[CIMC-working] 030112 CIMC meeting notes

[Chris Kaihatsu]

030112 CIMC meeting notes

Notes of Chris Kaihatsu -- brackets and blank spaces are my own. Attendees
should feel free to post corrections and/or additions to
imc-chicago-working@indymedia.org.

In attendance: Chris (K.), Dick, Don, Doug, Emily, Garth, Ian, Jeff, Rita,
Roman, Suzanna


AGENDA

1 - intros
2 - donations
3 - website redesign
4 - indexing of global posts
5 - tech
6 - outreach
7 - fundraising
8 - progress
9 - features


INTROS

Roman: video webcasting -- small image, need broadband -- maybe webcast
audio -- RealAudio/Video

CK: Madison IMC did Icecast audio streaming

Suzanna: DePaul anti-war student organization -- direct invitation to them
would help them to get involved in CIMC

Jeff: what kind of volunteers does CIMC need?

Garth: your own initiative, interests, discipline -- weak on video -- also
need techs, content providers, covering Chicago scene and beyond,
center-column features

Ian: content always needed

Roman: [particular] angle for content?

Garth: we used to have specific desks -- anti-war, environment, criminal
justice

Don: labor, Mideast, national -- need local events coverage

Ian: our audience is progressives

Emily: involvement from Lumpen and Buddy is good -- Indymedia presence at
Select Media Festival would have been good

Jeff: I found out about Indymedia from Lumpen -- there's a link there to
Chicago Indymedia

Emily: reach out to that crowd

Roman: are story ideas hashed out here? -- [gentrification is planned for
area bounded by Western, Kedzie, Washington, North], [students are used as
icebreakers for real estate development]

Don: that happened around University of Chicago

Jeff: type of content to Chicago Indymedia?: event promotions? / coverage o=
f
events / documentary?

Rita: is there a statement on what we cover?

Ian: "About Us" link

____: we have a statement on the site

CK: cover anything -- [follow the trajectory of what you've already seen on
CIMC wire] -- whatever your interests are

Jeff: upcoming events? coverage? post-event?

Garth: we're all organizers to some degree

Jeff: priorities? linking with other organizations?

Don: center-column features can be built off existing newswire stories

Dick: variety of levels of participation -- some people are posters-only an=
d
don't make meetings -- collective decisions are needed for priority events,
like mayor's upcoming conference, which impacts the extended progressive
community -- we can fashion how to coordinate and see things covered --
sometimes good feature blocks suggest themselves from existing
coverage/content


DONATIONS

Ian: PayPal, others?

Suzanna: networkforgood (.com/.org?) -- free, organizations get 100% of
donations -- Greenpeace, Amnesty International use it

Don: compatible with 501(c)(3) [non-for-profit]?

Suzanna: don't know

Dick, Don: 8th Day Center is our fiscal agent -- we prefer 8th Day over
Urbana-Champaign IMC

Roman: eBay?

CK: overhead required

Dick: 501(c)(3) status good for [large acquisitions of assets] -- on checks=
,
pay to the order of "8th Day Center/Chicago IMC"

Dick: that status restricts you from doing certain political work,
advocating -- requires increased reporting to the feds -- allows for
disbursements for educational projects, like Chicago Indymedia

Dick: PayPal?

Ian: networkforgood?

Don: confidentiality of donors?

Ian: PayPal allows for direct deposit, they take 2% - 3% -- maybe not
tax-deductible

Dick: most use PayPal -- I'm in favor of it -- easy, fast, not
tax-deductible

Rita: any bank-donated services?

Dick: no -- legal liability for banks

Ian: we would need our own CIMC bank account

Dick: pursue both

Don: Ian, please send info to CIMC Tech list

Dick: 501(c)(3) requires organizational hierarchy, legal liability

Don: talk with 8th Day people

Rita: so more info is needed on networkforgood?

Dick: set up PayPal now?

Don: info on donators sent to the feds?

Ian: we can include a disclaimer that no confidentiality is provided

- CONSENSUS: Don, treasurer, will set up a CIMC PayPal account -


WEBSITE DESIGN REVISIONS

Emily: [revised logo]

Dick: statue is not instantly recognizable, needs a caption

Emily: link to an explanation page?

Dick: "Haymarket 1888"

Garth: [symbolizes] the spirit of justice

--
Doug: I'll be out of CIMC for the next four months, will do some
center-panel blocks, though -- will be working on global strategy -- can
participate online, can't do meetings

Dick: how will you be participating?

Doug: will take a long time to verify Tactical Media Fund's claims (recentl=
y
posted) -- maybe just wish them well -- I will withdraw as a CIMC liaison
for now

Garth: indexing, summaries are helpful

CK: I'll continue to maintain the CIMC database

Doug: I approve of the website design -- I can do one feature/month --
global stuff is important -- global level is likely to experience a [sharp]
change, maybe devolve -- CIMC should stay on top of it -- I am open to phon=
e
meetings with Chris and Garth


WEBSITE REDESIGN, continued

Dick: how to make logo more Haymarket-specific? -- I like it -- and we need
to include Spanish text: "CMI"

Emily: [new website layout] -- need tech help to implement it

Dick: see Arizona, LA IMCs for ____

Rita: add separator between DONATE and ABOUT US

Ian: font sizes are too varied

Emily: darker blue for right-hand column

Ian: send graphics to Chicago Tech list [chicago-tech@indymedia.org]

Garth: other graphics items? -- 1/4-sheet cards

Emily: cardstock?

