INDYMEDIA LONDON CONVERGENCE NOTES
Here is a recap of some general notes taken from the day-long Indymedia London event on Saturday 31 January, 2004 (approx 45 people attending).
Here is a recap of some general notes taken from the day-long Indymedia London event on Saturday 31 January, 2004 (approx 45 people attending).
imc london convergence
To start with there was an introduction presentation about indymedia - its origins and development - and the story of how indymedia developed in the uk - spread throughout the country and now needs a focus in london.
The presentation set out the basic framework for indymedia london to exist within - ie part of the uk network and part of the global imc network - plus the minimum requirements for being part of those networks:
International Indymedia Network Principles of Unity:
http://docs.indymedia.org/view/Global/PrinciplesOfUnity http://docs.indymedia.org/view/Global/MembershipCriteria Indymedia UK mission statement + editorial guidelines:
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/static/mission.html http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/static/editorial.html =======================================
LONDON:
Then came the questions for london....
while there are several indymedia projects based in london (film screenings / a radio show / print)
the box that is Indymedia London is basically empty!
So what should fill it?....
People introduced themselves and said why they were interested, or what they hoped to see,
or what they thought was important.
To give some context and ideas, people from IMC Bristol kindly visited to share some of their experiences and ideas....
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IMC BRISTOL PRESENTATION
Bristol Indymedia was asked to speak about their motivations and experience organising as a specifically local Indymedia outside of the broader regional Indymedia UK collective (special thanks to them for coming). Rather then try to recap their presentation, we instead jotted down key phrases and questions raised during their talk, especially those relevant to the establishment of Indymedia in London:
open collective - accountability - face to face meetings
while many people involved work from anarchist and anti-capitalist principles
this should not exclude others
Local content - local outreach
IMC Bristol came out of a several day long tech convergence involving other alt media groups
(around 40 people - asking if there was a need for an imc bristol)
Ran workshops and training for local groups about indymedia and how to use the website
as well as combining with other existing media projects (important)
Emphasis on promoting and collaborating with other alt media projects
Wanted to create a space for, and to reach, activists _and_ everyone else
Wanted to avoid just re-hashing national news
Wanted to keep the site and the organisation simple and straightforward
- easy for people to get involved in - avoiding categories
Not using language of 'reporters' and 'editors'
Create sense of community
Being a local site does not mean isolationism
often focus on national / international issues but through some local link
(ie reporting from Iraq by someone from Bristol on almuajaha.org)
Part of uk indymedia network + international indymedia network
Developing various film nights and radio project
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INDYMEDIA LONDON DISCUSSIONS
After the presentation from Bristol Indymedia, we broke up into small groups to consider Indymedia in London with the following questions as a basis:
How do we fill the ‘empty box' that is Indymedia?
What projects would people like to do with IMC London?
What’s important for London?
What kind of trainings would people like / can offer?
Following, then, is an attempt to recap ideas that were generated. This discussion was not intended to build a blueprint for what Indymedia London should look like, but rather, to begin brainstorming on what possibilities might there be. Below are points grouped into sections, followed by the raw points made as the different groups fed back.
People are encouraged to add to this list / dialogue!
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OUTREACH
Difficulty and importance of outreach in a large & diverse city like London
Importance of linking up with groups already in place (alt media / campaigns)
Efficient outreach
Networking with resident groups, youth orgs
Networking with existing alt media groups / campaign groups
Having space for people to respond to stories and to report on positive stories in their community
Make it simple
Emphasise wide variety of users of indymedia
Workshops on how to use Indymedia for other groups
Identify local space, local info shops, health food stores, community centers etc as places to get the word out about Indymedia
Create a poster outlining How to Get Involved in Indymedia to post at places like above and libraries, community centers, housing projects etc.
Mobile internet / public access points to travel to community spaces on a revolving basis
Neighborhood organising projects / getting together with people in your local community to organise reporting / projects / ways to use Indymedia
How to use large demo reporting and action coverage to expand users
Indymedia as forum to bring London together
More Indymedia London convergence type events - maybe themed
WIDEN SCOPE OF CONTENT
Arts / cultural resources and content
Investigative journalism
Reporting on local issues
Identify key local issues and groups working in that area
Engage NGOs and other groups to report on their own stories
Connect with workers in the City to identify those interested in reporting ‘undercover’ on what’s going on
Local political coverage
Include on-line took kits from other groups
Cover issue of surveillance in London
CALENDAR
List of what’s going on in London for free - some exist so us them / link to them
Useful to help Indymedia be a tool for other groups
Need for calendar / resource space for info on events before they happen not just reporting after the fact
Split calendar into topics like film screenings, benefits, protests, meetings, exhibitions etc
NEW PROJECTS
Reporting the March 20th international day of peace protest against war
Streaming the Peace not War 4 days of gigs in hackney
Create an ‘Ad Box’/ topic / section with photos of billboards and/or Subvertising
Map of radical London and link with radical histories of London and groups already involved in that within various communities
Need for projects to make everyday life visible + media issues relevant
More screening events and video production
More print projects
Media toolkits - gather into a resource guide / section
MISCHIEF ETC
How to translate indymedia into tactical media?
