year I decided to join a
university club in my institute (
INSAT)
called LibertySoft and my passion for free software really took off.
However I would say that I really fell in love at first sight one
Saturday during an IT conference where the open source community
participated. On that day the Tunisian communities gathered during an
entire afternoon for a big install party and a fun meetup session. This
is when I told myself: dear, the cause is noble, go ahead
Since then I got more involved in the community and I tried to
participate to all the events that were organized. I can’t stop, it’s
some kind of drug
- How did you come to Mozilla? What are you working on within Mozilla?
For Mozilla it was pretty much the same, I met Rafik – founder of
Mozilla Tunisia – during that famous Saturday I just talked about. It
was three days before he announced the launch of Mozilla Tunisia. He
looked at me and told me: “Do you want to join us?” I said: “I don’t
know anything!” and he replied: “Come you won’t regret it”. I was just
starting to get involved in Mozilla Tunisia, I helped for the website
and the event in which Mozilla participated. After that Rafik put me in
touch with Rame Khader of Mozilla Arabic. Since that day I got much more
engaged inside the Arab community. I got a chance to participate in the
Mozilla Arabic meeting in Jordania and I must say that it was the final
blow
. It reinforced my ties with the Arab community members and that was
when I opened up to Mozilla in general, and when I went out of the usual
Arab and Tunisian community frame. I came back with my head full of
dreams and an excessive need to be more usefull within Mozilla.
What I do Mozilla? Uhm, I recently became a “mentor” in the
REMO program
launched by Mozilla. I also try to be useful especial inside the
Tunisian and Arab community by organizing events and training sessions
to preach the spirit and technology of an Open Web!
- What do you prefer about Mozilla?
I must say that the community is great – especially because of the
famous “Mozilla spirit”. It’s really “WOW”!!! Despite being invovled in
other communities, I have never met people that are more passionate and
willing to change the world without asking for any profit or gain in
return. They are not afraid to dream and see the world in a quite
distinctive way. Its members are simply exceptional.
- And if you could improve something, what would that be?
Sincerely I would say that it is still quite difficult to get
involved in the technical side. It’s hard even for some enthusiasts, who
do not know where to start out or what to work on. Mozilla should work
on this issue, maybe by creating concrete and accessible “How to get
involved” documents.
- What would you want WoMoz to do in order to improve your life and experience in Mozilla?
Ahhhh WoMoz, my favorite project in Mozilla. When Mitchell Baker
talked to me about it I was really excited, and wanted to join the
community as soon as I came back to Tunisia. Sincerely, I have always
admired women who have a successful carreer in IT. It is sometimes hard
as a woman to make a breakthrough it this domain. As a woman, I hope the
extraordinary WoMoz will help me grow stronger and will encourage me to
give more of myself, and to involve more Tunisian women in this great
experience. I am sometimes so surprised to see the positive feedback
from WoMoz, whose members don’t hesitate to give some of their time to
give me their advice about my projects, or to orient me. They have
always been present.
- Do you have any ideas for WoMoz projects that you would like to launch?
Well, one of my dreams would be to see emerge an all-women technical
group. We are able to do it, and we have the energy and talent of young
women. Of course my vision concerns the Arab side since IT girls are
almost non-existent here, or too shy to make themselves known and to
continue in this field. One day, I really hope to see WoMoz create
training programs and introduction sessions for young student girls in
developing countries, or in countries with difficult access to
technology or Internet. The idea is still forming in my head, and I hope
that with WoMoz we will be able to do something in this area.
- Do you think a project such as WoMoz is important? Why?
Oh dear yes! A project such as WoMoz is even more than important
because every woman can see herself in it and can identify to the other
members. “They did it, so I can too!” It’s really important – not only
on a technical side or to counter sexist abuse (which is already very
important) – but also for motivation and to encourage women to join
projects. Some women are only waiting for a little boost to overcome
their fears, and watching a Delphine or a Claire talk about women’s
passion and their involvement in free/open software can change your
vision of things. They are able to make you dream about this so-called
“brutal” field: it’s a feminine touch that helps us become free and
makes the world a better place for everyone
Thank you Melek for this interview!