Garth: for handing out, outreach -- also t-shirts

Emily: email [mug-shot] photos to me

Garth: info cards, not business cards -- one template design will be useful
for future items

Emily: collateral types?

Roman: (((i))) logo is important, the image is good

Dick / Don: Haymarket historical event was crucial

Dick: Argentina IMC linked to Illinois Labor History site for Mayday
coverage, not us, because we didn't have any content for it

Roman: I have HTML skills, have done some video production work for channel
26 -- I can throw around illustrations, can do editorial cartoon style --
romanzoo@yahoo.com

Dick: Mike Flugelnock [sp?], cartoonist, DC-IMC, sinkers.org

Garth: move forward on price specs

Emily: professional production

Don: subscribe to imc-chicago-working@indymedia.org

Garth: listserve activity on IMC-Chicago-Discussions [? -- CK]

CK: IMC-Chicago-Global list is defunct

Dick: press passes before DC trip, Emily?


TECH

Don: problem -- posts don't always show up -- problems with disks on main
servers

Roman: where?

Don: main server is in Seattle -- may move to regional server

Garth: split newswire -- why hasn't it happened?

Ian: probably not going to happen in next year -- see webcoders list
discussion -- couldn't get to St. Louis website -- could change software --
some things to figure out -- no one is maintaining that software [codebase]

Dick: go to SF-Active software

Ian: or dada code

Garth: no objections, though?

Dick/Don: no, [it's approved]

Ian: MySQL not installed on Stallman server -- avoid postgres because [it's
error-prone]

Don: IMC is paying speakeasy for high-speed connection -- [tech staffing
costs] -- we're getting it free right now -- we don't have the [staff] to
host ourselves

Dick: convoluted process towards Midwest-wide server

Garth: $? for hosting?

Don: T-1

Ian: co-locate -- must pay for maximum bandwidth -- CIMC site sees bursts

Don: about $200/month

Dick: it's an option, if we have the money

Don: plus tech hours and initial hardware costs =3D $1500

Garth: [concerns about goofy posts on newswire]

Dick: that's why we wanted to split the newswire

Don: need a server with a more current codebase

Garth: do we need to continue renting our office space?

Dick: foregoing office space wouldn't free up enough money -- never seen
SF-IMC lose data or crash -- dialogue with them

Ian: I sense that there's a [lacking of] global tech availability

Dick: set deadline of June for split newswire -- PROPOSAL: dialogue with an=
y
IMC sites that could host our site and provide a split wire

Don: [can provide questions to ask other IMCs]

Garth: fundraising -- CIMC constituency

Dick: cheaper to share resources -- launch aggressive fundraising to grow
the site and CIMC projects

Ian: by next meeting I'll provide a list of choices


FEATURES

Dick: Wed., Jan. 15, 9:30am, City Hall, 2nd floor -- Chicago City Council
will discuss the anti-war resolution -- Billy Ocasio [sp?] -- 27 in favor,
23 uncommitted, wanting language changes -- haven't seen their requests or
revisions

Jan. 16th, 10am -- vote will take place at City Council meeting --
anniversary of Gulf War I -- maybe 1,000 will show up to pack the chambers
and hallways -- Daley doesn't want to see it pass, but doesn't want to
oppose it -- he'll take a neutral stance

Wolfowitz backed out of visiting University of Chicago

Rita: this Saturday, DC protests

Dick: haven't seen any [parallel] protests planned for Chicago -- 10 buses
going, maybe 15 -- $80 -- Dick, Chris G., Garth going

Dick/Garth: any DC-IMC-hosted meeting?

CK: I haven't seen anything about it on the global lists

Dick: 27th -- UN Security Council meeting, NYC

Don: 25th -- celebration for Jose Mart=ED, De Paul, 6:30pm

Dick: EMERGENCY RESPONSE if war breaks out: 5pm that night -- mass action,
civil disobedience -- following morning, 8am, shut down Federal building --
that night, 5pm, 2nd emergency march -- discuss online -- bring all your
equipment -- need writers -- emergency convergence center here -- announce
ahead of time=20

Don: other organization's action centers, too

Dick: features in the works: yesterday's demo, Aaron Patterson -- upcoming:
city council, any emergency response (will evolve) -- continually [add
blocks and add to a current story block] -- radio pieces needed for CIMC an=
d
Free Speech Radio Network -- don't know actions planned by school campuses

Garth: will hit up western suburban groups, center-state areas and
proselytize

Dick: include appeal for people to post their own stories, advertise our
convergence space

[CK: our office Macs may need USB/Firewire PCI card(s), and is the office P=
C
also sufficiently multimedia capable?]