Direct action / media activism organising
WSIS issues for the uk / london
STRUCTURE / ORGANISING
Need for more languages / translations
Interactivity on site
Improve navigation on site
Create New Users box on home page that links to a ‘how to’ map of the site with information about how the site itself is laid out
Emphasis on public access
Clarify / tell the story of how things got to be as they are and what exists at the moment
Indymedia as distribution not just production!
More clearly link to other resources
Objectivity be more clear that it is subjective reporting not intended to be objective
Twiki’s - Use of twiki’s in sharing information / working on joint projects or documents / training people to use twiki’s, use of twiki’s as toolkit for training and developing content
Redesign how the site looks improve visual image
Make uploading form more clear
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UNSORTED RAW NOTES FROM GROUP DISCUSSIONS:
GROUP ONE
Push for more arts based content / involvement
More 'small news' local culture
Big Button - "New Users" to lead to a simple how to use this site explanation
Create a poster explaining Indymedia + encouraging participation - for libraries + community centres etc
Categorise calendar (have a better one) allowing people to see 'All Film Showings' / 'All protests' etc
London is CCTV world leader, a laboratory of surveillance
TRAINING:
need training on how to do training!
Can gather existing media kits / guides to skills / 'how to' guides
Need basic training just on how to use Indymedia site
Could visit campaign groups to train on how to use Indymedia
Could do local trainings in specific geographic areas
===========
GROUP TWO
More 'culture'on website
More focus on research + investigative journalism
Media actions / direct action / mischief!
More outreach to community centres etc, not just focus on activists
Try local area meetings + discussions and feed back to london imc email list
Media actions to make issue 'real' / relevant to everyday life
Local news - maybe subdivisions like Hackney, but probably too small
London has people from many countries so reporting international issues is relevant to london
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GROUP THREE
Make clear what exists now! Document history and ongoing projects
London drains energy by its nature - so should share resources more
Do "Self Replicating Media"
Push existing resources and projects - eg work with exploding cinema / and push
existing guides on how to do things - like exp cinema guide to doing screenings
More print projects, experimental print chains
NB Indymedia site is difficult for new people to understand
Are lots of other good sites out there - use them and work together
IMC focusses currently on reporting protests, and this is reflected by who gets involved
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GROUP FOUR
Outreach: Focus on existing groups
Look at Networks of groups eg residents associations
Try and carry more 'positive news' / good things and working initiatives
Make IMC london site a tool for the london community
Organise more events
More arts / culture focussed events
Move beyond 'normal politics' / normal protest coverage
More critical news and analysis, not just demo reports
London is the Neoliberal capital of europe - make this central
Transport issues are huge in london
Advertising / subvertising / public space is a big london issue (billboard watch?)
More outreach to NGOs and not 4 profit groups / train them on using the website
More investigative reporting
What about whistleblowers / workers in the city etc
Find people with passion for the issues
The big question is how to translate all this into practical projects
TRAINING: Audio + video basic training wanted / fundraising / marketing and outreach
Linux and open source training
Hardware sharing is important
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GROUP FIVE
Website ideas: Create a map of the radical history of london areas
Map the current radical landscape - infoshops / social spaces / health food shops / groups etc
Local issues need to be visable on the web
Use existing london free listings more
Do localised how to use indymedia training sessions, not just one big one per month
London has a wealth of different languages (cultures) - also useful for translations
What about local print newsletters
More film screening events - localising distribution + screenings
TRAINING: streaming media software / open source editing tools / internet BASICS / security /
basic writing and interview techniques / using video / radio and audio
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ROUNDUP:
People were especially keen to move forward with:
a programme of training events (to be organised on london list)
streaming peace not war 4 days of gigs (to be organised on london list)
organising reporting of the march 20th international anti-war protests
more discussion and further meetings / some special ones for existing alt media groups + campaign groups
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Comments
Hide the following 3 comments
Lots of good ideas
05.02.2004 22:02
Events are important. Would be good to see people really go for it on that March 20th peace protest. The corporate media has done pretty well on vox pops - would be good to see more on IndyMedia.
