[Imc-communication] PROCESS (some ideas)

[Jay]

SUMMARY:
Questioning how we are going to have discussions on the imc-communication
list, reminding people this is a list for communication between local IMC,
not individuals, suggesting list protocols such as putting summaries of
messages and trying to find translation when possible.

***
Hi to everyone on imc-communication,

There are now people from almost 50 IMCs on this list.  Though that's not
everyone, I think that's a pretty good number and don't think we need to
wait any longer to start using this list as a communication space.  I'm
writing to ask people on the list how you think we should conduct
conversations here.  

Since there are so many other indymedia e-mail lists that feature the ideas
and opinions of individuals, we have decided to make this space a
comfortable one for inter-IMC communications.  That means that most of the
time we'll be raising issues here and asking people on the list to bring
those issues back to their local IMCs.  They will then report back as to
how their local IMC reacted.  Conversation will therefore be fairly slow,
but informative.

A couple questions before we begin:

-- HOW DO WE DECIDE WHAT TO TALK ABOUT?
My thought is that local IMCs should raise issues they think are worthy of
network-wide communication, and people on the list could give feedback,
working with the list facilitators, yours truly included, to figure out
where to put our focus at that moment.

-- HOW LONG WILL DISCUSSIONS ABOUT PARTICULAR TOPICS LAST?
Since this is a communication space, not a decision-making list, there will
be no time limit, though some issues will be timely so you'll want to
respond as soon as possible.

-- IN WHAT LANGUAGE DO YOU POST?
Post in the language most comfortable to you.  If you can translate into
English, Spanish, or any other language, please try to do so.  

-- PROTOCOL
Each thread will have its own distinct subject, listed in capitals, such as
"PROCESS" above.  Please reply using that topic. Always put a summary at
the top of your message.  If the post is your opinion/idea rather than your
local IMC's, please indicate that.  Put your local IMC's name in the
subject if your post comes from your local IMC [for example, subject:
PROCESS (ideas from Atlanta IMC)]

Any ideas about how to streamline the discussion process?

Jay