[Imc-communication] book project comments

[ionnek]

Hello,

I'd like to comment on the indymedia book project. It's a long mail. I'm 
quoting some resources without giving a link, let me know if you want 
further info on anything.

It would be great to have a printed collection on indymedia that comes 
from within the network. There is no lack of writings about indymedia - 
tons of articles, essays and theses interpret what we do from all sorts 
of angles, media studies, organisational studies, anthropology, 
geography (see the essay collection on docs.indymedia, which is by no 
means complete, but gives an idea). Many of these pieces are written by 
people who are or have been involved in indymedia, often wearing 
"academic hats". There are less articles that reflect on indymedia from 
a "we" perspective - you know what I mean, in my experience, it is very 
different to write or talk about indymedia as "we" or as "they". It 
would be great to have more texts that take one of the many possible 
"we" perspectives - "we" in a local collective, "we" on the new-imc 
list, "we" as a global network", "we" as an ad-hoc crew during a big 
mobilisation.

I think we don't need to worry so much that this particular project 
might be presented as "the one and only genuine indymedia book". People 
have pointed out that it shouldn't be published "by indymedia" (Alster's 
list is helpful here), the editorial collective has stated that they are 
not attempting to produce "the definite statement on indymedia", and I 
agree with both. It seems obvious to me that it is impossible to say 
everything about indymedia in one volume - the network includes so many 
different approaches and stories, and there are so many different 
questions to ask. I've written several articles around indymedia in the 
last few years, and they only cover a tiny fraction of even my own 
experience in the UK, let alone the activities of the uk network, with 
one rather specific focus and leaving out many other important things.

So I think it would be important to figure out what the focus of the 
proposed book is and state it clearly. In my view, we don't need an 
overall network consensus on what should and should not be included in 
the book, as long as it is made clear that those choices are made by one 
particular editorial collective. At the same time, I imagine that the 
work on this book might extend beyond that collective - people might 
discuss drafts for contributions, these discussions might feed into the 
final versions and maybe also create a space for internal collective 
reflection within the network. The idea to use some kind of wiki to 
comment on drafts of articles could be a step towards such a space.

Now on to more specific comments - and good luck with the project to the 
editorial collective!

best
ionnek


LICENCES AND LANGUAGES

It may be possible to create a Spanish Edition of the book. We might be 
able to find a Spanish language publisher and distributor, funding for 
translations or maybe people who are able to donate time to translate it.
Concerns have been raised about the licence of the book. In my 
experience, it is possible to convince publishers to use one of the now 
widely accepted creative commons licences, and some radical publishers 
have understood that parallel publication of texts on the internet does 
not reduce sales, quite the contrary. What's disinfo's position about this?

MATERIALS ON IMC-UK

- Some of us are working on an imc-uk chronology, which is supported by 
a research project (http://www.alt-media-res.net). The current version 
is on docs.indymedia.org. Please feel free to use it. 
(http://docs.indymedia.org/view/Local/ImcUkHistoryProject)

- From Indymedia UK to the United Kollektives (2003), 
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2004/12/302894.html


COMMENTS ON OUTLINE

Ouch, I've just gone through the outline - wow, it seems already enough 
for several books!! I've added some brainstorm to each chapter. Sorry if 
it sounds patronising, it is not meant to.

What strikes me is that there is no explicit chapter about our raging 
conflicts. Although they could feature under several headings. I think 
these conflicts are crucial (but maybe not for this particular book). 
They often go to the core of our internal political differences. I 
suspect that they often have something to do with the characteristics of 
online communication, too. It would be very useful to put some thought 
into how and why we do or don't resolve certain conflicts - we must have 
a way of dealing with them, otherwise the network would have dissolved 
by now.

Another question that might be a useful: Professionalisation, DIY or 
both? I am split about this question - sometimes I wish we could have 
stricter quality standards for our contents, sometimes I wish some imc 
contributors could dedicate more of their time to indymedia instead of 
having to earn money in some crap job. And at the same time, I'm very 
aware that this could easily destroy what is special about indymedia, 
the open publishing - the mad mix from hurried messages in 
half-sentences with no references and quickly put together pics or 
videos, to long, referenced and carefully composed documentations. Maybe 
the degree of professionalisation and institutionalisation of various 
aspects and "chapters" of indymedia could be adressed.

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.

Nice one! Maybe this could be followed up by some thoughts on how 
zapatismo has inspired our practice locally... In the seattle chapter 
maybe? And imc-uk has a special topic for zapatistas...

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.

I like this because it doesn't restrict indymedia to an alternative news 
outlet (like many publications do). I prefer to understand indymedia as 
a "network of communication among all our struggles and resistances", 
"intercontinental network of alternative communication" (Another 
zapatista quote, http://www.spunk.org/library/biblio/sp001653/ayp.html)

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.

