[New-imc] to send: IMC Membership Criteria draft

[Jay]

[THIS IS THE CURRENT DRAFT OF THE IMC MEMBERSHIP CRITERIA.  WE WILL SEND
FUTURE DRAFTS AS THEY ARE AVAILABLE.]

IMC MEMBERSHIP CRITERIA - DRAFT
Each IMC and Global Working Group is expected to:
a. Agree in spirit to the NIMC Mission Statement and Principles of Unity, 
b. Have a committed membership substantial enough to sustain a functional 
IMC, 
c. Have open and public meetings (no one group can have exclusionary 
"ownership" of an IMC), 
d. Work toward developing a local Mission Statement or Statement of Purpose. 
Network Mission Statement may be adopted or used on an interim basis, 
e. Establish and publish an editorial policy which is developed and 
functions through democratic process, and with full transparency, 
f. Agree to the use of Open Publishing as described in the NIMC Editorial 
Policy [editorial collective comments: "We did agree that the term "Open 
Publishing" was one that is still being defined by the Global Network 
Collective, and we would wait and see what the results were before rewriting 
this criteria], 
g. Adopt a decision-making policy that is in alignment with consensus 
principles which include open, transparent and egalitarian processes, 
h. Have a spokesperson(s) willing and capable of participating in the global 
decision-making process and meetings as a rotating liaison/representative, 
with a clear understanding of the responsibilities that come with this role, 
i. Participate in the key IMC Network Communication Methods that pertain to 
the health and vitality of the Network and that contribute to the work of 
the IMC. Assure that at least one person from your local IMC participates 
at any given time on the IMC-Communications list, 
j. (NOT FINALIZED): Have no official affiliation with any political party, 
state or candidate for office (comments: but individual producers have 
freedom to do whatever they like and local IMCs can "feature" stories about 
various political parties and initiatives), 
k. IMCs shall in no way engage in commercial for-profit enterprises. [We 
could add: The IMCN is committed to the decommercialization of information 
and will disassociate from any local IMC that decides to become a for profit 
media corporation.] 
l. Display a ³local version² of the IMC ³i² logo on your website and 
literature. 
m. Include the IMC Network current ³Cities List² on your site, preferably on 
the front page.

NETWORK MEMBERSHIP
1. Network Membership is open to any group that accepts the above 
criteria for membership. In the case of several requests from the same city 
or region, we will encourage them to meet and work together. 
2. Network Membership in the NIMC will be confirmed by the New IMC 
Working Group, which is accountable to IMC-Process and ultimately to the 
NIMC decision-making process.

DEFINING OUR TERMS:
For clarity and precision, we need to define our terms more carefully so 
there is less room for misunderstanding. Also explains how we as a culture 
(the IMC culture) use these terms.
* NIMC = Network of Independent Media Centers 
* Open = means that diverse people and groups are welcome to attend and that 
no attempt is made to exclude people based on their sex, race, gender, 
class, age, ability or religion. 
* Official affiliation = still being worked on 
* IMC Network Communication Methods = international email lists, IRC 
discussions and logs, phone calls and conference calls, and face-to-face 
meetings. 
* Local version = acknowledges the many variations of the name and the logo 
that will occur depending on the language and culture of the local IMC.


NetZero Platinum
No Banner Ads and Unlimited Access
Sign Up Today - Only $9.95 per month!
http://www.netzero.net