[CIMC-work] Suggested meeting agenda, and Info page draft

[Mitchell Szczepanczyk]

Suggested agenda:

* March 20 preparations (including audio)
* Website redesign, including info page
* Center panels: TV show panel, and upcoming center panels
* Chicago Social Froum recap
* anything else that strikes your fancy...

Also: I'm including below my draft of the Information Page
below.  Feedback, suggestions, and revisions are welcome.

Thanks.
----------
_ Z  Mitchell Szczepanczyk
  /  http://home.uchicago.edu/~msszczep http://www.chicagomediaaction.org
     http://www.geocities.com/szczepanczyk http://chicago.indymedia.org

About the Chicago Independent Media Center

The Independent Media Center ("indymedia" for short) is a grassroots
organization committed to using media production and distribution as a
tool for promoting social and economic justice.  It is a cooperative
effort of hundreds of independent media organizations around the world,
some of whose efforts you can visit via the list of worldwide indymedia
centers on the left-hand column of this webpage.  

The Chicago Independent Media Center ("Chicago Indymedia" or "Chicago
IMC") is Chicago's contribution to the growing Indymedia 
movement.  Chicago Indymedia maintains a website
(chicago.indymedia.org) with an open publishing newswire, which allows
anyone to publish their story or opinion and thereby quickly reach a wide
audience.  Chicago Indymedia also produces a monthly radio program, "From
The Trenches", and a monthly TV series, "Chicago Independent Television".  

There are a number of ways you can contribute to these and other Indymedia
projects.   Contacting us is often a great way to learn more and to get
more involved.  

Contact information

Chicago IMC
3411 W. Diversey
Chicago IL [ZIP?] USA
Phone: 773-384-8544
Email: IMC-Chicago at indymedia.org

The Chicago Independent Media Center meets at 3411 W Diversey, Chicago,
and is developing that space as a working environment.  Our phone number
is 773-384-8544, but messages may not be heard for a day or two). Or
contact us via email at IMC-Chicago at indymedia.org (a public list).  You
can also contact our respective working, video, or photo mailing lists
(see below).  

Mailing Lists

The Chicago IMC currently runs several mailing lists, which are open to
the public:

imc-chicago at indymedia.org
IMC-Chicago is the general discussion list, for any topics relevant to
Chicago IMC as a whole. Suggestions, fundraising ideas, collaborative
projects, strategic questions, or anything worth discussing.

imc-chicago-working at lists.indymedia.org
IMC-Chicago-Working is a list for members of the Editorial Collective. It
is used publicly as the address for contacting the editorial collective
with questions about policy, submitting features, or making comments. It
is used internally for discussions relating to editorial duties and
decisions.  It is also the list for assorted issues pertaining to Chicago
Indymedia on the whole.

chicago-tech at indymedia.org
Chicago-Tech is the mailing list of the Chicago Indymedia technical
team.  This list is used for discussions and issues pertaining to the nuts
and bolts of the website or emailing lists.

imc-chicago-video at lists.indymedia.org
IMC-Chicago-Video is the list for the Chicago Indymedia Video
Collective.  It is used to deliberate and organize issues pertaining to
the monthly TV series, "Chicago Independent Television", along with other
video, TV, and film issues.

imc-chicago-photo at lists.indymedia.org
IMC-Chicago-Photo is the list for the Chicago Indymedia Photo group.  It
is used to organize and discuss matters pertaining to photo group and to
photography.

Subscriptions for Chicago IMC lists are available at
http://lists.indymedia.org.  All lists are publicly archived.

Meetings

The general Chicago IMC working collective meets held on the second and
fourth Sundays of each month, from 4:00 p.m. until 6:00 p.m. (usually), at
our office (3411 W Diversey).  The Chicago IMC home page may have more
up-to-date information about our next meeting date and time, or notices if
meetings are delayed, rescheduled, or cancelled.

Anyone interested in participating in, or learning more about, the Chicago
IMC is encouraged to attend. We're a friendly bunch, and we'd be happy to
answer any questions you might have about our work.

Meetings usually consist of a discussion of recent events of interest,
potential workshops or benefits to sponsor, reports on progress from
working groups, and discussion of strategies for the future.  Most
importantly, however, the content of our meetings is dictated by the
participation and interest of its members. If you want to add your voice
and energy to the project, please attend!

Support Independent Media

Chicago IMC is a media project is not owned or funded by big conglomerates
and advertisers, nor is it funded by grant providers.  This accords a
great deal of editorial freedom, but it also means we are in deseperate
need of your support to sustain our effort.

