[Imc-communication] [IMC-Tech] oy, I meant "where are we headed" essay for the "indybook
John Milton
john at johnmilton.ca
Fri Aug 4 22:50:19 PDT 2006
Hi Jay:
Should there be a chapter in there somwhere on "the dark side", maybe a
working title could be "The disfunction function" :{
What I mean is that there have been many cases of collectives ripping
themselves apart, factionalising, etc. Enough that it should be
documented for future ref.
Jay wrote:
> Hi imc-communication and imc-tech,
>
> This is Jay from the Philadelphia IMC and the new-imc working group. I've
> been asked by the folks who are working on the "indybook" project (read
> below or look through the imc-commuincation archives for some discussion
> about it) to help work on a very short essay about the future of the
> Indymedia network -- how are we developing? where are we headed? what
> will indymedia may look like when we get there? I'm talking
> organizationally, politically, technically, logistically, etc., as well as
> grand visions for where we're going.
>
> My brain is not big enough to comprehend all the infinite possible answers
> to those questions, and I'm sure many of you have been thinking about
> similar things, so I think the only way for me to get a sense of where to
> begin is to ask for input. Have you been thinking big thoughts about the
> future of indymedia? If so, would you be interested in sharing some of
> your thoughts with me?
>
> I'm not looking to artificially inspire a big "where are we headed"
> conversation on either imc-communication or imc-tech -- this may be a good
> time for that, but it may not -- so please e-mail me directly if you'd like
> to share some thoughts: "idiot at jaysand.com". (also, note that I'm not
> subscribed to the imc-tech list.) If there's enough enthusiasm, maybe I'll
> put together a "where is indymedia headed" wiki where people can add their
> thoughts in a more public fashion. Right now, I'm not looking for big
> public statements, just some of your thoughts to inspire the writing of a
> relatively short article.
>
> If you'd like to be part of this in any way, e-mail me. The deadline is
> September 1, so I'd like to start communicating really soon.
>
> Jay
> P.S. I don't know anything about the Indybook project, so don't ask me
> details. Visit "indybook.org" for some more information.
>
>
>
>
>>The following can also be found in English, Spanish and French (an
>>hopefully more languages soon) at www.indybook.org.
>>
>>Susan
>>
>>
>>Hello everyone,
>>
>>In winter of 2005, at the U.S. IMC conference in Austin, members of the
>>NYC IMC print team spoke about conversations that they had been having
>>with a left-wing indie publisher in New York called Disinfo about putting
>>together a book on Indymedia. There were a number of concerns mentioned
>>about the project as it had been conceived at that point. After months
>>more of discussion and reflection we've come up with a plan.
>>
>>The purpose of this letter is to:
>>
>> * Inform members of Indymedia about the project;
>> * Put out an initial call for submissions.
>>
>>In our proposal to Disinfo we wrote: "This book would not attempt to be
>>the definitive statement on Indymedia. Rather, it would be an overview of
>>some of the triumphs and struggles of the network over the past
>>five-and-a-half years. Its entries would range from dramatic,
>>stream-of-thought, first-person pieces to more analytic chapters on the
>>meaning of Indymedia. The book, while thoughtful, would avoid being overly
>>academic and would be graphic/picture heavy."
>>
>>We are excited at the prospect of being able to help the network begin to
>>tell its amazing story to the world. The vast majority of the book will be
>>original pieces written by IMC participants and friends of Indymedia with
>>excerpted material from IMC newswires. While the book will be written in
>>English, we want it to reflect the entire network, and so we will be
>>soliciting submissions of material from all IMCs. In the coming weeks, we
>>will also be sending out a questionnaire to all IMCs to find out a little
>>about each IMC's history, current status, what issues you tend to cover,
>>frequency of publishing, etc.
>>
>>The book collective working on this project consists mostly of members of
>>the NYC IMC print team, which also publishes The Indypendent
>>(indypendent.org). Our research team will be seeking out material
>>published on the newswires and other IMC publications during key moments
>>in IMC history, but we're going to need help! Guidance on where to find
>>great material will be much appreciated.
>>
>>We want to make clear that this book will have an open submission process;
>>everyone reading this can and should contribute something about Indymedia
>>if they feel so inspired and should pass this on to others who may also be
>>interested. Please see below for submission guidelines, a general outline
>>of the book, and details on the finance and distribution plan, as well as
>>on the rights and permissions practices for the book. Please contact us if
>>you can help with translating this document into other languages.
>>
>>After reviewing the following information, please send any questions,
>>suggestions or submissions to indybook at gmail.com.
