[New-imc] LONDON IMC new-imc DEADLINE 13 MAY 2009 GMT 23:30

Sun May 10 15:32:57 PDT 2009

Hi all,

we've worked on the documentation and are now ready for the approval of
the new-imc working group.

For reference, the original application is below

We've followed the process outlined here,

https://dev.docs.indymedia.org/Global/NewImcHowTo
-----------------------------------------------------

1. Pre-organizing:
Answers to 1A, 1B and 1C are on the application form:

http://lists.indymedia.org/pipermail/new-imc/2009-May/0501-tw.html

2. POU and MC

We agree with the Principles Of Unity and the Membership Criteria - have
done for more than 10 years ;) (the collective existed before the first
indymedia was created and have always acted in accordance with what
later became the PGA Hallmarks, which we plan to stick on the site)

4. Open a mailing list

We have been using imc-london for a few years now and
imc-london-moderation for a few months now.

https://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/listinfo/imc-london-moderation

https://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/listinfo/imc-london

5. O - R - G - A - N - I - Z - E !!!!

We regularly hold irregular meetings ;) we are in the process of
settling for a regular day of the week. We have always publicised on the
list all the meetings we've had (except in exceptional circumstances
like server seizure)

6a. mission statement:

https://london.indymedia.org.uk/pages/mission-statement

6b. editorial policy

https://london.indymedia.org.uk/pages/editorial-guidelines

7a. Membership Criteria

https://dev.docs.indymedia.org/Global/MembershipCriteria

a. Agree in spirit to the NIMC MissionStatement and PrinciplesOfUnity -

We do, of course

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

Our meetings are attended by 8 to 10 people, on average, some times
more, some times as little as 5.

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

They are all advertised on the lists, occasionally on the site too.

d. Work toward developing a local Mission Statement or Statement of
Purpose.
linked above

e. Establish and publish an editorial policy

linked above

f. Agree to the use of Open Publishing as described in the NIMC
Editorial Policy

We use Open Publishing, although we do have a promoted and a non
promoted newswire. We have also adopted Open Publishing for an events
calendar that also includes a promoted and non promoted events listings
(or events wires).

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

We work on consensus, with the advertised open meetings as the main
decision making body.

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,

Some of the spokespersons for imc uk in global processes (imc-finance
and imc-process) are in the London collective. 

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-Communication list,

Three people from the London collective are on the imc-communication
list, two of them for many years. People from London also participate in
the imc-cms process and listwork, as well as helping with new-imc. 

j. Have no official affiliation with any political party.

None of us are in any political party, and we have no affiliations with
any political party as an IMC.

k. IMCs shall in no way engage in commercial for-profit enterprises.

We have never done in the past, and we have no intention to do so in the
future.

l. Display a 'local version' of the IMC 'i' logo on your website and
literature.

Done. See the main banner of london.indymedia.org.uk

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

Added at the bottom of the front page. We may decide to update it
manually as there are so many dead imc's!

7.b PRINCIPLES OF UNITY

[not included in this email as we don't have anything to add point by
point, just one overall comment below]

We've been committed to these principles from the start and are working
on tools to facilitate this (specially now developing and improving the
code base)