We are happy to take donations of either financial assistance or
equipment. We always need computers, monitors, cameras, audio equipment,
and anything else you think might be valuable to a public media
outlet.  Again, contact us regarding more information

We can accept financial donations, by using the "Donate" link on the left
hand column, or in the form of checks written out to "Chicago Independent
Media Center" (or "CIMC") and mailed to us at:

    CIMC
    c/o Goldhamer P.O. Box 469
    Chicago IL 60690 

If you're interested in speaking with us about donations, please contact
chicago-tech at lists.indymedia.org

Legal Disclaimer

The views and opinions expressed on this site do not necessarily reflect
those held by the participants and organizers of the Chicago Independent
Media Center. This site is based upon an open publishing method that
allows any individual to post information and media to the site.

The Editorial collective of the Chicago IMC oversees and administers the
site whenever necessary, based on our editorial policy (see below), but we
should not be held accountable for all of the newswire information you may
find on this web site.

If you have a particular complaint about something you've found on this
web site, please email Imc-Chicago-Working at lists.indymedia.org.

Editorial Policy

to be written (is it already?)

Mission Statement (drafted July 25, 2001)

The Independent Media Center is a global network of collectively run media
outlets for the creation of radical, accurate, and passionate tellings of
truth. We are motivated by a love and inspiration for people who work for
a better world despite corporate media's distortions and unwillingness to
cover efforts to develop an egalitarian and sustainable society.

The chicago Independent Media Center is a grassroots organization
committed to using media production and distribution as tools for
promoting social and economic justice in the Chicago area. We are
dedicated to addressing issues that the mainstream media neglects and we
do not conceal our politics behind a false objectivity. We will empower
people to "become the media" by providing democratic access to available
technologies and information.

Technical details and tips about this website

This Indymedia site has been designed to be as user-friendly as possible,
while still attempting to manage a wealth of information, and some
customization options.

The left-hand column lists the main sub-section pages of the site, as well
as a frequently-updated list of the other Indymedia sites across the
globe.

Users are encouraged to visit the login page, where they can create a user
account that facilitates publishing articles, and allows some rudimentary
filtering preferences based on ratings (see below for more on ratings).

The center column is the centerpiece of the site. Our feature articles are
produced or commissioned by the editorial collective, and strive to offer
quality journalism and opinion from the Chicago area.

The media gallery, highlighted at the top of the right-hand column, is our
repository for photos, videos, and audio files uploaded to the site. When
users have media to upload without accompanying text, from protest photos
to flyer illustrations and PDF files, it goes to the media gallery. The
gallery is broken down into categories, and can be searched by title,
keyword, caption, or artist.

The newswire, displayed in the right-hand column, is the backbone of
Indymedia. Articles found on the newswire are uploaded by users all over
the world, and instantly displayed on the site. For our part, we have
divided articles into "Local Interest" and "Elsewhere", so as to highlight
local events and discussion.

While offering an empowering capability to users traditionally ignored by
the mainstream media, the newswire also provides a completely open forum
for viewpoints that may be in direct conflict with the focus of the
editorial collective -- anything from racist propaganda to opinions that
merely reinforce the views propagated by the mainstream media.

It is the responsibility of the editorial collective (whose membership is
open to the public) to oversee the newswire with a careful eye to
balancing the open publishing philosophy with a desire to maintain the
"newsworthy" quality of the site. To this end, we employ two
methods: first, the editors will remove articles in direct violation of
our (very liberal) editorial policy. This includes advertising, duplicate
posts, and pieces which fail to even resemble news or commentary.

The second method is our user rating system. While browsing the site, you
are encouraged to rate articles using the popup menu at the end of each
piece. While user ratings cannot remove an article from the site
completely, they serve the invaluable role of deciding how much prominence
is given to the display of an article.

By default, only articles rated higher than -6 are displayed in the
right-hand column, and on the "newswire" home page. This is called the
"display threshold." If you have created a user account, you can even
alter that threshold to suit your own needs, e.g., display only articles
receiving +3 or higher. Articles which fall below the threshold are moved
to the hidden articles section, which is linked from the bottom of the
newswire column. They are still available on the site, and can be linked
to directly, but their prominence is degraded as a result of user
input. You are encouraged to visit the hidden articles section to see what
ends up there, and why.

Finally, remember that the Indymedia site is here for you. We encourage
you to upload your own stories, commentaries, and announcements that may
be of use to the community. And you are further encouraged to participate
actively in the Chicago IMC project.