[imc-uk-collective] Draft new-imc form

[Mr. Demeanour]

Hi,

As promised here's a mostly completed new-imc application. Fields I
haven't tackled are: "Supporting groups"; and the last question, which
concerns skillsharing and work division.

I imagine we do have supporting groups, but perhaps it would be good to
ask some of them to confirm they actually do support us. As far as the
last question is concerned, I'm at a bit of a loss as to how to phrase a
response - perhaps someone else can suggest some text.

The required contact (here I've given my own name) gets the password for
maintaining the collective's new-imc database entry. I'm not sure what
significance that has once the process is completed, but it seems to be
important *during* the process. There's no particular reason it should
be me.

I suppose the "Technical Contact" is esssntially the same as a WHOIS
Tech contact, and might be Chris.

I have some more remarks about the new-imc process; they're in my next
post.

So here's a draft of the form that we can knock about.

============================================
Proposed IMC Name (required): UK

Proposed Indymedia URL (required): indymedia.org.uk

Current URL (if any): indymedia.org.uk

City:

State/Province:

Country: United Kingdom

Contact Name (required): Jack Cleaver

Email (required): imc-uk-collective at lists.indymedia.org

Phone:

Technical Contact Name:

Email:

Phone:

<Radio-button-group>
   Regional Focus? <checked>
   Issue Focus? <unchecked>
   Event Focus? <unchecked>
</Radio-button-group>

Critical Dates?

Supporting Groups:

   [No answer yet]

Please write an introductory statement about why you want to participate
in the Indymedia Network.

   We already do participate in the Indymedia Network; all of our
   present members have been Indymedia volunteers for several years.
   However we have never gone through the new-imc process, because when
   our site began, there was no such process. We believe it will
   strengthen our collective to go through the process. Also, since most
   other collectives in this region have gone through the process, our
   present condition is an anomaly.
   As the UK Network has changed over the years, a number of groups have
   spawned off from the UK site and set up their own sites. This has
   resulted in a gradual deterioration in the organisation of the
   collective that maintains the UK newswire and features, to the point
   that its membership criteria are not transparent. At one time the
   site was maintained by members of all collectives in the UK Network;
   this is no longer the case. It is important that the UK site be
   maintained by a properly constituted collective that has regular open
   meetings and transparent membership, and this application is being
   made in pursuit of that goal.

What kind of resources can you contribute, in terms of
server/bandwidth/technical and organizing skills?

   We use and administer the Mir server called Traven, and our members
   made a significant contribution to the purchase price of that server.
   Traven is shared by many Mir collectives around the world. Our
   bandwidth is purchased from Riseup. We have an established network of
   mirrors. We have between us the technical skills to administer that
   server, but we need to distribute those skills more widely. Each of
   us is at least competent to administer a standalone Linux system.

What kind of outreach have you done to bring together a diverse group of
people?

   Our group is not nearly as diverse as we would like. We are
   geographically scattered, and we recognise that we face challenges in
   terms of outreach.

How does the makeup of your collective reflect the diversity of the
local community (e.g. in realtion to gender-, sexual-, spiritual-,
and/or cultural-identity)?

   Mostly not very well, and in some respects very badly. We are mostly
   male, and at the moment are uniformly members of the dominant
   cultural group.

If your group currently does not represent the diversity of the local
community, particularly in relation to groups who are underrepresented
in mainstream society and denied access to vehicles of expression, what
steps will be taken to address this on an ongoing basis?

   Our collective uses open mailing lists and public meetings for
   organising. We intend to try to organise public events such as film
   screenings to accompany our public meetings, and hope by this means
   to draw diverse groups of people into our activities. We intend to
   hold our public meetings in a different city or town each time.

What steps will be taken to involve individuals in workfields new to
them? What measures will be taken to overcome a gendered work division?

   [No answer yet]

============================================

Cheers,
-- 
MrD.