[Imc-cleveland] Editing Suggestions

[jesse]

Abigail - 

I guess we can chalk this one up to a difference in
philosophy.  I believe each collective individual is
responsible for learning the basic programming skills
required for making a credible-looking feature.  They
are not difficult to learn, and anyone will help or
answer questions upon request.  If someone has not
taken the time to learn how to properly publish a
feature, they should not publish features
independently (i.e., instead, send a "rough draft"
over the listserve and let other collective members
review).  This way, the website doesn't look
uncredible/sloppy between the time you put up the
feature and the time someone fixes it.  

If Indymedia is to be taken seriously, we have to take
it seriously.  "If I make a mess, someone else will
clean it up" is not the characteristic of a serious
news website.  I much prefer the "don't make a mess"
approach.  Indymedia will never be a threat to
corporate media if it's editors don't even take the
small amount of time necessary to learn how to use the
software.  

I also disagree that "getting the story out there" is
an absolute priority above all others.  You don't need
Indymedia to "get a story out there".  A blog can do
that.  The difference between Indymedia and a blog is
that indymedia can (hopefully) "get the story out
there" with CREDIBILITY.  If people don't think we're
any more credible than a blog, than it doesn't matter
that the "story is out there" because corporate media
will always control public consciousness and policy.  

Hell, I've been involved in Indymedia for many years,
and I wouldn't believe half the shit on our website
right now.  Everything I do read I have to "verify"
using independent research.  That wouldn't be
necessary if we were a credible news site.  I'd rather
have 5 features that people can rely on as accurate
than 20 blog features.  Indymedia isn't about
activists without their own websites getting free web
space to "throw up" stories about the issues they
like.  It's about creating a non-corporate media
counter-institution that can compete with corporate
sources of media.  This means the PUBLIC AT LARGE has
to take us seriously, not just the 1% of activists. 
Would your parents, teachers or co-workers look to
indymedia as their PRIMARY source of local, domestic
and international news?  Right now, no.  Could it be
this way?  Yes.  We should be looking to other
indymedia's that ARE being taken seriously for
guidance, such as sf.indymedia, nyc.indymedia, or
dc.indymedia.org.  Otherwise, we're not only hurting
the clevelandimc credibility, we're hurting the entire
network's credibility.  

   

> Jesse, thanks. That would be me.  Yes, I am an
> ameteur at making stories 
> into features.  I was wondering about the picture
> thing, how to reduce or 
> enlarge them to fit better on the webpage.  I will
> keep that in mind.  I 
> think ultimately, its important to get them out
> there.  If someone like 
> yourself sees fit to pretty them up, by all
> means.......
> 
> 
> >From: jesse <abgeschiedene at yahoo.com>
> >To: indymedia <imc-cleveland at lists.indymedia.org>
> >Subject: [Imc-cleveland] Editing Suggestions
> >Date: Sun, 9 Jul 2006 09:26:16 -0700 (PDT)
> >
> >Just took a look at the site, and noticed the
> features
> >looked pretty sloppy.  I fixed them up, but here's
> >some simple tips people may consider when
> publishing
> >future features:
> >
> >1) When you use a photo with your feature, save it
> to
> >your computer and upload it to the website.  Don't
> use
> >the link from the website you took the picture
> from,
> >because then you can't resize it, and if the
> website
> >takes the photo down it will disappear from
> cleveland
> >imc as well.
> >
> >2) You can resize your photos using almost any
> editing
> >program, such as Microsoft Paint.  Then, upload
> them
> >to the site using the "upload" option in admin.
> >
> >3) Try to rename your .jpg before you upload it. 
> If
> >it uses a generic name, such as "photo", it will
> >overwrite any other pic on the website that also
> uses
> >the name "photo".
> >
> >Like I said, just some suggestions to make the site
> >look a little more credible to visitors.
> >
> >jesse
> >
> >"In the expansion of the great Western empires,
> profit and hope of further 
> >profit were obviously tremendously important...But
> there is more than that 
> >to imperialism and colonialism.  There was a
> commitment to them over and 
> >above profit, a commitment in constant circulation
> and recirculation, 
> >which, on the one hand, allowed decent men and
> women to accept the notion 
> >that distant territories and their native peoples
> should be subjugated, 
> >and, on the other, replenished metropolitan
> energies so that these decent 
> >people could think of the imperium as a protracted,
> almost metaphysical 
> >obligation to rule sobordinate, inferior, or less
> advanced peoples."
> >
> >~Edward Said, 1993
> >
> >__________________________________________________
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>_________________________________________________________
> >"The only truly revolutionary act today
> >is to tell the truth about everything."
> >  -- Robert Anton Wilson
>
>http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/listinfo/imc-cleveland
> 
>
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> 


jesse

"In the expansion of the great Western empires, profit and hope of further profit were obviously tremendously important...But there is more than that to imperialism and colonialism.  There was a commitment to them over and above profit, a commitment in constant circulation and recirculation, which, on the one hand, allowed decent men and women to accept the notion that distant territories and their native peoples should be subjugated, and, on the other, replenished metropolitan energies so that these decent people could think of the imperium as a protracted, almost metaphysical obligation to rule sobordinate, inferior, or less advanced peoples."

~Edward Said, 1993

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