Thanks for the notes.
Mike
Good factory days!!
07.02.2004 02:16
Revolutionary anarchists
all pretenders are here claiminng...to be experts!
Remember the old times of factory(Brixton) before it was gunned down by your bloody guards?? I'll never forget the great design of the monopoly game. Long live da pioneers!
For the first time, anarchists put up a platform(ladders) and made speeches-red men(troskys) had become a menace-dictatorial in public. Yeah, remember that anarchist book fair after prague? Thanks for dem great speeches @ factory(brixton)-your predictions were right! Capitalism was to limp!
Viva anarchism!
joram
e-mail:
joram@yuganda.org
Organizing Indy/Alternative Media at the Local Level
10.02.2004 14:47
by Danielle Chynoweth
for the Media Reform Conference in Madison, November 7-9, 2003
The Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center was founded in 2000 and is now part of a network of 123 IMCs in over 50 countries. Let me paint a picture of our set up. We have a storefront community center in downtown Urbana which provides meeting space, an open publishing website where anyone can post a story, a library of books audio and video as well as our own archives, a monthly newspaper with a run of 7000, a weekly local news radio show on community radio, our production room where members can check out media equipment and use computers, music and spoken word shows, and an art gallery. Our video group both produces and selects pieces for air on our local public access television station. I have been asked to give advice for how to foster local, independent media. I've been told I have ten minutes to do this. So here are ten pieces of advice:
1) Just start.
Our local IMC had its humble beginning as a group of 15 meeting weekly in my living room starting September 24 in the year 2000. We collectivized our equipment and began reporting two days after our first meeting. Our first project was to cover local solidarity protests with the Anti-International Monetary Fund and World Bank protests in Prague.
2) Make sure the community is behind you.
As media reformers, we have a long haul ahead of us. To ensure the sustainability of this movement, we must make sure that we have continued community support and that our work is not taken for granted. No more martyrs - if the community wants it, they need to fund it. We created a goal for our group that would ensure a broader commitment than ourselves to this project - we said that if we could find 10 people to commit $50 a month for one year we would open a modest space in downtown Urbana and see what we can do. We found 25 "Founding Funders" and opened in a storefront in downtown. We then signed on sustaining funders. We are now seeking to purchase a building and expand. We have made a challenge to our community - once we have $50,000 in hand, we will seriously start looking for a space. Our goal is to raise $100,000. We are currently at $42,000 in the bank and have about ten thousand more pledged.
3) Keep it simple, decentralized, and low to the ground.
We had some folks who wanted to make structure before making media. The majority of us said no. We insisted on a structure document that fit on one page - this was to prevent getting too caught up in conflict over structure and to prevent those "in the know" of some long policy document from wielding power over those "not in the know."
4) Empower those who work, not those who just talk.
We created a structure that centers around working groups - low to the ground, action-oriented groups that largely determine their own paths. Each working group sends two representatives to a weekly steering group meeting where information is shared and IMC-wide problems are addressed. Our entire membership, about 300 people, is called to meet twice a year to discuss large-scale policy changes and future directions. All decisions on all levels are made by consensus. When someone wants to get involved they join a working group. If what they want to work on is not represented in a working group, they don't wait for permission to do work. They start their own group, which exists outside of the IMC, until they can prove their viability, at which point they can petition the IMC to become an official working group. This is an easy way to sort out the talkers from the do-ers.
5) Groups that have been shut out or misrepresented are your natural membership base.
Although we come up with various plans to bring in new members, our best recruiting tool is to do good work and fill a need - those who benefit from IMC activities then get involved.
Queer folk: In 2001, when queer activists were arrested for singing to an Illinois senate committee, IMC members were there, videoing the event. The arrestees faced a potential class c misdemeanor charge that was dropped when IMC video footage proved the police lied about events. Those activists are now regularly covering their events for the IMC.
Non-citizens and people of color: In May of 2002, when global justice activist Ahmed Bensouda, a Moroccan, and a neighbor of mine, was detained by the INS, brought to an unspecified location, denied the right to see a lawyer, and threatened with charges of treason, the IMC followed the story hourly online and kept its doors open 24 hours for supporters to walk in, get updates, and organize. Under the Patriot Act, the federal government was going to bring evidence against him that neither he nor his lawyer would ever hear. We tracked the situation carefully, there was an outpouring of public pressure, and they called off the secret evidence.
