[CIMC-work] Center Panel

[Ian Bicking]

On Tue, 2003-07-15 at 12:48, Mitchell Szczepanczyk wrote:
> Hi, everyone.
> 
> I don't know if this was discussed at Sunday's meeting (I wasn't at
> Sunday's meeting but I'll be at Saturday's fundraiser), but I'm thinking
> that the Center Panel should be updated with new material, and more
> frequently.

Was anyone at Sunday's meeting?  I wasn't either.  Don maybe, or Chris
K, but all the other regulars weren't there I think.

Anyway, I think everyone is in agreement that we should have more
features.  I think we should max out at one a day, unless there's
something really important (but that might mean delaying a feature to
keep them staggered).  But besides that limit, the more features the
better.  The actual limit is up for debate, of course, and presently is
not an issue anyway unless we get more features.

One thing we could do is put a note on the publish page to email us with
copy for a center panel if the poster thinks it's appropriate.  And then
we can lay out a couple guidelines.  Maybe:


Do you think this news is appropriate to be featured in the center
column?  Here's some criteria:

* Local news (particularly the Chicagoland area, but anything in the
Midwest can be considered local).
* Original Indymedia content.
* Of general interest. [vague, but it's a vague requirement]
* News.  This is intended to exclude press releases, though an article
about something also covered in a press release is welcome. [I don't
know... I just don't like press releases, and I find them horribly
boring.  I think there's also other things we may want to exclude, like
newsletters]

These criteria aside, the one most important consideration is if the
news is likely to be of interest to the site's readers.

If you think your article or topic should be considered for a center
column feature, then follow these steps:

Write up the content for the center column.  This should be a short
summary [word limit?].  Longer content should go in an article on the
newswire, which will be linked to the feature.  Also include a short
title.

Please collect any links that are relevant.  We particularly like to
include links to articles on our newswire, or articles from other
Indymedia sites, but any relevant and interesting link can be included. 
Do not link to articles that have been copied and pasted to our
newswire, instead link to the original article.

If you know HTML, you can compose this as HTML.  But if you don't, don't
let that stop you, we can reformat your feature as necessary.

When you've composed something, email it to
imc-chicago-features at indymedia.org [note: new email list].  If you are
not sure if your topic is appropriate, or have any other questions, feel
free to ask at this address.

Event postings can also be sent to this address.  Event descriptions
should be posted to the newswire, and in your email include a link to
that posting, a date and time, and a very short description.

All features are subject to editing, and submission is not a guarantee
that we will include your feature.  [We should probably set up some
process, and perhaps include a more detailed internal list of criteria. 
But I don't know... this might not be a problem at all.  I'd rather
think about process after we have concrete examples of what we have to
deal with]


[I would propose we put this on the publishing save page, i.e., not add
to the excessive content we have on the "Publish your story" page, but
put it on the "Your story is published" page.  And use some color so
that people notice the new content.  Also link to it off the About page,
and include a note in the newswire.]