[Imc-neworleans] In New Orleans

[Christian Roselund]

Matt, editors,


I am back in San Francisco now and have the time and
internet access to be able to address non-critical
e-mail.

It was a guess that the decisions to add these editors
was made via IRC, and I apologize wholeheartedly if
that was incorrect, as it seems to be.  However, the
issue remains that we need to keep everyone abreast of
the decisions that we make. 

It should be noted that it is difficult to convey
emotion, or in this case the lack thereof, in e-mail. 
I am not attacking anyone here.  Let me explain how
this whole thing came about.  I sat down to consult
with the people inside New Orleans (not Algiers) about
Indymedia stuff with the goal of getting some good
reports out of New Orleans and that neighborhood in
particular.  Cammie, Leenie, and Jeff from Arizona
Food Not Bombs were present (Jeff had done some
important posting from the Bywater), as well as a
local named George who had never heard of Indymedia
but was interested.  Andrea Garland showed up later in
the meeting and was invited in.

The primary concern of those present (Cammie, Leenie
in particular) is that they felt things were being
done on the site that they were not privy to,
including incorrect information in certain stories
about New Orleans coming out of other locations and
new editors who they had never met or heard of.  

I pointed out in the meeting that those inside New
Orleans needed to monitor the list discussions and
publish more information themselves, but unfortunately
there was and still is very limited internet access
for those in the 9th ward and other parts of the city,
and those who are there are very busy with relief
work.

But I agreed (and still do) that even in a time of
emergency people should not be given admin priviledges
without notifying the group.  We already see in this
discussion thread how e-mail can be taken the wrong
way .  I think you magnify that risk when you deal
with site administration.  This issue of trust is
important, and it can be solved with one simple step-
a note to the list saying what you've done and
introducing the person who you've added.

IMC New Orleans can obviously not have consensus work
right, as communication is impossible with many
members.  However, we can be considerate of each other
as members of a collective.

Unfortunately when I was there I was not able to cross
the Mississippi at will due to military/police
roadblocks, and the one time that I set foot in
Algiers the media lab was down, so I have still been
unable to meet with Jenka, Bradley, Naomi Archer and
the others who are doing such good work in Algiers. 
However, it was under the impression that they were
taking care of the media work in Algiers just fine,
which is not true of the rest of the city.

And we need to keep communicating with each other,
because as you pointed out, IMC-New Orleans cannot be
reverted to local control any time soon, and in the
meantime we need to all work together.

If anyone does feel slighted by comments that I have
made, I ask that they phone me (my cell phone is down)
at home at (415)929-7206


Christian


--- mtoups at indymedia.org wrote:

> On Thu, 22 Sep 2005, Will wrote:
> 
> > I am not aware of which IRC you are speaking of?
> >
> > The main use of them I have heard used is for
> staughton management issues,
> > which is how it has always been.
> >
> > It seems sort of over dramatic to say there are
> lots of decisions being
> > made.  The site is flowing as always, with the
> only big change being that
> > the usual story posting method is being subverted
> by the use of the HTML,
> > which basically people have agreed as pretty
> effective and have allowed to
> > flow for the present.  Cammie and I discussed
> this, and while it put
> > modifying hte site out of her hands, she is also
> pretty busy, and gave her
> > ok to this change.
> >
> > Instead of using vagueties, could we see some
> example of the 'many
> > decisions'?  Because I have my doubts.
> 
> there is a channel called #neworleans on
> irc.indymedia.org which I
> created during the CAFTA protests of summer 2003. 
> it was used briefly
> then, and then for about two years I was the only
> person on the channel :)
> (since then folks from the various IMC groups we
> host here in pittsburgh
> have used the #staughton channel for tech stuff,
> including NOLA like Will
> said).  by the way, if folks want to join there is a
> nice web interface,
> click here:
> http://chat.indymedia.org/?chans=neworleans
> 
> a lot of other IMCs (including Pittsburgh, where I
> live now) use IRC
> frequently for non-critical realtime discussion.  In
> the past indymedia
> tried to hold global network-wide meetings that way,
> which sometimes
> worked, but hasn't been tried recently.  Various
> tech working groups
> still hold international meetings that way.  Anyway,
> when New Orleans
> overnight became a focus of worldwide attention,
> suddenly a lot of
> the IRC regulars wanted to join the channel and talk
> about what was
> going on.
> 
> I wouldn't say that many decisions have been made
> that way.  It has
> been my main form of communication with Bradley
> (santacruz IMC) and
> Patrick (NYC) and so I set them up with logins and
> they've been a
> huge force (along with Christian and Brian and
> others) in keeping
> the site alive and busy.  Jenka was added very
> recently, she was in
> touch with Bradley and Bradley contacted me, I
> encouraged him to
> create a login for her.  She has been doing
> indymedia work literally
> around the world for many years, and is (or was a
> few days ago) on the
> ground in New Orleans.
> 
> I wouldn't claim that anything close to a consensus
> process has been
> happening with New Orleans Indymedia, but given the
> circumstances we
> didn't think violating process was as important as
> keeping the site
> alive. (Also, for the sake of transparency, I will
> be happy to provide
> logs of all discussion on the channel)
> 
> So I'd like to thank all of the folks outside of New
> Orleans who
> put a lot of time into the site since the storm --
> including,
> and sorry to whoever I forget, Patrick, Christian,
> Brian, Bradley,
> Vinny, Blank, Jenka ... I guess me, too.  But at
> some point we'll
> have to turn the site back over to the locals, when
> they're ready.
> So I'll defer to the wishes of the local collective.
> 
> I also wholeheartedly support giving Andrea access
> to whatever she
> needs to continue doing the great work she has been
> doing!
> 
> -matt
> 
> ps - my travel plans were delayed, but i do hope to
> be in town
> by early next week.  i can't tell you all how much i
> appreciate
> the work everyone is doing to help out the
> grassroots efforts!!
> 



		
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