Young Folks: Those most denied free speech and most in need of an independent space are those under 18. Us twenty and thirty-somethings simply created a music and performance venue that was not a bar. Before we knew it, every teenager in town had come through our door - they alerted us that we were the only all-ages venue in town. So we handed them the reins - our Shows working group is now primarily folks under 21. Our audio engineer is a 13 year-old girl.
Activists: When it comes to corporate media, global justice activists are probably one of the most inaccurately represented populations because they target corporate power. The hope of non-violent social justice campaigns relies on a free press. At the WTO protests in Seattle, the police started beating and gassing us 3 hours before a window was ever broken, but because the press lied, the American public swallowed the police repression as legitimate. The IMC network was born out of the necessity to cover non-violent acts of resistance to corporate controlled globalization. If they won't cover it, we will.
6) Give folks the tools and training to report their own stories.
This is a universal struggle in the Indymedia movement - how to get over the perception that we are a news outlet that reports someone else's message for them. If you have a maid to cook for you, you don't learn how to cook. If you elect people to represent you, you learn how to complain instead of learning the difficult work of building fair policy in a diverse society. And if we leave storytelling up to the experts, we forget how to tell our own stories. For our radio show, we have a paid coordinator who helps folks through the process of making a news feature. For our newspaper, we invite a different guest co-editor every month. This way we weld a stable structure of committed volunteers with strategies for bringing new voices in.
7) Help people realize the value of their stories.
As a global society, we are bloated by stories created by public relations firms and corporate media. As a global society we are starving for each others' stories, but few people share, because they don't see themselves as story tellers. We don't realize the power of sharing stories and absolute necessity of seeking out other's stories. We all know that corporate media distorts events such as foreign policy. I hear less about how it distorts our sense of each other. How do we how "what Americans want?" or "What the world thinks?" The binoculars we have to see each other as a society are distorted; we don't see ourselves represented through them, so we begin to believe that "we" doesn't exist. We begin to accept a marginal status - that our concerns about clean water, peace, and civil rights are "fringe." When I ran for city council, it was my fellow progressives who most doubted my ability to win - they had so defined themselves as "losers."
8) Indymedia on a budget - practice "carrier pigeon" reporting.
When you return from your travels, it probably doesn't occur to you to tape your dinner conversation and broadcast it. The Indymedia movement has put a frame around that kind of storytelling and said "this is important" - "this has power." The success of the Indymedia movement depends on everyday people realizing that, in our monoculture of information, their eyes and ears are valuable. A trip can be transformed into valuable journalism with a few pieces of equipment. Personal travel diaries can be a refreshing break from highly managed corporate drivel. The corporate media has unknowingly created fertile ground for IMC's to flourish. With their silence on substantive issues, refusal to pay for investigative journalism, and lack of on-the-ground reports, the corporate media fails to meet people's real need for knowledge they can do something with. Within the framework of Indymedia, ordinary "citizen journalists" fill this need. One of the things our IMC does is "carrier pigeon reporting." We keep our ears to the ground to find out when someone from the area is traveling to a protest, or overseas, so that we can train and outfit them with a mini-disc recorder and a digital camera. Our local IMC has outfitted people traveling to Palestine, the FTAA protests in Quebec, anti-war rallies in D.C. and New York, World Social Forums in Brazil, anti-biotech protests in St. Louis, to Guatemala to do human rights work, and the WTO meeting in Mexico.
9) Hand ordinary people the power of the press pass.
A microphone in the hand is the best free schooling opportunity there is. It is an excise to talk to anyone about anything. I work with girls who have found schooling oppressive and left that system. I give them a press pass and training and before you know it, they are in the field getting an education - calling up Anniston to interview cancer survivors in Monsanto's superfund dump, creating hilarious satires of high school sex education class, taping the manifesto about abuses in schools that they sent to the school superintendent. My eight-year-old friend recently asked me what the difference between a Democrat and a Republican is. I offered that she and I go interview them about each other to find out and then broadcast our interviews.
10) Don't get caught up on issues of purity. Not everything touching the world of business, mainstream media, or government it tainted. Hold onto your integrity AND be strategic.
We try to be watchdog AND octopus with our tentacles stretching into spheres of influence. Our IMC works to get stories out - and sometimes the best venue is the daily paper that goes out to 70,000 people. We have established relationships with journalists in town who we suggest stories to. We help downsized news departments by sending them photos and calling in stories live from events that they can't send journalists to. We support underdog public officials by giving them the ability to get news of their projects out to their base of support.
from Urbana-Champaign IMC