[Imc-uk-features] [imc-uk-tech] clarifying Technology topic

[wietse]

Mr. Demeanour wrote:

> wietse wrote:
>> Ben wrote:
>>
>>> Like most of our topics this is left wide open by the phrase 'other
>>>  technology news' so the stuff on biofuels, renewable energy, 
>>> biotech, gm, id cards and biometrics all fit within that definition.
>>>
>>> In the list you give, only the indy movie tour and probably indy at
>>>  the climate camp are the only ones that seem to have been 
>>> significantly misclassified.
>>>
>>
>> Hmm, I guess I was thinking it is a space for content just related to
>>  software/ FOSS/ IT/ Digital media/ patents related news, otherwise 
>> the topic would become too open. Too much to be useful in my opinion.
>>
>>
> Useful to who?

Those users/ contributors/ readers/ activists/ groups using our site ?!?!

> Perhaps you might be lobbying for a FLOSS/Digital topic. But I suspect
> the public would expect the term "technology" to include analogue
> electronic technologies, as well as things like medical and agricultural
> biotech, energy tech, comms tech, and the various flavours of
> track-and-trace (e.g. RFID, ID cards, surveillance cameras).
>
> I think that FLOSS news is already pretty well-covered by many other
> open arenas (lists, mainly - and the websites that re-publish the list
> traffic). It's not obvious to me that Indymedia UK ought to devote a
> topic to FLOSS.

I'm not so sure there are many resources out there for activists. Trying 
to plough through the tech communities' resources can be a daunting 
experience. Except from a few tech based sites, there isn't any 
accessible information for activists on why they should care about FOSS 
and software/tech issues. I would like to start collecting and writing 
some stuff, but if it is just going to move down our wires and disappear 
into our not-so-accessible archives, it would be a less useful resource..

> I do recognise that Indy is a major user of FLOSS, and a
> significant contributor and a notable agitator on behalf of FLOSS. But I
> suspect that a Indy-UK FLOSS topic might get few posts, and perhaps even
> fewer hits. 
 
I guess all topics were like that one day, and some still are.. The 
issues surrounding the FOSS topic have been part of our social movements 
(especially for those working in independent media) for some time and 
will be even more so in future. You might not be interested in it, but I 
(and maybe others) would like to have the possiblity to have the issues 
heard and getting others interested in them.

Surely as Indymedia we should be actively handing people the tools and 
resources to get to grips with free/open software??

Wietse.