Weboplex

I’ve been following the Webmaker activities in Mozilla and the developments couldn’t be more timely. Mozilla Executive Director Mark Surman has made a case for building the future with a web literate planet and to me, this message has resonated: Why not take full advantage of the web as an open platform by making it a canvas for one’s ideas.

As a newcomer to Toronto, I felt that one sector that can benefit from the embracing a Webmaker ethic is the newcomer/immigrants who are looking for jobs.

For most people, the story is already familiar: skilled immigrants arrive in their new country only to be underemployed. Several articles and academic studies have already investigated and validated the anecdotes of the developer from Asia ending up working as a Tim Horton’s and I see this as an opportunity.

First, let me be clear: I’m not trying to solve the Canada’s immigration issues, but I’m just seeing a tiny crack where the Web can directly impact a community that needs all the help it can get.

When I arrived in Toronto last year, the job market was tight. In the first months as an unemployed newcomer, I participated in a workshop organized by ACCES Employment, a non-profit that aids newcomers to Canada in integrate into the workforce. In the workshop I attended, I learned that one of the challenges most immigrants face is the failure to basically market themselves to their potential employers.

I took those lessons to heart and eventually got a job as an User Experience Designer/Information Architect for a financial institution based in downtown Toronto a few months later.

One of the things that helped me in landing my current job is the website that I made using html5slides. I figured that there may be Webmaker-type immigrants out there who’d like to do something similar in their job hunt. It could be a simple site, but it’s build or coded by them.

As part of the Mozilla Reps program, I reached out to ACCES Employment and asked if they would be interested in hosting a talk to teach folks who’d like to take the Webmaker route. They said “Yes” and we’re now ironing out the schedule for this talk. :)

What I like about this coming talk is that I get to share something about the Webmaker ethic and have the potential to make a difference on the individual level. At the very least, I’m using the Open Web to introduce someone to a whole new route towards personal success.

Found this interesting promo from Adobe with their upcoming Creative Suite 6 release.

If you purchased an eligible Adobe Creative Suite product through Adobe.com on or after March 26, 2012, you are qualified to receive an upgrade to the equivalent Creative Suite 6 version of your product at no additional cost when CS6 ships. Fot this promo, a coupon will be sent to the email address approximately 10 days after CS6 becomes publicly available.

The free upgrade to CS6 will be available for electronic download from adobe.com. But in locations where electronic downloads are not an option, Adobe will ship your free upgrade in a box. (Seriously, this could be the default option in bandwidth-challenged countries).