[Imc-alternatives] updated summary for Techmeet

Jay jay at fundamentalchange.net
Fri Sep 5 09:16:31 PDT 2008 

>At 9/5/2008, Sheri Herndon wrote:
>this is fantastic jay.  t
>
>thanks for sharing this with the techmeet.  i'm very excited for this >gathering and for the 
>relationships that have been developed and the alliance that is being >created here.  i see it as a 
>very powerful one that can serve all of indymedia as it currently stands >and also to break out 
>into new constituencies....thanks for all the work on this!
>
>love
>sheri

Thanks Sheri.  If you happen to be at Techmeet in any capacity, virtual or otherwise, definitely talk up the Alternatives project and urge the techies toward joining forces with us in a really active way.  

I'll try to make the virtual meeting but I'll be at a family event on the Jersey shore this weekend which will probably go forward even if we're submerged beneath Hurricane Hanna.  If the dueling hurricanes of Hanna and my family don't prevent me from getting online I'll see you there.

Jay



"It is not enough to slow the rate of destruction,
we must increase the rate of creation."

~~ Tom Hayden, WTO in Seattle

On Fri Sep  5  5:53 , Jay  sent:

>THE ALTERNATIVES IMC -- A NEW GLOBAL INDYMEDIA PROJECT FOR A NEW INDYMEDIA
> 
>SUMMARY:
>The Indymedia Alternatives project is a new globally-organized topic-based IMC that intends to be 
a “next generation” IMC site, both in its content and its technical architecture.  The 
Alternatives IMC will focus on positive steps people are taking around the world to create viable 
alternatives to the current social, political and economic structures.  It intends to not only be 
a hub for information about these Alternatives, but a networking hub for the community of those 
who are actively building them.  
> 
>We are proposing that at Techmeet global IMC techies agree to join forces with us to build the 
Alternatives site as an example of the new, re-energized and reorganized Indymedia.   
> 
>While imc techies have been working hard to reconceive Indymedia’s global technical 
infrastructure, IMC Alternatives organizers, working through “imc-
alternatives at lists.indymedia.org" list, have been reworking Indymedia’s approach to content.  The 
proposed Alternatives site will have three sections:
> 
>-- “News”: an open-publishing “SolutionsWire” and news features about Alternatives projects 
worldwide
>-- “Knowledge”: a place for sharing practical “how-to” information about how to build these 
alternatives, much like WikiHow
>-- “Network”: an area for individuals, organizations and networks working toward building these 
alternatives to have home pages, to have access to practical tools that will help them in their 
work (wiki project pages so they can work together online, a Craiglist-style database of wants and 
needs, etc.), and to communicate with one another and to develop a community that functions both 
online and in the real world.  
> 
>Some basic design sketches can be found at: http://thunderwhip.com/imc/
> 
>General information about the Alternatives project can be found 
at "http://www.openplans.org/projects/imc-alternatives".  
> 
>The Alternatives project looks forward to working with Imc-tech in whatever way is most 
productive for both it and the Indymedia network as a whole.  Feel free to contact the imc-
alternatives list (imc-alternatives at lists.indymedia.org) or Jay jay at fundamentalchange.net with any 
questions.  
> 
>Enjoy Techmeet! 
> 
>***
>
>THE DETAILS:
>
>-- Alternatives IMC History and Vision
>
>The idea for an Alternatives IMC project began way back in 2001 when some organizers at the 
PhillyIMC, eager to post news on Indymedia that didn't focus on violence at anti-globalization 
convergences, developed an "Alternatives to Corporate Globalization" feature page.  This page had 
information about positive alternatives to the current dominant social, political and economic 
structures, presented in a way that was intended to inspire the sharing of information among those 
who were active in creating these alternatives.  The page presented a center column for a main 
feature and offered an open newswire for information about these topics.  Unfortunately, one of 
the first drafts of the page went up on September 10, 2001.  The next day, some stuff happened 
that provided a distraction from anything positive or particularly inspiring for a long time.  Oh 
well.  
>
>Every so often in subsequent years a small group composed of activists from around the Indymedia 
world communicated about the idea of reviving the Alternatives feature and expanding it into a 
global topic-based "Alternatives IMC."  The idea really picked up again in 2005.  By then, the 
rest of the world had come around to the participatory "web 2.0" approach that indymedia had 
pioneered.  Also by then, IMC sites appeared to have stagnated technologically.  The Alt-IMC team 
decided to conceive a "next generation" Indymedia site that would bring Indymedia back to the 
cutting edge of internet technology, merging content about the same kind of inspiring information 
the PhillyIMC feature had presented with blogs, wikis and other participatory ways for users to 
contribute content.  