>>
>>Thanks for your time and consideration,
>>
>>The Indy Book Collective
>>
>>Outline for the Indy Book Project
>>
>> * Introduction
>> * History
>> * Strengths, Weaknesses and Challenges
>> * Case Studies
>> * Multimedia & Technology
>> * How-To (DIY)
>>
>>NOTE: The following chapter descriptions are subject to change as people
>>send in queries and suggestions. Submissions can tackle one or more
>>aspects of a chapter's topic or attempt to deal with the entire subject in
>>one comprehensive essay. Please see below for full submission guidelines.
>>
>>Prologue: Excerpt from Subcomandante Marcos's 1997 statement on the need
>>for a new intercontinental media network that enables ordinary people who
>>resist from below to share their stories.
>>http://www.tmcrew.org/chiapas/e_media1.htm
>>
>>I. Introduction
>>An opening essay that touches on the significance of the Indymedia
>>movement and places it in the larger social and political milieu of the
>>early 21st century.
>>
>>II. History
>>
>> 1. Roots of Indymedia
>> A look at how Indymedia's emergence was rooted in a wide arrary of
>>alternative media projects that developed over many years and across
>>several continents.
>>
>> 2. Seattle
>> A look at the pre-WTO organizing that went on in Seattle, what
>>people were hoping to accomplish, how it all came together, what it was
>>like during the week of WTO and what lessons were learned from the
>>experience.
>> Supplemental material: Posts and photos from during the WTO.
>>
>> 3. Exploding Growth
>> A look at how the IMC rapidly became a worldwide movement in the
>>aftermath of Seattle.
>> Supplemental material: Indymedia timeline, photos of early IMC
>>websites, publications, meetings, etc.
>>
>> 4. IMC and social movements
>> The IMC and the Global Justice movement both burst into the popular
>>consciousness at the same time. How did the two movements grow
>>together, inform and influence each other? How has IMC's
>>relationship to social movements evolved over the years?
>>
>> 5. IMC and the Cyberleft
>> Explore the strengths and the weaknesses of the post-industrial
>>Left, the rise of decentralized, Internet-based organizing, where
>>Indymedia fits in this milieu and what it needs to do to avoid some of the
>>pitfalls of other contemporary movements on the Cyberleft.
>>
>> 6. Indymedia and the Anarchist Tradition
>> A look at how Indymedia's organizational is heavily influenced by
>>DIY anarchist culture.
>>
>>III. Strengths, Weaknesses and Challenges
>>
>> 1. Who Makes Up Indymedia?
>> Demographics and geography: Why Indymedia tends to be made up of
>>certain kinds of people (white, male, with access to relatively high level
>>of resources), self-selecting filters; more narrowly focused IMCs versus
>>those integrated into local communities.
>>
>> 2. IMC and race/gender/class
>> How have issues of race, class and gender been addressed at
>>Indymedia? Have advances been made toward creating a more inclusive and
>>empowering culture for all inside the network? If so, where? And how? If
>>not, why not?
>>
>> 3. Who's Reading Indymedia?
>> An examination of what fragmentary records exist to develop an
>>estimate of how many people use Indymedia (both on normal days and when
>>there are big protests happening) and how much impact the
>>network may have. Also look at the challenges of moving from
>>crisis-driven coverage toward consistent, daily activity.
>> Supplemental materials: Solicit responses from local IMCs throughout
>>the network about how they've become more rooted in their
>>communities and on what people consider to be the greatest obstacles or
>>challenges they've faced in their work with an IMC.
>>
>> 4. IMC and the participatory journalism movement
>> Traditional journalism is facing unprecedented challenges from
>>ordinary citizens seeking to "be the media" This chapter will
>>consider the forces driving this, compare and contrast Indymedia
>>with other citizen journalism initiatives and explore the unique
>>contributions that Indymedia has made to the citizen-journalism
>>movements around the world.
>> Supplemental Materials: Solicit responses from local IMCs throughout
>>the network about what they see as their greatest achievements to
>>date; stories they covered that made an impact in their community or
>>country, initiatives they took to empower people to "become the
>>media," etc.
>>
>> 5. IMC and State Repression
>> In 2005, British law enforcement officials seized the UK Indymedia
>>server (which housed 20 other IMC websites) at the behest of the
>>FBI...Indymedia has been targeted repeatedly by law enforcement
>>since its inception with IMC journalists being beaten, tear-gassed and
>>arrested while trying to cover demonstrations...IMC has also
>>been subpoenaed for its weblogs by police looking to track the
>>origins of specific posts...Seattle IMC in April 2001...NYC
>>investigated by NYPD and Secret Service in 2004...Look at how IMC
>>has responded to legal threats and how it radically decentralized
>>its activities and decided to stop logging IP addresses.