To the roots of indymedia, I would add the Free Software Movement and a 
wide array of grassroots social movements. If you want to focus on the 
"media roots" of indymedia, it would be good to point this out in the title.

   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.
      
It would be good to have an account on this. Do you have the one 
published in "We are everywhere"?. One thing: Although Seattle was the 
first proper IMC, the perception of the imc genealogy might look 
different locally. In the UK, for example, we tend to see J18 1999 as 
the beginning. (see from imc uk to the united collectives)

   3. Exploding Growth
      A look at how the IMC rapidly became a worldwide movement in the 
aftermath of Seattle.
 
This would be phantastic, especially a timeline that shows when and 
where new imcs started. Maybe in conjunction with the respective 
mobilisations...

   4. IMC and social movements
      The IMC and the Global Justice movement both burst into the popular
consciousness at the same time.

I was a bit surprised about the wording of this section. In my 
perception, IMC is not "parallel" to the transnational movement against 
neoliberal globalisation, but an important part of it. Not only 
counterinformation "about" social movements, but a tool whereby we 
imagine ourselves.

   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.

I'm not sure who the cyberleft is. Would this chapter include the Free 
Software Movement? Might also be interesting to look at how the 
conception of the internet has changed since the nineties 
(internet-hype, the Electronic Disturbance's call to move civil 
disobedience from the streets to cyberspace, the way we use the 
imc-backoffice (wiki, chat, lists etc) as an everyday practice)

   6. Indymedia and the Anarchist Tradition
      A look at how Indymedia's organizational is heavily influenced by
DIY anarchist culture.

Great. DIY Culture was/is very big in the UK since the 90s, it would be 
interesting to see what shape this attitude takes elsewhere.

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.

It will be interesting to think about inclusion/exclusion mechanisms. 
Although, from my experience in the UK, it would be important not to 
leave out those imcistas who are not white, not male, not middle class. 
They/we might be a minority, but should not be silenced in the chapter 
either.
I am always a bit puzzled about the "integration into local 
communities". Are the various activist communities not 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?

Seems similar to 1. to me.

   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.

I am not sure if this is a trap - trying to measure the impact of 
indymedia by adding up hits.  This doesn't say too much about what sort 
of people are reading indymedia, especially since we don't keep logs to 
identify visits. Anyway, the number of visitors might be crucial if we 
needed to sell advertising space, which we don't. It would be 
interesting to see how our hit numbers at certain times compare with the 
corporate media, or numbers at demonstrations, though. But in my view, 
the impact of indymedia could be better evaluated by looking at 
participation in mailing lists etc.

   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.
      
I don't know if you include blogs in "citizen journalist initiatives". 
Maybe a callout to certain bloggers to see how they relate to indymedia? 
Just an idea... I think it would be crucial to reflect on indymedia's 
relationship to the blogosphere, both technically, socially and 
content-wise. Is there something we could learn? How is indymedia 
different from blogs? Are you thinking of including forums like libcom?

   5. IMC and State Repression
     Look at how IMC has responded to legal threats and how it radically 
decentralized
its activities and decided to stop logging IP addresses.

This would be very interesting. Technical solutions, political solutions...
Lee Salter has put together a list of repressions against indymedia - 
must be somewhere on docs.indymedia, I could probably dig it out...


IV. Indymedia in Action: Potential Case Studies

   9. From UK to United Kollectives: Decentralization in Britain

Yes! Some of us have been meaning to write this up for ages. I hope 
we'll get it together to send you a proposal for that. Maybe we can get 
input from other "decentralised" imcs, too...

 
  15. UC IMC Buys the Post Office
 
It would be interesting to include in this article some of the 
discussions around UC IMCs "headquarters of indymedia" statement. And 
maybe some about its special position regarding donations/tax. Maybe 
this leads away from the permanent physical space issue, but I think the 
question "Indymedia as an institution" with both sides of the argument 
is crucial.

V. Multimedia and Technology

   1. Reflections on IMC Audio Projects
 
   2. Reflections on IMC Video Projects
     
   3. Reflections on IMC Tech
   
All this is really important. I think one thing that's special in 
indymedia is that we are not just "using" technology, we also develop 
our own - diy again.   
     
   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

Very statistical. In my view, such network research is very useful as a 
pointer to times and sources that need closer exploration. But it has to 
be taken with a grain of salt. The imc-uk features list, for expl, can 
go very quiet during big mobilisations. Not because nothing happens, but 
because it happens in chat or face-to-face.

VI. DIY

Yes, some practical clues to indymedia would be important for the 
character of the book. And I like the idea to put something in about 
burnout.