[New-imc] TAMPA BAY, FL, US (decision deadline APR-12-05)

[Jay]

Hi new-imc,

The Tampa Bay (Florida, USA) IMC has been fully fuctioning as an IMC for 
about a year, doing a lot of community media work and posting news through 
their web site (http://www.tampaindymedia.org) and their forums 
(http://www.tampaindymedia.org/phpbb2/index.php).  They talked for a while 
on their discussion list if they wanted to go through the new-imc process 
at this time, but decided to go for it.

Below, I'll post both their responses to the membership criteria and their 
initial introduction e-mail.  Please respond with concerns and/or questions 
by April 12, 4:00 GMT.

Thanks,
Jay
P.S. They are currently in the process of converting their web site to open 
source software that will allow site visitors to post comments to newswire 
articles and to have more versatility in posting multimedia files.

***
a. Agree in spirit to the NIMC Mission Statement and Principles of Unity,
(Principles Of Unity)

Yes, we agree.

b. Have a committed membership substantial enough to sustain a functional IMC,

Tampa has about 7 - 10 people in the core of the collective, while 15 or
so people are involved on a less consistent basis.  On the fringes of
the collective exists about 15 - 20 people who contact/inform the core
on an irregular basis when a situation warrants it--this includes
members of area grassroots groups that sometimes serve as eyes and ears.

c. Have open and public meetings (no one group can have exclusionary
"ownership" of an IMC),

The Tampa IMC has a public meeting every 1st and 3rd Tuesday, as well as 
the 5th Tuesday if it
occurs at Sacred Grounds.

d. Work toward developing a local Mission Statement or Statement of
Purpose. Network Mission Statement may be adopted or used on an interim basis,

The Independent Media Center (IMC) is an open community resource where 
everyone is free to be heard in the Tampa Bay, using a website as a focal 
point. The website functions on principles of open publishing, allowing 
anyone to publish articles and have a voice.

The intended coverage area is Tampa Bay including Tampa, St. Petersburg and 
Clearwater, but we also welcome contributers from all surrounding West 
Central Florida communities.

An IMC provides an infrastructure for individuals interested in alternative 
media (including print, video, radio, and web) working with other members 
of the IMC to produce meaningful stories, stories relevant to our 
communities within this region. We hope to provide information technology 
resources with education on the use of these resources for effective 
communication and dissemination of information, both within and between our 
communities.

The IMC does not discriminate based on race, class, age or sexual 
orientation, we welcome participation from all individuals.


e. Establish and publish an editorial policy which is developed and
functions through democratic process, and with full transparency,


Editorial Collective Responsibilities:
The Tampa IMC hosts an open-publishing newswire. Members of the editorial 
collective regularly monitor the newswire, keeping their eyes open for 
particularly significant, well written, informative contributions to add to 
the front page's center-column feature section. It is also the 
responsibility of the editorial collective to remove any newswire post that 
violates some basic principles.

Members of the editorial collective must be in regular contact via e-mail, 
and regularly visit and peruse the website's open publishing newswire. 
Without communication with others, and keeping ones self up to date on 
current articles, fair editing may be difficult at best.

Newswire Guidelines:

Newswire Policy:
Newswire posts will not be changed or edited in any way by the editorial 
collective, they may however be hidden.

Why a post may be hidden:
The Tampa IMC editorial collective, in order to maintain the integrity of 
the newswire and the media commons it creates for our community of 
participants, may "hide" posts to the Newswire when the content disregards 
the guidelines that have been put in place (see below). All hidden posts 
(exceptions noted below) must be notified to the collective mailing list so 
that all members of the collective have the chance to agree or disagree 
with the hiding of the post. If members of the editorial collective have a 
disagreement over a newswire post, or a feature selection, it will be dealt 
with via discussion towards consensus. If consensus is not reached within 
48 hours a vote will be called within the editorial collective, requiring a 
66% majority vote.

