[New-imc] Sarasota IMC new-imc DEADLINE 13 Sept 2007 GMT 16:40

[nick]

1) new-imc form (with Diversity Statement )
2) Mission Statement
3) Editorial Guidelines
4) Membership Criteria Response

1) new-imc form (with Diversity Statement )

proposed_imc_name: Sarasota Indymedia
proposed_imc_url: http://sarasota.indymedia.org
current_url:
city: Sarasota
state: FL
country: US
contact_name: Adam Roca
contact_email: adamroca at gmail.com
contact_phone: 352-283-4669
tech_name: Marlon
tech_email: Marlon at riseup.net
tech_phone: 804-282-8637
focus: regional_focus
critical_dates:
supporting_groups: Alliance for Responsible Transportation (ART)
Sarasota County Openly Plans for Excellence (SCOPE), WSLR, Code Pink,
Food Not Bombs
Community Infoshop, Student-Farmworker Alliance, Coalition of Instant
Run-off Voting (CIRV)
Second Chance Last Opportunity

introductory_statement:
Sarasota Indymedia has formed to create an alternative, uncensored,
not-for-profit and community-based source of news that is unfiltered by
corporate and authoritarian interests in this nation.  Sarasota
Indymedia seeks to increase solidarity, connectivity, and communication
through an uncensored media network of grassroots community activists.
Sarasota Indymedia will be a principled alternative free from the bias
and lack of objectivity that the existing corporate news structures
exhibit.  Sarasota Indymedia feels that participation in Indymedia would
be the best way that we can achieve our goals and participate in the
global struggle for truth and social justice.

resources:
The various members of our collective have decades of organizing
experience between us, and we have demonstrated a commitment to our
communities and towards enacting social change.
We plan on getting server space through Nearly Free Speech. Our tech
person(s) have enough technical experience between them to run an
effective website. There are a few of us that have skills in operating
radio-quality audio equipment.

outreach:
We have done outreach to student groups, groups in communities of
color, the LGBTQ community, the poor and homeless, political groups,
service-based NGOs, and through WSLR, the community-run radio station
here in Sarasota.

identity_makeup:
At the current moment, our group is fairly homogenous. We are mostly
white males who are fairly educated. However, most of us are very
active in our communities and work with a very diverse group of
people.

steps_represent_diversity:
We have developed a strategic outreach plan in order to bring a more
diverse population to utilize and participate in the media that is
about their community and reported by members of their community. This
working outreach plan can be found here:
http://groups.ncf.edu/infoshop/wiki/OutreachPlan
Underrepresented and disempowered communities will also be the focus
of our media workshops in order to ensure a more equitable
distribution of the knowledge that is neccesary to create
community-based media.

steps_involve_new_workfields:
This is not something that we have discussed much thusfar, but
certainly something that is very important.
We have discussed in regards to Sarasota Indymedia's sustainability.
We don't want our collective to be dependent on the labor of one only
one person to the extent that if that person leaves, she brings her
specialized knowledge with her and essentially causes the collective
to no longer be an option. We have discussed the importance of having
sort of an 'apprenticeship' for such technical tasks as upkeeping the
website and we try to do everything as transparent as possible in
order for tasks to be duplicated and improved on by other members.
Other than explicitly sharing our skills through workshops and working
with various other organizations that have a lot to share with us, we
have not explicitly addressed this issue.

username:
Adam Roca

2) Mission Statement

   * This is a working mission statement based on discussion at the
8/1 Indymedia meeting
Sarasota Indymedia: We are a non-profit collective of independent
individuals committed to creating community-based media in Sarasota.
We do this by making our own media, whether it's through our website,
newspaper, radio program, or any other means. We tell our stories and
communicate the important happenings in our individual communities
that are often ignored or misrepresented by other media outlets. We
aim to empower the community by sharing our experiences, knowledge,
skills and resources so that everyone's voice is heard.

3) Editorial Policy
-NEWSWIRES-
Articles are featured in 1 of 3 newswires, and possibly on the front
page as well. The three newswires are Local, Global, and Other Media:
The Local Newswire is reserved for articles that are specially
relevant to Sarasota or the surrounding area, for example articles
about local politics or protests in Sarasota.
The Global Newswire is for articles about national issues,
international issues, or other articles that don't fit in the Local
Newswire.
The Other Media newswire is for articles from other alternative or
mainstream media sources. If an article was published elsewhere first,
it will be featured here.
Articles from any of these newswires may also be featured on the front
page if they meet some or all of these standards:
  - Especially high quality
   - Especially timely or relevant to current issues
   - By Sarasota locals
   - Featured in the Local Newswire


-CENSORSHIP-
Articles which do not meet the standards for publishing may be
"hidden", meaning they will not be displayed on the front page or any
of the newswires. These articles are still viewable (link)here(link),
along with an explanation of why they were hidden.
The following types of content may be hidden:
  - Commercial advertisements
   - Spam
   - Racist, sexist, homophobic, or other "hate speech"
   - Deliberate or obvious disinformation
   - Plagiarism or mis-attribution (claiming to be a real person who
you are not)
   - Information illegal under US law including:
      - Copyright-restricted music, video, software, etc. which you
do  not have permission to redistribute
      - Child pornography
      - Other things that will cause the government to shut us down  :(
   - Duplicate posts or obvious test posts
Once hidden, content is only completely deleted from the IMC if it
meets one of the following conditions:
  - It is obvious spam
   - Making it available at all will put the IMC in legal jeopardy
   - It is taking up an unacceptably large amount of server space
       Another thing that we should make a policy to delete is code that
will disrupt the site or site users' computers. (like viruses,
exploits, attempts to deface/break the site)
               -marlon
       It was suggested that we delete all hidden content after a certain
amount of time, for example 30 days for non-spam and 2 days for spam -
this is still up for discussion.
               -marlon
-HOSTING-
The Sarasota Indymedia site is primarily intended as a distributor of
text, images, and audio reports. While content like music, video,
software, etc. is allowed, you're encouraged to host large files
elsewhere (for example YouTube, Flickr, RapidShare, and other free
hosting sites) and link to them from your article. This will help save
us bandwidth and storage fees.
 An exception, I made a suggestion that we should not allow "embedded
media" like web videos or flash animations that contain ads (for
example, Revver) to be displayed on the Indymedia site.
       -marlon
-EDITING-
If you want an IMC editor to help review and edit your article, you
can request it when you submit the article. Otherwise, the content of
your article will not be edited in any way, however in some cases
editors may have to adjust the layout so it will display properly on
the site.

4) Membership Criteria Response
  1. Agreed *
  2. During the three general collective meetings held thusfar, a
core group has showed up and been actively involved in the process.
  3. Meetings are held in a meeting room at the front of a public
library. The library is in a neighborhood where we have virtually no
members, but hope to build new relationships with.
  4. Mission statement established*
  5. A rough, working editorial policy established*
  6. Publishing is often to anyone who uses the site
  7. Agreed with a strict consensus format*
  8. First spokesperson assigned to this rotating role*
  9. First spokesperson assigned to this rotating role*
 10. Not affiliated with any political part
 11. Not engaged in commercial for-profit enterprises.
 12. Local logo being developed
 13. "Current cities" list on site
*Denotes a portion of the criteria discussed by the general collective
at the monthly general collective meeting on 8/23. All decisions were
made by the consensus process.