>
>But members of the Alt-IMC weren't just interested in updating the tech side of indymedia.  The 
global movement for social change is not what it was when Indymedia began.  For too many years the 
bulk of the movement has been reacting, reacting, reacting to all the awful things that happen in 
the world, focusing more on the uphill battle we all have to fight than on the actual change 
people are making in their communities.  We believe the global movement for change can advance 
beyond this reactionism by focusing on very radical advances by those who are working every day to 
bring about real fundamental change.  
>
>The Alt-IMC team wants to create a site that will be a useful, empowering environment for those 
who are working toward implementing these alternatives.  It will be not just be a news site, but 
it will be a place for people to learn about alternatives and to use that information, as well as 
web-based tools the site offers, to make change happen in the real world.  While the general 
public will be able to visit this site for news about alternatives, the core users of the site 
will be activists who will use the networking functions of the site to exchange practical 
information and develop networks that generate off-line social, political and economic change.  
>
>-- More Than Just a News Site: Merging "SolutionsWire," "KnowledgeBase" and "Social Justice 
Networking" 
>
>Indymedia has proven to be a great venue for exciting, albeit fleeting "breaking news" about 
progressive activism and global movements for justice.  However, on most Indymedia sites, when an 
article is bumped from the front page of the newswire it disappears into a deep abyss, likely to 
never be seen again.   This may be sufficient for those who visit indymedia sites to get the 
latest information, but not for anyone who wants to accumulate knowledge on any particular topic.  
>  
>To enable the Alternatives IMC site to move beyond the use of Indymedia just for fleeting 
newswire articles, the Alt-IMC team wants to blend two types of information: the News (including 
the "SolutionsWire") and the "Knowledge Base."
>
>The “News” section of the Alternatives site will include both breaking news (the “SolutionsWire”) 
and longer features about Alternatives-oriented projects.  
>
>The SolutionsWire will be a traditional Indymedia open newswire available on the front page of 
the Alternatives site composed of alternatives-oriented news and information contributed by site 
visitors and users.  (Open indymedia newswires are still the heart and soul of the network.  We 
don't want to do away with the concept of participatory news, but to build on it.)
>
>With little reason to stay on a local IMC site after viewing the headlines on the front page, 
most visitors surf away.  The Alt-IMC site wants users to develop a completely different 
relationship with Indymedia, and therefore, through the site, with each other.  So, in addition to 
the News section, the Alt-IMC site will feature something we're calling the "KnowledgeBase," which 
will be a place for users to develop a resource for accumulated knowledge about Alternatives.  
This would be something analogous to WikiHow, with user-updated wiki pages featuring practical 
imformation and hands-on guides about how to implement the alternatives in question.  The 
knowledge base will grow and improve as more users become part of the Alt-IMC community, and 
become an indispensable resource for those want to generate change.  
>
>While interplay between the different kinds of information in the News section and the 
KnowledgeBase will be exciting, the Alt-IMC team wants the Alt-IMC site to be more than just a 
place for information.  The most essential element of the Alt-IMC site -- and its greatest 
departure from traditional IMC sites -- would be its emphasis on social networking ("social 
justice networking?") among individuals, organizations and even international networks of those 
who are working for change.   
>
>The Alt-IMC site would provide tools that would enable those who are working toward implementing 
the alternatives to meet each other, share ideas, work together on projects (through wiki project 
pages) and develop into empowering, cohesive communities.  Individuals would be able to create 
their own home pages, participate in developing the knowledge base and join groups of people who 
are working toward the same goals.  Organizations would be able to use the Alt-IMC as an internal 
home base, using the tools provided such as mailing lists, calendars, wiki project pages and on-
line decision-making software, to facilitate their orgainzing.  Networks would be able to use the 
site as a focal point through which to communicate and make unified decisions.  
>
>The Alt-IMC will encourage individual users and active organizations to build community through 
the site, and to develop this online community into off-line communities that will generate actual 
change.  While this does sound different than the focus of most current IMC sites, if you remember 
the earliest days of Indymedia and of "anti-globalization" as a whole, the most exciting and 
empowering part of Indymedia was not the random accumulation of information, but the communities 
