[Imc-london] workshop at radical comms festv - proposed titles

[sytaffel at riseup.net]

Really good to see some well thought out, interesting intellectual
collaboration happening on Indymedia lists... it sure beats people
bitching at each other :) So my 2 cents

Personally I'm not a fan of the web 2.0 trope, i consider it to be a
vacuous term invented to sell tickets to a corporate conference... User
generated media/content and social media tend to be more useful terms as
they actually say something about the platforms. The debate for me is
about how Indymedia evolves alongside the changes to hardware (broadband),
software (AJAX, RSS etc), and cultural expectations surrounding online
media which are goverened largely by people's prior experiences with them.

I've attached an old bit of writing which is part of something much
bigger, but which has a bit of a look at the history and rhetorics
surrounding web 2.0 if anyone's intersted...

The post-fordist paradigm is a useful one for understanding Indymedia,
particularly alongside some of the theories of the multitude proposed by
Hardt and Negri, but I'd probably add the concept of Radical Democracy as
purveyed by Laclau and Mouffe, the ecosophy of Felix Guattari and the
emerging p2p movement as a useful ways to consider Indymedia's utility...
And the p2p foundation have an event in London on Dec 4th if any of you
are interested http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/

The other thing which I feel is a major difference is underlying economic
models of corporate usg/indymedia sites create... One creates common
wealth based on open systems and a transparent process. The other creates
private revenue for the owners based on selling advertising space, which
is essentially reliant on a growth based economy where people are
constantly buying more and upgrading things, perpetuating the cycles of
social exclusion and environmental destruction common to the contemporary
form of globalised capitalism. If we seek to create alternatives to this
system then it stands to reason that we must build systems based on
alternative values, as Indymedia has.