>>
>>IV. Indymedia in Action: Potential Case Studies
>>
>> 1. Genoa G8 Protests
>>
>> 2. Indymedia in the Global South
>>
>> 3. Argentina Uprising
>>
>> 4. People Power in Bolivia
>>
>> 5. The Birth of Venezuela IMC
>>
>> 6. IMC in Africa
>>
>> 7. Chiapas: Indymedia Takes Root in the Home of the Zapatistas
>>
>> 8. IMC in the Middle East
>>
>> 9. From UK to United Kollectives: Decentralization in Britain
>>
>> 10. IMC in Europe
>>
>> 11. IMC in Asia and Oceania
>>
>> 12. Responding to 9/11: NYC-IMC
>>
>> 13. Responding to Hurricane Katrina
>>
>> 14. US Indymedia in the Bush Era
>>
>> 15. UC IMC Buys the Post Office
>>
>>V. Multimedia and Technology
>>
>> 1. Reflections on IMC Audio Projects
>> How have IMC radio projects both blended into and made unique
>>contributions to the larger movement to free the airwaves from
>>corporate and/or government-dominated broadcasting...Look at both
>>ongoing projects and special projects around convergences.
>>
>> 2. Reflections on IMC Video Projects
>> Cable access shows...Vblogging...Video IMCistas have also
>>collaborated to produce more than a dozen feature-length
>>documentaries... Documentaries preserve a part of the movement's
>>collective history, but what has been their overall
>>impact?...Challenges of building distribution networks...a short
>>history of IMC Newsreel, etc.
>>
>> 3. Reflections on IMC Tech
>> The creation of Active code and the open publishing newswire...What
>>was novel about IMC in 1999? What was it doing on the Web that had never
>>been done before?...Has Indymedia ossified or has it been able to keep up
>>with a rapidly evolving web environment?...Evolution of IMC source codes:
>>SF Active, Dada, Mir, Drupal, etc...Tech's early role in the network and
>>the effort to move to a more transparent,
>>democratic decision-making process...the challenge of
>>archiving...Transferring computer equipment to the Global South.
>>
>> 4. How active is the IMC network?
>> Review the number of center column features being posted on local
>>IMCs and use the http://lists.indymedia.org database to review local
>>listserve activity at different IMCs over the past year, in addition to
>>contacting local IMCs, to gauge how actively people are
>>participating and how often meetings are being held (if they are
>>being held).
>> Supplemental materials: charts, infoboxes
>>
>>VI. DIY
>>
>> 1. How to start an IMC
>>
>> 2. Different IMC models
>>
>> 3. The philosophy and practice of open publishing / moderation /
>>dealing with trolls
>>
>> 4. How to build a radical paper
>>
>> 5. The challenge of distribution
>> Distribution is critical to IMC's impact ... a look at what
>>alternative distribution channels are available, creating
>>distribution networks, getting indexed by Google, etc.
>>
>> 6. How to acquire space, importance & implications
>> Indymedia started on the Internet and in many ways was shaped by the
>>decentralizing logic of the Web. Yet, for many local IMC chapters, the
>>need for an actual physical space to meet and work from is the most
>>pressing dilemma they face. The solutions to this problem have varied
>>widely.
>>
>> 7. Consensus and Meeting Facilitation
>>
>> 8. Living With and Managing Money
>>
>> 9. How to run a media convergence space (for big events)
>>
>> 10. Independent journalism tools and tips
>>
>> 11. How to avoid burnout / cultivating a healthy media collective /
>>building long-term sustainability
>>
>>CONCLUSION
>>
>>GLOSSARY
>>
>>RECOMMENDED READING / RESOURCES
>>
>>INDEX
>>
>>SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
>>We are soliciting a lot of different kinds of material for this project,
>>so the style and content of submissions will vary greatly. Please follow
>>the guidelines of each type of content submission. Ideas/pitches for all
>>of the chapters outlined above are welcomed. With all submissions, please
>>include a short introduction about yourself and your work with Indymedia.
>>Submissions in English are easiest for us to handle, but we do have
>>Spanish and French translation capacity at this point and we should be
>>able to translate from more languages as we get the word out about the
>>project.