Articles that may be hidden, as long as the editorial collective is notified:
    * Posts the author has requested hidden.
    * Posts which are obviously incorrect or misleading. This includes 
attempts to spread dis-information or to impersonate another individual.
    * Posts that incite violence against members of the community.
    * Posts which publish identifying information without the individual's 
knowledge or consent.
    * Posts which use language, imagery, or other forms of communication 
whose sole purpose is to promote racism, fascism, xenophobia, homophobia, 
sexism, able-ism, ageism or any other form of discrimination.
    * Persistent nuisance posts to the newswire or comments sections.
    * Posts that are deemed to be devoid of content or analysis and appear 
to be published with the sole purpose of disruption.

Articles that may be hidden without notifying the rest of the editorial 
collective:
    * Verbatim posts of other media without added content
    * Unreadable formats (ie. photos posted as text).
    * Posts titled "test."
    * Duplicate posts.
    * Advertising of products or for-profit services.
    * Pornography, excepting sexually explicit satire.

We remind IMC participants that hidden articles are not deleted from the 
site. All content posted to the newswire can be accessed through the 
administrative interface, where hidden posts can be viewed.

Features Guidelines:

Featuring a Story:
An attempt should be made to contact other members of the editorial 
collective to seek approval before featuring an article. If the article is 
of a time-critical nature, it should be featured quickly, possibly without 
a concerted effort to seek the agreement of other editorial collective 
members. In cases where it is likely there would be disagreement over the 
featuring of an article within the editorial collective, the article should 
not be featured without further discussion within the editorial collective.

The editorial collective will reserve the right to correct punctuation and 
spelling --but not meaning-- in the process of featuring a story from the 
newswire. It will attempt to contact the author when doing so.

The editorial collective encourages individual initiative among its members 
in assisting authors without journalistic experience. We respect the 
diversity of authors and will help on an individual basis with grammar, 
technique and style.

Members of the editorial collective are encouraged to collaborate to put 
out their own articles, and collect smaller material from the newswire to 
be put together into a larger story. As a member of the editorial 
collective, before posting one's own article as a Feature the editorial 
collective as a whole should be consulted.

Removing Features:
In cases where a member of the editorial collective objects to the 
featuring of an article, a consensus must be sought in order to remove the 
article. If consensus cannot be reached, a vote must succeed by a 66% 
majority for the article to be removed.

Criteria for Features:
- Priority will be given to articles that have local relevance.
- Articles should be well written and informative.
- Articles that cover issues that are underrepresented in the mainstream 
media will be favored.

Accountability of the Editorial Collective:
The editorial collective is and open group accountable to the general 
collective. If the general collective feels the editorial collective is not 
representing their wishes, the general collective may make revisions to the 
editorial policy and ultimately decide who may and may not take part in the 
editorial collective only if problems arise. If the editorial policy has 
consistently disruptive members who make it very difficult for the 
collective to function, the issue must be taken up with the general 
collective. Any decisions for banning individuals from the editorial 
collective require consensus minus the individual in question within the 
general collective.

We strive to make decisions in the most democratic, transparent and 
accountable manner. If you have any questions or concerns regarding our 
policy or our practice, or would like to volunteer with Tampa IMC, please 
contact us at <mailto:feedback at tampaindymedia.org>feedback at tampaindymedia.org.

Better yet, join the collective!

Copyright of Features and Articles:
All posts made to the Newswire are effectively covered by the principles of 
Copyleft unless specified by the author. The author retains the moral right 
to be recognized as the author of the article in question, but the article 
is free for distribution for non-profit and educative purposes. Articles 
may be reproduced in full for any purpose and in any media provided the 
reproduction is under the same principles as laid out here, that is, the 
same representations of the Copyleft of the article must appear alongside 
the article.

Under no circumstances may articles or features from the Tampa IMC site be 
reproduced in full in a for-profit medium. However, for-profit media may 
quote from articles or features in accordance with "fair use" copyright 
principles.