Good Luck with your presentation, hope to catch up with you all soon

Sy x


> Good feedback - thanks.
>
> re: > "And are you three (plus others) happy to take it on for now and
> pull it
>> together."
>
> me = yes, definate commitment.
>
>
> Quoting maqui <maqui at syndicate.org.uk>:
>
>> Hiya,
>>
>> Yes I do like the proposed title "Indymedia Vs Social Media: After 10yrs
>> of Indymedia, What's Next?" ... and I may as well do because it seems it
>> is THE title as it has been added to the exhibition's website already
>> :-)
>>
>> I think it is open enough, and to me it clearly identifies the fact that
>> Indymedia is (and wants to be) in a different place form all other
>> 'social media' corporative tools (twitter, facebook, etc ...) But with
>> the 'what's next'' bit in the title, to me it also indicates that
>> Indymedia is very aware of the web 2.0 thing, and that it takes into
>> account - and doesn't ignore -  the positive aspects of these corporate
>> tools (in a purely communicative sense) I don't know if i interpret too
>> much from that title, but that's how i red it anyhow.
>>
>> As it is now confirmed as a separate session from the 'photographers'
>> one, it makes sense to follow a prepared outline. As far as I know there
>> was two main ideas for the IMC session:
>>
>> 1- A sort of debate / workshop trying to identify what people thought of
>> the new london site and what they wanted from it .. something like what
>> we tried to do at the bookfair more or less, but with more people
>> hopefully ;-p
>>
>> 2- a talk. a prepared presentation, addressing the future of imc whilst
>> recognising its past (achievements and so on)
>>
>> Talking yesterday to Tony about the organisers' idea of the whole thing,
>> it seems that 2 fits much better.  As I understand it, their idea for
>> the "Festival of Communication' during the weekend - where imc has the
>> slot - it is more like a 'conference' where people present things
>> (ideas, work, papers, whatever,) and then there's some space fr
>> contributions from the audience. And therefore, I think an outline such
>> the one planet-mail presents below is quite suitable, although the last
>> point:
>>
>> "- Closing with what role now for Indymedia within the current political
>> and electronic landscape?"
>>
>> is where i think we should dedicate more space.
>>
>> Anyhow, we had a small meet up yesterday about all this. We mainly
>> addressed issues around:
>>
>> - the catalogue (content, groups being featured, research on these,
>> translating stuff not in english, etc....)
>>
>> - the exhibition space (where would imc be, how much space. one space,
>> two? have stuff in the main area, but then also make use of one of the
>> small rooms ...) Maybe in the main room having visual stuff (banners)
>> that point more to the 10  year history of imc (imcuk mainly i guess)
>> and then the smaller room dedicated to visualise the different parts of
>> the new london site, etc..
>>
>> - the exhibits, ideas of how to go about exhibiting what and so on.
>> Banners are good to point put the history of the project. For example,
>> banners hanging somehow interestingly (we need to have a look at the
>> space, but we know that there big windows in the space pointing to the
>> street) and then having next to them a pic of where they were used with
>> a bit of text explaining it. There are some more concrete ideas, for
>> example on how to visualise the new london site with blown up images of
>> the different sections. Also, blown up photocopies of the offlines,
>> etc... mara also ad ideas about cutting together a sort clip / film
>> about imc london, pointing to the historical past but also taking people
>> trough the different areas of the new  london site.
>>
>> The thing is that all of this needs some work (prepare things, get shit
>> together, etc..)  and the very few that came together yesterday seem to
>> have their hands a bit tied up with it all. So, it is great to see that
>> there is some concrete input abut the talk (i've seen ionnek's mail in
>> my inbox too which i'm about to read .. can't wait! :-)  .. so i guess
>> .... ehem ... what i am trying to say is  ... well, i'll just copy&paste
>> from tonys email shall I?:
>>
>> "And are you three (plus others) happy to take it on for now and pull it
>> together."
>>
>> I mean if we know that this is being worked on, then we can concentrate
>> on the space and exhibits and hopefully it will all come together at the
>> end. Having said that, generally speaking, yes lets keep each other
>> informed, and let's all put input into all areas of the thing.
>>
>> Ok, i'll shut up now,
>>
>> maqui
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> planet-mail at aktivix.org wrote:
>>> hi,
>>>
>>> re the art exhibition / festival of radical communication that's on
>>> 14th/15th November
>>>
>>> it's proposed that indy london people do a seperate session to reel
>>> news / i'm a photographer not a terrorist - they're dealing with a
>>> specific area (tho i'm sure would welcome input into their session/s)
>>>
>>> question - length of session? am assuming 1 hr (12-1pm)?
>>>
>>> main thing is to agree a title quickly and get it timetabled in the
>>> event so that it can be publicised
>>>
>>>
>>> OUTLINE OF SESSION:
>>>
>>> - basic outline is very brief history bigging up the revolutionary
>>> aspect of open publishing + internet activism at the time and the
>>> parallell meteoric rise of the global anticapitalist movement + the
>>> original aims / goals / mission of Indymedia
>>>
>>> - a few highlights inc international anti-war protests (and importance
>>> of developing alternative / independant networks of communications)
>>>
>>> - the 'success' of mainstream media cottoning onto the idea that
>>> participant created content is valuable and something they want to
>>> acquire and feature
>>>
>>> - the rise of social media tools (flickr,facebook,twitter) and their
>>> uses in protest / revolutionary situations (inc G20) contrasted with
>>> their inherent capitalistic models and risks + enclosure of net
>>> viewpoint
>>>
>>> - Closing with what role now for Indymedia within the current
>>> political and electronic landscape?
>>> (Or what would be the top 5 strategic goals for the next year?)
>>>
>>>
>>> Proposed title:
>>>
>>> Indymedia Vs Social Media: After 10yrs of Indymedia, What's Next?
>>>
>>> (kinda wide + allows for degrees of movement in content)
>>>
>>>
>>> Other brainstormy type titles:
>>>
>>> Did Indymedia Succeed in 'Reclaiming The Media'?  (and what's next?)
>>> Indymedia: Irrelevant or More Necessary Than Ever
>>> Indymedia: Protecting Privacy Vs Corporate Web2.0
>>> Indymedia: Citizen Journalism in a Surveillance State
>>> Indymedia 2.0
>>> What's Next for Indymedia?
>>> Can Indymedia Compete with Social Media
>>> Indymedia in 2010
>>> 10 Years of Indymedia - What's Next?
>>>
>>>
>>> PS
>>> I also wonder if it might be worth using the venue for a little get
>>> together to talk about alternative media reporting of the cop15? I
>>> mean if the venue is there... p'haps there's a side room to talk in at
>>> the 2pm slot or 4pm or 5pm?
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> imc-london mailing list
>>> imc-london at lists.indymedia.org
>>> http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/listinfo/imc-london
>>>
>>
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>
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