[imc-memphis] Indymedia Primer - resend

Wed Mar 2 21:39:46 PST 2011

Yes we should form an independent committee to discuss Indymedia and 
move forward.

As for the content, it will come. One of the neat things about Indymedia 
is that we provide an "Open Publishing Newswire" where _anyone_ may 
publish an article. Then we as "editors" must ensure it adheres to the 
principles we determine, ie, the PDX principles listed here:

We are citizen journalists, and maintain a safe space for others of our
kind, whomever, wherever they may be.
We do not discriminate and do not publish articles that promote racism,
homophobia, sexism or other oppression agains human or non-human lifeforms.
We do not advocate detailed criminal activity.
We do not print libel or slander.
We do not publish commercial advertisements.
We do not spread dis-information.
We do not sabotage Peoples' struggles.
We do not parrot corporate media.

If we're not getting enough content locally, we can always re-publish 
content from other newswires.

The main point is to get the station off the ground, for which we 
definitely need a committee....

James Traynor
james at earthroot.net
+1 303 819 2625

On 03/02/2011 02:45 PM, Memphis IMC Discussion List wrote:
> Let's get this going.
>
> I think one of the greatest challenges we will face is enlisting a crew of folks to write and post the news, videos....etc. It seems like we have a lot of people that are posting to independent blogs, sites, and social networks. So it may be as easy as getting a group of committed folks together that would commit to cross posting what they are already doing. Thoughts?
>
> I would also suggest that we co ahead and set a first face-to-face meeting of the group so we can start to move....
>
> On Mar 2, 2011, at 1:35 PM, Memphis IMC Discussion List wrote:
>
> Howdy folks -
>
> After Monday's meeting pretty much every new subscriber has been added
> and verified, so now here again is the primer email I sent before with
> details on what's what and how to proceed.
>
> Please now everyone check this out and let's start the discussion for
> proceeding with this. We currently have this list serv, and eventually
> we want to get memphis.indymedia.org set up. I have server space for
> this, as does the MSPJC, and once we get on the same page in terms of
> responsibility and expectations we can move forward with the official
> application to Indymedia.
>
> Respond to this email to join the discussion.
>
> Welcome to the imc-memphis discussion list!
>
> Here we enter preliminary discussions on what it takes to establish the
> Memphis Independent Media Center - an all-volunteer, independent
> journalist collective. Tell us all what you think, and ask whatever
> questions you have, big or small.
>
> This is a discussion list. Please reply to this email with
> questions/comments which will broadcast to all 13 subscribers (so far,
> including Nick Cooper, our delegate/facilitator from Houston IMC) as a
> means of moving forward with the discussion of the Memphis IMC mission
> and modus operandi.
>
> If you get too many emails from this list, please click the link at the
> bottom of any email to change your settings to a daily (or weekly or
> whatever) digest of list activity.
>
> Please take time to read the documentation on creating a new Indymedia
> working group here. If you encounter the security certificate error,
> click through to make the exception so you can view the page, and ignore
> the dead links where applicable:
> http://docs.indymedia.org/view/Global/NewImc
>
> This email list is for us in Memphis to discuss the logistics and
> responsibilites to move forward with this collective. Memphis has waited
> a while to fulfill IMC process items 1A, 1B and 1C, but now the iron is
> hot, so let's keep this going for everyone's benefit.
>
> For those of you who are not completely familiar with IndyMedia, or if
> you're sick and tired of corporate-sponsored journalism for profit,
> please visit http://indymedia.org or check out one of the local sites
> (what we aim to provide in Memphis):
>
> http://neworleans.indymedia.org/
> http://atlanta.indymedia.org/
> http://houston.indymedia.org/
> http://chiapas.indymedia.org/
> http://athens.indymedia.org/
> http://southafrica.indymedia.org/
> http://nyc.indymedia.org/
> http://italy.indymedia.org/
> http://portland.indymedia.org/
> http://indymedia.nl/
> http://la.indymedia.org/
> http://israel.indymedia.org/
> http://beirut.indymedia.org/
> http://mexico.indymedia.org/
> etc etc etc etc etc
>
> Also here are other (open) Indymedia Mailing Lists, like this one we're
> now using:
> http://lists.indymedia.org/ (already posted, we are).
>
> Here in Memphis we could stop with just an email discussion list, but
> it'd be most excellent if we can publish memphis.indymedia.org for the
> World to read. But we have to come together (please read the NewImcHowTo
> link above and the items below)
>
> Most sites have the same editorial policy and publishing guidelines.
> Here is a great example from PDX:
> http://publish.portland.indymedia.org/en/static/edpolicy.shtml
>
> Editorially, in a nutshell:
> We are citizen journalists, and maintain a safe space for others of our
> kind, whomever, wherever they may be.
> We do not discriminate and do not publish articles that promote racism,
> homophobia, sexism or other oppression agains human or non-human lifeforms.
> We do not advocate detailed criminal activity.
> We do not print libel or slander.
> We do not publish commercial advertisements.
> We do not spread dis-information.
> We do not sabotage Peoples' struggles.
> We do not parrot corporate media.
>
> It is the responsibility of the Editors' committee (yes, another
> committee) to define and uphold these principles, in accordance with the
> consensus of Global IMC Movement.
>
> As PDX put it so eloquently, "the world sucks right now....stay strong
> and focus on the world we want to create." For this, journalism and a
> well-informed populace is KEY.
>
> Of course there's more...
>
> We also need:
> (6A) A Mission Statement (easy enough, and examples from our peers are
> posted on the NewImcHowTo page)
> (6B) An editorial policy (ie, what I just pecked above paraphrasing PDX)
> IMC Wiki documentation
> (7A) Membership Criteria (see
> https://docs.indymedia.org/Global/MembershipCriteria)
> (7B) Principles Of UNITY (see
> https://docs.indymedia.org/Global/PrinciplesOfUnity)
>
> And still a bit more (it's all on the NewImcHowTo page). Yes, we have to
> form one or two more committees (can we call them circles or councils
> now and then?) And then we're ready to start broadcasting independent
> media from Memphis!
>
> Everyone - please check all this out as best as you can, and add your
> input. I'm just one human guy and I don't speak for everyone. This is
> YOUR IMC - let's get it UP. At the very least, reply with a 'ping' or
> 'twinkle' to show your support and participatory ambition. Once we get
> through the seeding process we'll have a nice wire for anyone to publish
> to and a platform to join others around the world in this wonderful
> concert. We can do this...
>
> Yours Cooperatively,
> -James
>