Specific queries about reproduction of an article or feature can be 
referred to the editorial collective at 
<mailto:feedback at tampaindymedia.org>feedback at tampaindymedia.org


f. Agree to the use of Open Publishing as described in the NIMC Editorial
Policy [editorial collective comments: "We did agree that the term "Open
Publishing" was one that is still being defined by the Global Network
Collective, and we would wait and see what the results were before
rewriting this criteria],

Yes, we have open publishing on our web site: 
<http://www.imcmiami.org>http://www.imcmiami.org
(We are working on new software which will allow site visitors to add 
comments directly to newswire articles.)

g. Adopt a decision-making policy that is in alignment with consensus
principles which include open, transparent and egalitarian processes,


Group Structure:
The Tampa IMC is based around the functioning of the general collective 
which is composed of all who wish to participate. The general collective 
decides the overall policy of the IMC, while committees perform the more 
everyday duties of the IMC. Current committees are the editorial committee, 
responsible for managing content on the website and the technical 
committee, responsible for keeping the site running. All committees within 
the IMC are accountable to the general collective, which can override or 
change any decisions made in separate committees.


General Collective decision making:
The General Collective will make decisions by way of an attempted consensus 
followed by a vote. Only when it is clear that a consensus cannot 
realistically be reached will a vote be attempted. The vote must succeed by 
a 2/3 majority in order to pass the decision.


Eligibility to make decisions:
Any person can contribute to discussion during the decision making process, 
but in order to confirm or deny consensus, or vote, a person must be 
actively involved in the IMC. That is, they must do the work to get the 
representation.


h. Have a spokesperson(s) willing and capable of participating in the
global decision-making process and meetings as a rotating
liaison/representative, with a clear understanding of the responsibilities
that come with this role,

This has been and will be filled by a quasi-rotation between Rain, Lara,
Kenny, Monte, and Charles.  Charles is and/or soon intends to be a member 
of imc-communication, new-imc,
www-features-request and imc-process.

i. Participate in the key IMC Network Communication Methods that pertain to
the health and vitality of the Network and that contribute to the work of
the IMC. Assure that at least one person from your local IMC participates
at any given time on the IMC-Communications list,

Charles (charles at tampaindymedia.org) and Lara (lara at tampaindymedia.org) are 
members of imc-communication.

j. (NOT FINALIZED): Have no official affiliation with any political party,
state or candidate for office (comments: but individual producers have
freedom to do whatever they like and local IMCs can "feature" stories about
various political parties and initiatives),

We are not affiliated with any political party, state or candidate for office.

k. IMCs shall in no way engage in commercial for-profit enterprises. [We
could add: The IMCN is committed to the decommercialization of information
and will disassociate from any local IMC that decides to become a for
profit media corporation.]

Tampa Indymedia is completely non-commercial.

l. Display a ³local version² of the IMC ³i² logo on your website and
literature.

Yes.

m. Include the IMC Network current ³Cities List² on your site, preferably
on the front page.

Yes

At 11/15/2004, charles at tampaindymedia.org wrote:
Submitted by: Charles <charles at tampaindymedia.org on Monday, November
15th, 2004 @ 10:17:22 pm (-0500)

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Online Form Fields
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proposed_imc_name:
Tampa Bay IMC

proposed_imc_url:
tampaindymedia.org

current_url:
tampaindymedia.org

city:
Tampa/St. Pete

state:
Florida

country:
USA

contact_name:
Charles

contact_email:
charles at tampaindymedia.org

contact_phone:
727-207-2336

tech_name:
Monte

tech_email:
mhurd at starphire.com

tech_phone:


focus:
regional_focus

critical_dates:
n/a

supporting_groups:
a)Tampa Food Not Bombs
b)WMNF-FM, community radio station
c)St. Pete for Peace
d)Professional Accounting organization (Beta Alpha Psi)
e)Fallout Shelter (Florida political website)
f)Alliance of Concerned Students (University of South Florida)
g)Florida Consumer Action Network
h)Fully Automatic (DIY punk label)
i)Sacred Grounds (independent coffee house)
j)Tampa Code Pink
k)Florida Reclaiming Witches
l)Students Advocating Political Activism
m)WSLR-LP, Sarasota Community Radio
n)Justice4kids.org
o)Anti-Flag (seriously, Charles spoke w/Justin Sane when they were here
w/Michael Moore=97same time he spoke w/Michael=97and Justin said email him=

whenever we need anything.  They also mentioned us on stage and let us=
  table.)
p)Free Speech Radio News (Randy Zimmerman offered us a physical space)
q)Michael Moore (see above)
r)MoveOn.org (called us several times on election day when we were working=

election protection)
s)Imcmiami.org
t)Tallahassee.Indymedia.org
u)Central Fla. IMC
v)Atlanta IMC
w)Portland IMC
x)Perth IMC
y)OKIMC
z)Gainesville Food Not Bombs

introductory_statement:
It makes us more effective as a local collective and allows others to find
us more easily.  The primary reason we've existed for almost a year
without applying to Global is because we've been focused on local
needs.  Membership in the global network will also increase our networking
potential as an IMC and allow us to contribute more easily to the global
network when needed and when we have the time and energy to do so.