>> Online Form Fields
>> ------------------
>>
>> proposed_imc_name: imc-london
>>
>> proposed_imc_url:  london.indymedia.org
>>
>> current_url:       london.indymedia.org.uk
>>
>> city:              London
>>
>> state:             England
>>
>> country:           United Kingdom
>>
>> contact_name:      ana
>>
>> contact_email:     anap at riseup.net
>>
>> tech_name:         yossarian
>>
>> tech_email:        yossarian at aktivix.org
>>
>> focus:             regional_focus
>>
>> critical_dates:    no
>>
>> supporting_groups: Groups that are already users of the london site:
>> london.indymedia.org.uk/groups
>>
>> introductory_statement:
>> Some of the current indymedia london people were part of the group that started off imc uk – I would refer to a statement made at that time but there was no new-imc process yet, back then :) So, some people in the group have been doing this for 8,9 years, then opened up the network to the rest of the uk, and now that we have a shiny new site, we’d like to have the domain london.indymedia.org.
>> This is not breaking up with the uk network at all; we continue to participate in its process (although admittedly not so much in its website now that we have our own) and we heavily support it financially.
>>
>> resources:
>> A new codebase for Indymedia
>>
>> Yossarian is currently participating in the new-cms project.  At the same time, Yossarian and the rest of the London collective have worked hard for the past year to create a brand-new indymedia-specific content management system which is in use by London and Denmark imc's (take a look at http://london.indymedia.org.uk to see it in action). This CMS is also being evaluated for use by several more Indymedias, and people in London are working to broaden the organising group behind this new software.  We now have people contributing code and ideas from the imc collectives in London, Cambridge, Nottingham, and Leeds in the UK, as well as Ireland, the US, and Brasil. 
>>
>> Sysadmin and listwork
>>
>> Gdm is heavily involved in global processes and server projects, although only tangentially in London; Ana is involved in new-imc and listwork.
>>
>> Server hardware
>>
>> As part of the uk network, we contribute with time and with money to the acquisition and maintenance of servers.
>>
>> outreach:
>> For the first years of the existence of the group we organised "open meetings" every few months. We have also organised days of trainings. Now we invite people to the meetings directly. We have always advertised these events on the site and the mailing list imc-london, which is publicly archived and open to subscriptions. Since the launch of the new site, we've also been doing "workshops on demand" to introduce the new functions of the site. A weekly OffLine (although there are gaps occasionally) is released with a calendar of events and some news. There have also been regular public film screenings organised by the London group over the years, and these are also seen as outreach opportunities. We are now discussing the possibility to have a regular Indymedia Cafe in cooperation with the Library House social centre. Also the London group is regularly invited to give talks and presentations to universities in London that deal with media studies. We also set up stalls in event!
>>  s that take place in London, specially at the Anarchist Bookfair that takes place every year in autumn.
>>
>> identity_makeup:
>> It reflects very well the "european-ness" of London. There is more gender balance than it used to be actually. 
>>
>> steps_represent_diversity:
>> As stated above, the group now has a better gender balance than it has had in the past, and there is a quite diverse make up of backgrounds and 'nationalities' of those participating in the day to day running of London IMC. There is still a lack of representation of people from different ethnic backgrounds, as most of those actively involved in the group are currently Western Europeans. Having said that, the group is pretty open and willing to include anyone that wants to participate and agrees with our mission statement and editorial guidelines, and that's why our meetings are open and publicly announced. The group has a clear anti-racist, anti-homophobic, pro-gender balance stance, and it is against any sort of discrimination in terms of people's identities.
>>
>> Our current take on this is to be as open as possible with our meetings, our lists and to make sure we do not discriminate anyone as regards to ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religion and so on.
>>
>> steps_involve_new_workfields:
>> There are regular trainings offered to anyone that wants to be involved in administering the site, as well as trainings being offered on different aspects of doing indymedia. People in the group have different skills, and we have always worked with the premise that we learn from each other, and that the sharing of knowledge, skills and equipment is what makes the group active and functional. In this sense our techies are always very eager to share knowledge and explain technical aspect to the rest of the group. It is also a fact that the technical aspects of new IMC-London website (cms implementation, functionalities of the site, and so on) have always been discussed at a 'political' level before being written and implemented. In this sense we could say that the new CMS for the new IMC-London site has been written customised for the discussions the group has been having.
>>
>> As for the gender issue, we don't see gender as a division in relation to what people in the group does or doesn't not do. Work is being done by volunteers in the group on the basis of their skills and willingness instead of any particular gender, race or any other personal form of identity.
>>
>> Mission Statement:
>> https://london.indymedia.org.uk/pages/mission-statement
>>
>> Editorial Guidelines:
>> https://london.indymedia.org.uk/pages/editorial-guidelines
>>
>> How to contact imc london:
>> https://london.indymedia.org.uk/pages/contact-imc-london
>>     

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