[New-imc] eau.indymedia

[Jay]

Hi everyone,

I really appreciate all the exciting and forward-thinking conversation here. 
My thoughts.

I've generally been in favor of keeping IMCs geographically based, therefore
enabling, if not assuring, face-to-face contact between organizers.  However, I
also support the idea of "issue pages," which gather coverage about a
particular issue in one place.  The Philly IMC's alternatives feature
(http://www.phillyimc.org/alternatives) is that kind of project.  On one hand,
it's a global page that gathers ideas and participation from anyone through the
www-features-ongoing at indymedia.org mailing list.  On the other hand, it's a
locally administered permanent feature.  Yes, there is an
"alternatives.indymedia.org" site in the works as well.  That's kind of a
"permanent feature" for the www.indymedia.org site.  The
"alternatives.indymedia.org" project is not calling itself the "Alternatives
IMC."  Instead, it's an issue-based permanent feature.  

That may seem like a superficial distinction, but I think teminology and
emphasis are important in identifying our priorities.  I feel as if most of us
have agreed to prioritize local, grassroots media collectives, based in
real-life, phsyical communities.  I think when we talk about "an IMC," we're
talking about a group of people who are based in a place and actually can sit
down with each other and talk about issues face-to-face.

On the other hand, there is a tremendous amount of flexibility in this
network.  I see no reason why we can't have a Water "permanent feature," hosted
on either the imc-france site or the www.indymedia.org site.  This could be the
place for the exact kind of locally-based, international coverage of water
issues Massalia is talking about.  Rather than a "water IMC," this "permanent
feature" would be able to gather and inspire coverage of water-related issues
from around the globe, while still not taking Indymedia's focus off of local,
decentralized, multi-issue, face-to-face collectives.

Again, it may just seem like playing with words, but distinguishing the Water
site as a "permanent global feature" or an "international Indymedia project"
rather than "an IMC" makes a difference to me.  Whatever the case, if there is
energy to do excellent coverage of water issues, let's find a way to encourage
it in a way that's consistent with our principles.

Jay
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