IndyMedia is a network of communities working together to provide a medley
of perspectives in response to issues that are covered in both the
mainstream and alternative press. Tampa Indymedia is just another piece in
the Global Indymedia puzzle. Our addition to the Global Network allows
people around the world to see what is happening in our community through
the eyes of the individuals that reside here. This helps the world
community to more accurately evaluate the worth and validity of the
information that is pumped out by different information sources and to
understand the complexity of the world in which they live.

resources:
Technically, we can't contribute anything.  We're currently in the  process
of acquiring servers space onto which we can transfer our site and run it
  on a package such as PostNuke.  At the moment, we're using an ASP package
created by our tech guy which allowed us to go on the internet very
quickly.  That package has served its purpose and now must go.  A couple
of us have been on and off global lists, such as imc-communication,
imc-process, imc-features, and imc-women, for the last year.

outreach:
Through our print publication which is distributed in non-traditional
places like Laundromats and Food Not Bombs picnics to bridge the digital
divide; by participating in an Uhuru panel on racial diversity in
independent media; there's a majority of women in the room right now.

identity_makeup:
In many ways, it doesn't. Our core collective is made up of
college-educated, predominately middle-class, mostly white people,
although several members are from Latin American countries. We have
members who are queer, members who are pagan, the odd Christian,
anarchists, socialists, Buddhists and pacifists=85 however, we all come=
  from a background of privilege, and have a great deal of opportunity. Many
people in the Tampa Bay area, however, do not have the range of
opportunities that we do. We acknowledge a need to reach beyond the usual 
activist base.

steps_represent_diversity:
Tampa Indymedia feels that the majority of groups within the progressive
movement have extended an inconsistent hand to the diverse population in
the United States and in their own communities. We feel that isolationism
is a deep-rooted problem not just within the various progressive groups
but also within the various nationalities, ethnicities, and between
genders/transgenders. There is a sectioning off of ideals and a defensive
response to their criticism. In order to change this problem within our
community and our collective, several proposals have been made.

In order to effectively integrate aspects of the community, individuals
from various groups must step up and take on the responsibility of helping
to create effective change. We offer the collective's services openly to
all groups in Tampa Bay with a universal message and agenda. We willingly
participate in others' events when asked to attend and contribute. In
order to help the Tampa activist community become better organized, we
have offered to donate space on our site for the development of a Tampa
Calender of Events where each group would be able to post information
about upcoming protests, educational fairs, and boycotts. The community
has expressed a need for such a device, especially here in Florida as a
result of the 2004 election results to help one another's efforts
  succeed.

Tampa Bay Indymedia has given its support to the developing community
radio station in Sarasota (WSLR). This station will be a low-power radio
station that will play a range of music genres. Tampa Bay Indymedia has
dedicated to helping the radio station produce local news stories for air=

broadcast.  We\'ve also contributed to news broadcasts on the local
university station WBUL 1620AM.

Tampa Bay Indymedia also plans to host workshops on computer literacy,
internet, and HTML.

steps_involve_new_workfields:
Tampa Indymedia has always been and will continue to be a skill-sharing
collective interested in cross-training its members to make the collective=

more effective. We have created a Reporters Workshop within our forum
where articles can be shared and critiqued in order to help new writers
develop a technique that is unbiased and factual.

Tampa Indymedia is one of the most fair and gender balanced work
environments, a statement which is endorsed by the entire collective. We
are a group of people, not genders, races, ethnicities, or sexual
orientations. We work intimately with each other on that level only. Each
person is a strong individual and brings to the collective a perspective
that is based on their background and encounters in a world that sees them.
  in roles; however, within the collective, there are no such roles. All are
equal.