of activists that came together locally, nationally, and globally, through IMC sites everywhere to 
use that information to make the world a better place.  Connecting through IMC sites inspired 
people from around the world to develop consciousness of ourselves as being part of a powerful and 
growing movement.  The Alt-IMC team believes in the vast potential energy of this kind of global 
community; we would like to see the "next generation" Indymedia sites enable this community to
> redevelop, to nurture it and to provide tools that will enable it to continue to accompish great 
things.  
>
>You can see some basic design sketches for the Alternatives site here:
>-- the home page: http://thunderwhip.com/imc/Home-Page.jpg
>-- the main news page: http://thunderwhip.com/imc/News-Page.jpg
>-- the main networking page: http://thunderwhip.com/imc/Network-Page.jpg
>-- an article page: 
>http://thunderwhip.com/imc/Article-Page.jpg
>-- conceptual map: http://thunderwhip.com/imc/conceptualmap.gif
>-- notes (http://thunderwhip.com/imc/Notes-about-these-sketches.jpg)  
>
>For more detail about how individuals and organizations could use the Alt-IMC site is 
at "http://lists.indymedia.org/pipermail/imc-alternatives/2007-March/0331-t1.html".  More about 
how networks could use the site is at "http://lists.indymedia.org/pipermail/imc-alternatives/2007-
April/0406-y0.html".  Also, here is a list of "user-stories" that Josh M and others developed to 
aid in module development by attaching narratives to the different proposed uses of the 
site: "http://www.openplans.org/projects/imc-alternatives/user-stories"]
>
>-- The Tech Infrastructure and Game Plan
>
>The Alt-IMC team is composed of inviduals from around the world who are or have been involved in 
the Indymedia network.  Some of us are technically non-proficient, and will focus on content 
development.  We also have volunteers who work in Plone (like Dave from EngageMedia), Drupal (like 
Ekes from the imc-drupal-dev list) and Indycore (Dimitris from Athens).  We talked extensively 
about which codebase to use for the site, and came to the initial conclusion that Drupal had a 
substantial development community, and the quickest learning curve for new users.  We didn't 
consider working in CakePHP, though now we're learning about the benefits of the CakePHP 
framework.  
>
>Over the last several months the Alt-IMC team has been in communication with the PhillyIMC, which 
is rebuilding its website using Drupal.  The general plan has been for the Alt-IMC to use the 
basic PhillyIMC drupal installation as a start and add modules that would allow our site to 
fulfill more and more of the things outlined above as we go along.  We have also talked about 
blending this Drupal site with already-established activist/social networking software, such a 
ActivismNetwork: "http://www.activismnetwork.org/ourproject.html"  (Aaron K., who developed 
Activism Network, is part of the Alt-IMC team), or something like Crabgrass 
(http://crabgrass.riseup.net). This would enable us to not have to develop our own networking 
software from scratch.  
>
>A few months ago the PhillyIMC's Drupal site opened.  So far the Alt-IMC team hasn't put much 
energy building upon it.  We are still discussing the idea of trying to work within whatever 
unified CMS framework the core indymedia tech team chooses.  
>
>-- A Pitch for Indymedia Techies to Try Out the New Unified CMS by Building the Atlernatives IMC 
Site.  
>
>Whatever code is chosen as Indymedia's unified CMS, after discussing all the implications, the 
Alt-IMC team may be interested in offering itself up as an exciting test site to be built in that 
code.  We understand the appeal of remaking current IMC sites with new underlying code.  After 
that work is done, or ideally, as it's being done, we believe the Alternatives IMC would be a 
tremendous test site for the new unified Indymedia CMS.  
>
>** So, we propose that the global indymedia techs enthusiastically join forces with the 
Alternatives IMC group to build a dynamic new site that will represent an advance for Indymedia, 
both in content and technology. **
>
>As described above, the Alt-IMC site will blend of a traditional IMC news site with the kind of 
activist networking that made Indymedia such a community in the first place.  The Alt-IMC will be 
both new technology for indymedia, and an exciting political advance, taking focus off of "what 
we're against" and shining a light on "what we're for."  Working on the Alt-Indy site would enable 
Indymedia techs to be involved in both "Web 2.0" and "Movement for Global Justice 2.0".  
>
> A wikipage with basic information about the project can be found 
at "http://www.openplans.org/projects/imc-alternatives".  The Alternatives IMC team communicates 
via the "imc-alternatives at lists.indymedia.org" list.  Please send relevant responses to the list. 
>
>I'm not personally on any of the imc tech lists, so if you want to communicate individually 
please cc me on any responses, or feel free to contact me at "jay at fundamentalchange.net". 
>
>Thank you so much for your time.   
>Jay
>
> 
>
>
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