>>
>>SUBMISSIONS ARE DUE: SEPT. 1, 2006
>>
>>Original Article or Sidebar
>>If you are interested in writing something on an idea or issue mentioned
>>in the above outline, or on something that you think should be included in
>>one of the chapters listed above as an article or sidebar, but is missing
>
>>from our description or list of ideas for that chapter, please submit a
>
>>query to indybook at gmail.com before sending us a fully-written article. The
>>query should include the basic idea of the piece, a short explanation of
>>why it's important, and the approximate length you think the finished
>>piece would be. Queries should be under 750 words. If you are planning to
>>submit something in a language other than English, it is especially
>>important that you submit a query (in English, if possible) first.
>>Finished articles will range from 500-5,000 words, and should be fully
>>researched and written in an engaging, straightforward style, i.e., not
>>too jargon-heavy, either activist- or academic-wise. We are also exploring
>>various Twiki-style technologies that make it possible for interested
>>readers to comment on drafts of articles as they go through the editing
>>process.
>>
>>Newswire Material
>>If you have written/posted or know of material from an IMC newswire that
>>you think we should excerpt for one of the chapters outlined above, please
>>send us a sample of the text (no more than 250 words), a brief explanation
>>(250 words) of the context of the post and why this particular post is a
>>strong reflection of that event/issue, and the URL for the newswire
>>article, if it's still online. If you are not the author of this material,
>>please include any contact info you have for the writer.
>>
>>BUSINESS MODEL
>>The book's target retail price is $14.95. We can buy the books (and return
>>any unsold copies) for $7.50. We will set up a website for the book and
>>ask local IMCs to put a button or some sort of permanent link to it on
>>their home pages.
>>
>>We would sell the book through our website for $12 plus $3 for shipping
>>and handling. All the profit, i.e., $4.50 per book, would go to Global,
>>preferably to assist underfunded IMCs in the Global South. If we sell
>>5,000 books over time, that would mean $22,500 for Global. Any royalties
>>made from the publisher's sales would also go to Global.
>>
>>The publisher of the book will be Disinfo (disinfo.com), a lefty,
>>for-profit publisher based in New York that has put out titles like: Why
>>Do People Hate America? The Vigil: 26 Days in Crawford, Texas and
>>Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price. We've approached non-profits like
>>South End Press and New Press, but they've shown little interest. It's
>>also been suggested that we self-publish, but upon reflection, we realized
>>that the quality of the product would be compromised, the size of the
>>print run greatly reduced and we would have to create our own book
>>distribution networks from scratch.
>>
>>Disinfo has offered a $12,000 advance to be paid in three installments:
>>$4,000 upon signing the contract, $4,000 upon delivery of a completed
>>manuscript and $4,000 upon the book going to print. Five percent, or $600,
>>will go to our fiscal sponsor, UC-IMC, for processing. No one will be paid
>>for any work. Photographers in the Global North will be asked to
>>contribute their work. The only exception we are considering is paying
>>photographers from the Global South a modest fee, recognizing they are in
>>a unique position of having high expenses in a developing economy.
>>
>>Written contributions will not be paid, but will include the author's
>>byline. Members of the book's editorial collective will be working on an
>>unpaid, volunteer basis. The rest of the money would go to the NYC-IMC
>>print team to help cover ongoing media-making expenses, particularly for
>>newspapers and poster projects.
>>
>>One question, of course, is why the initial funds go to the NYC-IMC print
>>team. The project represents an enormous burden upon our limited
>>resources. Two of our most experienced editors and coordinators, Susan
>>Chenelle and John Tarleton, will be devoting the next year to the project.
>>We will need to solicit unpaid design and production work from our
>>volunteer staff. The same goes for the content editing, copy editing,
>>proofreading and fact checking phases. Then we need to build a website,
>>set up a merchant account and handle all of the order processing -- all of
>>which is also unpaid. Finally, the fulfillment aspect will be an enormous
>>burden. Packaging, addressing and shipping thousands of books will require
>>a huge commitment of work hours from everyone at the project. Again, no
>>one will be paid for this work. The funds will go directly to other
>>media-making only.
>>
>>RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS
>>We will secure the permission for use of written material where possible,
>>and will very much appreciate assistance from IMCistas in contacting
>>writers of material we would like to excerpt from the newswires. Where
>>explicit permission cannot be obtained, we will excerpt or quote a minimum
>>amount that would fall under US "fair use" provisions. We will be
>>approaching photographers directly to secure permission from them to use
>>their photos. No photos will be used without permission.
>>
>>_______________________________________________
>>IMC-communication mailing list
>>IMC-communication at lists.indymedia.org
>>http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/listinfo/imc-communication
>
>
>
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--
Peace: John Milton
email: john at johnmilton.ca
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