[Imc-london] esf debrief meeting notes

[clay pigeon]

good lord i am so sorry to be so flakey about getting these out.  i
really do apologise as i HATE to say i'll do things then not.

kc

here are a few general notes, most covered by following meeting's notes
already sent:


* Interest in Cambridge mini network meeting cos they are great and no
one needs to travel to London for awhile so we should go there, or
somewhere.


* Anarchist bookfaire discussed.  Need people to work table. And need
to prepare materials for sale.  Need to take stock of inventory.

*** people need to apply for membership in NUJ.  Bring photo and
sign-up.  It costs, but cheap and most people present vocalized it was
important to do.



ESF debrief


Finance:

(note: Exact figures are confusing to me.  Someone should fill this in.
 A lot of money was raised.  2k I believe, but still in the hole
upwards of 1.5k.  We made a lot of stall, and through veggies and bar.)

NGOs being asked to fill hole in budget deficit on ESF space.  We may
be asked to cover some of the costs, esp need to regroup some
connectivity costs.  Some spent fortune on mobiles and would like to be
reimbursed for some of it.  EFRC to chip in on that.

Legal – need legal structure in place for the future.  NUJ will take
cases if enough evidence, ie regarding folks at Kings Cross.

Then we spent most of the time going round the room to hear what
people’s initial post-ESF thoughts were.  All around praise for the
tireless work of those who put the conference together, and the media
centre and the techies and those who volunteered.  

General feeling that the space itself looked great, lots of computers
being used, bar and space was great vibe and people seemed to enjoy and
appreciate, lots of informal networking, good conference programme.  

Recap of problems most noted in report backs can be summed as: again,
too few people doing too much work, need for greater transparency in
decision making, need for better outreach to groups to self-report,
need for better quality news and features on front page, difficulty in
hosting conference and media centre simultaneously, need for better
mechanisms to follow through with partners, need better computer set-up
for uploading photo and audio in media centre.

Here is a rough transcription of the individual feedback.  These are
listed by person talking, not by topic order.

1. Strong disagreement on how to deal with the whole thing.  Collective
took course didn’t agree with and didn’t like what they did or why, but
means no criticism to those who did the work at indymedia space, they
did a great job.  

2. Good.  Things worked well eventually but felt certain lack of
transparency within the whole process that otherwise would have been
better.  More planning should have been done on the list.  Personally,
didn’t get involved until far too late.  By second day, things felt
sorted.  Stream fucked up but live & learn.

3. Awful lot to unpack from this.  Agree with last comment. 
Organisation started on closed list.  Set up that way cos trying to get
communication rights onto ESF agenda.  Fighting with trots and GLA.  

Expected more from other groups when this started.  Few groups
contributed much and was down to individuals.  Greennet and Wac support
in Camden Centre was fantastic -  got volunteers in and worked hard. 
Lacking was contribution to programme and event.

Centre as media space worked well.  Some disasters.  Timing with server
seizures impacted and reporting numbers copied failed.  Didn’t do IMC
coordination at centres well.  Affected by fact that a lot of people
doing everything else.  Media centre and reporting suffered as a
result.  

Problem of communication between spaces, but first time people doing it
so applaud the efforts.  And no communication network in place to chase
the efforts of those who said they’d do stuff.  Lots of call-ins
promised for breakfast show but none came through.  

Conference should have been recorded & archived and put on site.  

Not enough features writing on site, esp from ESF space, despite those
who said would.

Run up to G8 working with these groups the right thing to do. 

4.  door was good.  Lots of informal conversations in the space and
networking going on which was good.  

Features – looked like all that happened was a few scuffles w police
and that’s it.  Non interest in issues reflected on site.  Failure was
on our part for not doing enough outreach to get people to report on
their own events.  Should work closer with ramparts.

5. media centre – amazed w all the computers up and working.  Praise to
pc people!  Need better set up for people uploading photos.  

6. Nice vibe in space.  Not involved at all in planning, so hate to
mention a couple negatives that was impacted by.  Need better audio
upload capabilities in media centre.  Need more people working on
things like breakfast show if we commit to them.

7. Scrambled tech-wise.  No audio / video.  We rely too much on a few
really committed people.  Catastrophic that no broader communication
even if not on public list.  Otherwise went bloody well.  It was the
biggest thiong we’ve tried to do and we should learn from it.  Need to
make sure communication flows next time.

8. Complicated relationship.  Some translation didn’t happen.  EFRC
example of how ESF theory should go.  We got activists and Ngos to work
together and we proved we didn’t have to be isolated.  

Need call out for more to improve site and coverage.
Need to solve transparency issue and engage while network next time
Vibe in the bar was the best thing
Need to rethink spaces and be sure space used well – bar, media centre,
conference

9. conflicted feelings.  I hear criticism.  We tried to get more people
to be involved and get people to take on specific tasks.  At certain
point attempted at least.  Not so much fun.  Unhappy more people didn’t
engage wit the autonomous spaces list.  Tough with collective with so
many personal stuff.  Need so much more outreach.  Biggest frustration
was outreach.  

A lot of autonomous spaces have new respect for indymedia after work we
did.  Even if reporting fell off.  Really enjoyed event and feel good
about having taken on a commitment like this.  Would never do all three
at once again.  Severly let down by many.  Main concern outreach and
communication.

10. busy.  Was all busy.  Seemed like imc only for us and not for
public.

11. not involved in process.  Heard nothing but praise.  Especially
compared with DSEI and a LOT bigger.  Commiotment to sort out photos
for next year.  Lots of amazing stuff not reported on.  Lessons
learned.  Raised profile on iondymedia.


++++++++++

=====
Kate Coyer
Department of Media & Communications
Goldsmiths College
University of London

k.coyer at gold.ac.uk