[New-imc] APPROVED Omaha IMC new-imc / now onto process

[nick]

http://lists.indymedia.org/pipermail/new-imc/2005-October/1001-j0.html

On 10/1/05, nick <sarsnic at gmail.com> wrote:
> This application was originally made in August:
> http://lists.indymedia.org/pipermail/new-imc/2005-August/0822-yn.html
> Phil raised some concerns:
> http://lists.indymedia.org/pipermail/new-imc/2005-August/0822-6m.html
> I hope the concerns have been addressed below.
> Peace,
> Nick
> ---------------------------------------
> Proposed name: Omaha Independent Media Center
> Proposed url: omahaimc.org <http://omahaimc.org>
> current url: omahaimc.org <http://omahaimc.org>
> city state country: Omaha, Nebraska, USA
> contact: Pasco, anapasco at hotmail.com <http://hotmail.com>
> tech contact: Jon Vote, jon at skycoder.com <http://skycoder.com>,
> 541-488-1972
> new imc liason: nick, sarsnic at gmail.com <http://gmail.com>
>
> the rest of the new-imc form:
> http://lists.indymedia.org/pipermail/new-imc/2005-August/0803-5g.html
>
> 1)IMC MEMBERSHIP CRITERIA
> 2) Diversity Statements
> 3) Mission Statement
> 4) Editorial Policy
>
> 1)IMC MEMBERSHIP CRITERIA - DRAFT Each IMC and Global Working Group is
> expected to:
>
> a. Agree in spirit to the NIMC MissionStatement and PrinciplesOfUnity,
> -We have read, discussed, and agree as a group with the Mission Statement
> and Principles of Unity of NIMC.
>
> b. Have a committed membership substantial enough to sustain a functional
> IMC,
> -We have a very functional editorial group of eight people that meet weekly
> and work to administer the site. The collective has been in existance with
> the site up and running for over a year. Community support has been swelling
> since this spring.
>
> c. Have open and public meetings (no one group can have exclusionary
> "ownership" of an IMC),
> -The location of our meetings rotates weekly in different public places, we
> post a large sign stating that are meeting is in process and that anyone is
> welcome.
>
> d. Work toward developing a local Mission Statement or Statement of Purpose.
> Network Mission Statement may be adopted or used on an interim basis,
> -Adopting a Mission Statement was one of the first things we did as a
> colllective. While it is open to review, the origional mission statement has
> carried us this far.
>
> e. Establish and publish an editorial policy which is developed and
> functions through democratic process, and with full transparency,
> -The editorial policy was yet another of the early creations of this
> collective, it continues to be addressed and refined by the group.
>
> 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],
> -Yep. Not only do we agree but we encourage people to talk about the open
> publishing, and how it is a non-hierarchical news source whenever we discuss
> the IMC with new folks.
>
> g. Adopt a decision-making policy that is in alignment with consensus
> principles which include open, transparent and egalitarian processes,
> -All meetings are run on a consensus model, with rotated facilitation, notes
> are posted in a timely fashion after meetings, we are always vocal about
> issues and allow room for dissent, continue discussions on the editorial
> listserve until we feel that all views are represented and that we are able
> to make a decision.
>
> 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,
> -Henry will do this initially and then spokesperson will rotate
>
> 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,
> -Henry will do this initially and then spokesperson will rotate.
>
> 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),
> -definitely not a problem.
>
> 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.]
> -This editorial working group is committed to staying far away from any
> commercial for-profit enterprises. The editorial policy reserves the right
> to delete any posts that are strictly advertisement. We have no desire to be
> an Independent Media Center in order to rake in tons of cash, and we would
> be severely disillusioned if we thought that we could!
>
> l. Display a ³local version² of the IMC ³i² logo on your website and
> literature.
> -Yep. Jon and Jen are on this.
>
> m. Include the IMC Network current ³Cities List² on your site, preferably on
> the front page.
> -Yep.
>
> 2) Diversity Statements
>
> (How does the makeup of your collective reflect the diversity of the local
> community (e.g. in relation to gender-, sexual-, spiritual-, and/or
> cultural-identity)
>
> The current working group is made up of a rather diverse group as indicated
> above, however we need to do better! This is something that we feel needs to
> be addressed on an on-going basis. We started off with a skeleton crew and
> have been on the net, serving the community for about a year now. As we
> continue to operate and continue to do outreach, we continue to grow larger
> and more diverse. We feel we are on the right track and genuinely are of the
> mindset to serve all members of the community and involve all races,
> nationalities, genders, cultures, sexualities and sub-groups.
>
> (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?)
>
> We feel that no group should ever claim to represent the diversity of a
> local community. This is something that needs to be addressed and improved
> upon continually. We plan to do a number of things to address this.
>
> First of all, the IMC volunteers plan to identify and write about events,
> issues and concerns of various groups within the community with a special
> emphasis on those people not served by other media sources. We feel that if
> we do this, it will spark interest in the various communities. It has been
> our experience that it is not enough to simply make people aware of what we
> are doing. Especially here in the mid-west, there is little knowledge of the
> Indymedia movement and of open publishing. In writing articles of interest
> to various groups, we feel that this will encourage them to visit the IMC
> site and this will hopefully lead to further participation.
>
> Next, we will frequent diverse events and locations, passing out flyers and
> speaking with people on an individual basis. It is this sort of personal one
> on one communication that has served us well to this point. We also try to
> do things as basic as holding our meetings at different locations throughout
> Omaha in order to be more accessible to people from varying communities.
>
> Finally, as we encounter community leaders, teachers and other people with
> contacts into their respective communities – we make them aware of what we
> are doing and express our commitment to serving all the communities in the
> area including the one(s) they represent. We ask for suggestions on better
> ways to reach members of their social group. We encourage them to get
> involved with the IMC and pass the word along.
>
> (What steps will be taken to involve individuals in workfields new to them?
> What measures will be taken to overcome a gendered work division?)
>
> Currently, the editorial working group shares duties equally across genders.
> The technical support person is eager to share the responsibilities and is
> prepared to offer workshops or any other type of training or mentoring to
> anyone who would like to help with this role. We have had hands-on training
> sessions about how to administer the site and participate in the editorial
> process.
>
> 3) Omaha IMC Mission Statement
> Drafted 7/15/04
>
> The basic functioning principle of Independent Media Center (IMC) is to
> create a medium for community involvement in the media. IMC Omaha is a
> not-for-profit; open community resource available to everyone to publish
> articles and have a voice. Our main focal point is our website.
>
> Our goal is to publish socially relevant articles to promote an educated and
> well informed populous. Omaha has a growing voice that needs to be heard,
> and we encourage community participation on all levels. IMC does not
> discriminate based on race, sexual orientation, age, gender or physical
> ability.
>
> Feature articles will be screened through our editorial collective, to
> ensure the most accurate information is published.
>
> 4) Editorial Policy
>
> Editorial Collective Responsibilities
>
> The Omaha 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.
>
> 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.
>
> It is also the responsibility of the editorial collective to remove
> any newswire post that violates some basic principles.
>
> 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 Omaha 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 that are a slanderous attempt to purposely deceive the
> readers. 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.
>     * Posts that are simply internal or personal matters which lead to
> further conflict.
>
> Articles that may be hidden without notifying the rest of the
> editorial collective:
>
>     * Verbatim posts of other media without added content
>     * Unreadable formats (i.e. 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.
>


--
peace,
Nick
freerads.com
nickcooper.com
houston.indymedia.org