[Imc-communication] seeking thoughts about a conference

[Jay]

Hi Imc-Communication,

This is Jay from IMC Philadelphia.  I'm writing to ask for thoughts 
about a conference at which I've been invited to speak.

In early September in the U.S. there will be a conference called the 
Public Intelligence and Policy Summit 
(http://www.oss.net/extra/page/?action=page_show&id=137&module_instance=4) 
sponsored by the Global Intelligence Partnership Network 
(http://www.oss.net/extra/tools/parser/index.cgi?url=/html/parse/index.html). 
The main organizer of this group and the conference is Robert Steele 
(http://www.oss.net/extra/news/?module_instance=1&id=2733), a 
self-described "intelligence evangelist" and previous member of the 
U.S. "intelligence community" who is claims to be trying to change 
the way governments and society consider "intelligence," transforming 
it into an open source system.  He is directly approaching those who 
gather "intelligence," whether they be non-governmental, 
governmental, military, law-enforcement or other entitites, and 
challenging them to change their ways.  I'm not sure I fully grasp 
his methods or ultimate goals, and I have a lot to learn, but it's 
definitely an unusual effort.

Through some roundabout communication I was invited to speak to the 
conference, to introduce the concept of collective participatory 
information sharing, using Indymedia as an example.  I'm scheduled to 
give a half hour presentation, describing Indymedia in the most basic 
way, and I will be receiving an honorarium which I plan to donate to 
activist efforts in Philadelphia.  Even though formal public speaking 
takes me well outside my comfort zone, I do believe we should take 
advantage of most opportunities to talk frankly about the positive 
things Indymedia has accomplished, even (especially?) with those who 
find themselves diametrically opposed to our goals.

The conference audience will be composed of a wide range of people 
interested in "collective intelligence," from progressive activists 
to law enforcement/military intelligence people who appear willing to 
entertain conversations about doing things differently.  I don't 
expect to change the mind of anyone in the "intelligence community" 
by my giving a basic talk about indymedia.  Though, introducing the 
kind of real intelligence we've building here does have the potential 
to be mind-opning.

I'm writing to this list to invite anyone who's interested in 
"collective intelligence," especially anyone who's more familiar with 
the oss.net organization than I am, to let me know your thoughts, 
both about the conference and about  ways to represent Indymedia 
honestly and productively in a speech there.

In solidarity,
Jay
P.S. Robert has suggested some of the conference will be broadcast on 
a U.S. cable TV network, albeit not the most popular one (C-SPAN -- 
http://www.c-span.org/).  So, unfortunately, you may one day turn on 
the TV and see my smiling face.