I’m happy to say: the developer version of Mozilla’s drumbeat.org is now live! If you’ve got in idea that will make the open web better, we’re ready to hear it. And if you just want to learn about Drumbeat or help out for a couple of hours, we’re ready for that too.

For those hearing about this for the first time: Drumbeat is Mozilla’s emerging initiative fort everyday internet who want to work on projects and run events that help people understand, participate and take control of their online lives. It isn’t (only) about geeks — it’s about teachers, lawyers, artists, filmmakers and anyone who’s passionate about the internet lending their skills and creativity to help keep the web open.

Our main goal with this early version of the site is to get people developing and working on a handful of Drumbeat projects. Which is why we’re calling it a ‘developer version’. It’s intended first and foremost for brave souls with good open web ideas who are ready to a) put their ideas on the table and b) help us figure out how Drumbeat should work along the way.

If that sounds like you (brave soul + big open web idea), check out the site and create an account, then go to the ‘create a project‘ form to describe what you’d like to work on.

Of course, there are easy ways to participate in this early Drumbeat release even if you don’t have a project propose.

The simplest is to join a project or support it with a donation. The projects featured on the site now are real — with real people behind them who want your help. If click ‘join’ on a Drumbeat project page, the people behind it will be in touch to find out how you want to be involved.

We’re also looking for people to help with the site itself. We most urgently need experienced Drupal people who would be willing to put in a few hours to address one of the many bugs or feature requests that have already piled up. Please email drumbeat at mozillafoundation org if you want to help with this. We also need general QA and feedback, which you can either post to the Drumbeat website forum or file in Bugzilla.

Great to have the site up and live! Thanks to everyone who got it this far, especially: Paul Booker; Gina Cooper; Carlo Frinolli; Michael Haggerty; Chris Lyon; Gervase Markham; Jeremy Orem; Ken Saunders; Ned Schwartz; Matt Thompson; Campbell Vertesi; plus everyone on the Drumbeat community list.

Ps. Caveat emptor. .This is a ‘developer version’ of the site. Things will change (and improve!) quickly, but they may also break. Keep copies of any content you write for the site. And let us know when you find bugs.