[New-imc] Fwd: Jakarta IndyMedia - Seeking Clarification and Advice

[boud]

On Wed, 15 May 2002, sheri herndon wrote:

> hi friends,
> just passing this on to new-imc.
> can someone give a status report who was working on this more actively?
> boud was that you?

well, i didn't make any promises...

> i don't have time to look in the archives right now
> but was hoping someone could give a rather quick update
> and we could see how to proceed.
> sheri

there's a communication problem somewhere, i'm not quite sure where.
anyway, first, the archives:
Meggy's application:
http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/public/new-imc/2002-April/003237.html
my reply:
http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/public/new-imc/2002-April/003251.html
Meggy's reply:
http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/public/new-imc/2002-April/003254.html
trivial error correction by Meggy:
http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/public/new-imc/2002-April/003255.html


g'day cobber,

> >I am here in Jakarta at the moment and am talking with some of the 
> >folk who are
> >mega keen to get Jakarta IndyMedia listed on the sidebar of IndyMedia sites.

Well, it's not just a technicality, other people in the network
want to have some info on what's going on, how to communicate with people,
some sign that the locals really have got to grips with the non-hierarchical,
open, consensus style organising.  Of course, Indonesians are more likely
to be able to teach others about consensus than vice versa, but this
can't be done by ESP (extra-sensory perception) ;).

> >The main person here - Meggy - has - from what I understand - submitted the
> >form within the process.indymedia site. I wander if someone could give me
> >feedback as to where this is at and what else needs to be done in order for
> >Jakarta Indy request to enter the channels of Indymedia decision-making?

> >I will be here for the next 3 or 4 days and am happy to assist them in
> >completing whatever process/protocols necessary so that their site gets listed
> >on the sidebar.

I don't know if it can be done in 3 or 4 days, but you can certainly
get things moving, provided the locals are willing... Making sure 
that several locals have functioning email accounts, that the local
tech people are taking the time to teach the non-tech people about
the basics.

OK, you can see the http refs above.

Quoting from:
http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/public/new-imc/2002-April/003251.html

IMHO, these are the steps which are most urgent:

> [in] ###
> [in] Anda2 belum melakukan:
> [in] 2) look at the documents ... http://newimc.indymedia.org - belum
> [in] 4) menciptakan (dan pakai!) daftar surat
> [in] - http://newlist.indymedia.org - belum
> [in] 6) mission statement and editorial policy - belum (?)
> [in] 7) membership criteria + new personal introduction - belum
> [in] ###
> [in]
> [in] Ingatlah: penting bertanggung-jawab tentang semua ini dengan
> [in] semua orang yang mau melakukan Indymedia di Jakarta...
> [in]
> [in] 8) final discussions @new-imc and @imc-process - belum
> [in] misalnya, Chris <hutabar at rendo.dekooi.nl> atau saya dapat
melakukan
>
>
> [en] Probably the best explanation of the process is here:
> [en]
> [en]
http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/public/new-imc/2002-March/003108.html
> [en]
> [en] IMHO, what we are waiting for you to do is:
> [en] 2) look at the documents ... http://newimc.indymedia.org
> [en] 4) make (and use!) a mailing list http://newlist.indymedia.org
> [en] 6) mission statement and editorial policy
> [en] 7) membership criteria + new personal introduction
> [en] ###
> [en]
> [en] Remember: it's important to have lots of discussion about all
> [en] of the above with all the people in Jakarta interested in
Indymedia...
> [en]
> [en] 8) final discussions @new-imc and @imc-process -
> [en] For example, either Chris or myself could do this


2) It's up to you to talk to Meggy and the others and see if
they really have printed off the documents and started going through
them. They're not just forms to fill out, maybe the reality behind
them has already been done. But the best way to help others 
(including other Jakartans) see this is:

4) A mailing list imc-jakarta has been half-made. What is missing is:

4a) the administrator is not subscribed

4b) there is only one person subscribed, which seems like 
not enough people have been invited, since 
several people/organisations have posted to the existing site
(http://jakarta.indymedia.org.au) with their email addresses

4c) the link to the list is not working, it seems that the list has
been converted from public to private. i really recommend that the
list be:
- "public" (i don't know where in the setup the public vs private
option is chosen - i haven't administered any mailman lists)
- publicly viewable archive (by anyone, subscriber or not)
- allow anyone to send messages to the list (subscriber or not)
- allow subscribers only to view the list of subscribers
- send an email to listwork at lists.indymedia.org  to ask for
the spamtrap method to be put in place

6) mission statement & editorial policy

Well, i haven't seen any sign of these so far. If the locals
can really write these up in 3-4 days while you're here, 
and if these are really based on non-hierarchical, consensual
discussions, great!

7) membership criteria + new personal introduction

http://www.global.indymedia.org.au/front.php3?article_id=442

If you have bad web access, i could email this to you.  Remember that
turning off auto-image-loading accelerates web access considerably.

> >Also, if you could inform as to how long it might take for the process to
> >happen - that would be great :)

It all depends on how much the locals have already got together
to discuss all the indymedia guidelines, documents, whether they've
attempted to get together a wide variety of activist groups, etc.

In the particular case of Jakarta, it's obvious that "outreach" 
could be more dangerous than in cities in mature "democracies",
since the US is likely to support the military and do its best to
sabotage any attempts at increasing freedom of speech, human rights,
etc.  But conversely, the more people who are involved in a non-hierarchical
way, and preferably who develop the habit of using the imc-jakarta
mailing list (and as it develops you can make sub lists for 
special purposes), the more difficult it will be to sabotage...


> >I understand that Jakarta can go through a similar process to what happened
> >with Adelaide. A site was set up first by a regional group (ie. Australia in
> >this case) and then over a short period of time, got accepted in to the Indy
> >community and got on to the side bar. I trust that this is okay?

Well, the Adelaide people did the discussions and prepared and
sent the required documents to new-imc, and they do have two
mailing lists (imc-adelaide & imc-adelaide-tech) with open archives.
They're not that active, but at least they're there to help in
efficient communication, e.g.
http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/public/imc-adelaide/2002-May/thread.html

Once the Jakarta people have really gone through the steps 2), 4) 
and feel they're ready to send the documents 6), 7) to new-imc,
then they should do this (send the documents 6), 7) to new-imc),
and then it's normally a delay of 3 days on new-imc and then 7 days on
imc-process. 


> >Jakarta Indy does need a bit of technical fixing up - perhaps andy at cat.org.au
> >could assist - or I could do some work from this end. I believe Meggy (the guy
> >driving it here) has the necessary passwords.
> >
> >Thanks - looking forward to your response :)
> >
> >Best, Sam de Silva (one of the peoples who co-founded Melbourne IndyMedia)

Onyamate!

boud

PS: Once the imc-jakarta list is working properly, it would be the
logical place to put drafts of documents.