[Imc-communication] Research about Imc

[/k40z]

hey...

as someone who is partly institutionalised as a phd student, i m
inclined to agree with most of what ionnek writes.

i think guidelines would be good, because I believe that research done
in a well-meaning, well-informed and well-intended manner can only
strengthen the indy network.

would participate in the guidelines project on an ad-hoc basis...sounds
like a good ides - certainly necessary to have in order to help
researcher along the lines that WE envision (well-meaning, well-informed
and well-intended).

in solidarity,

/k40z - another 1 of lancaster imc


On Wed, 2004-06-23 at 10:47, ionnek wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
> I don´t know if you feel the same - but here in the UK, I am under the 
> impression that imc has become a very en vogue research topic. We are 
> approached by teams from Universities, PhD-researchers, critical 
> publicists, MA or BA students. Some inform us about their research 
> design, research questions etc, most don`t. Many want us to fill in 
> questionnaires, one research team from nijmegen bluntly put their 
> questionnaire on the newswire, another one from Wales wants us to link 
> to their questionnaire from a feature (!). Many are also asking for 
> interviews with individuals.
> 
> I would be very interested to hear how other collectives deal with this 
> academic interest in indymedia. Because I do believe we could get a lot 
> out of academic research, project that gather, systemise and interpret - 
> but on the other hand, it can be a nuisance, disappointing, annoying and 
> even dangerous. It is a fine line between a fair relationship between 
> researcher and researched on one hand, and an exploitative relationship 
> on the other.
> 
> How do you make decisions about how to participate or not to participate?
> 
> I can think about some formal responses to researchers:
> 
> - be our guest in studying the newswires, middlecolumns, publicly 
> archived email lists and the twiki (not sure if i`d even mention the 
> latter - if they are seriously interested, they will find it).
> 
> - we consider it appropriate that publications about indymedia are 
> published under a creative commons licence and made accessible on the web.
> 
> - If you use indymedia as a research topic, we expect you to provide a 
> link to your work on 
> http://docs.indymedia.org/view/Global/ImcEssayCollection
> 
> I am also tempted to collect some guidelines:
> 
> - if you wish a more intensive collaboration with your research object, 
> please send a description of your research design, methodology and 
> research questions, including planned proceedings with the results. More 
> intensive collaboration includes for example: interviews with indymedia 
> volunteers (per email, on the phone, f2f, chatrooms), participating in 
> meetings (f2f, irc), extensive lurking on lists, participant observation 
> online and offline, using imc resources to find more guinea pigs for 
> questionnaires etc.
> 
> - Indymedia is a network of volunteers dedicated to social change. Our 
> core interest is to run the indymedia websites and promote the indymedia 
> network online and offline. Therefore we only participate in selected 
> research projects. Our decision depends on several factors: Is the 
> research likely to create debates and results that are interesting for 
> us as a collective or a collective? Does the researcher make his/her 
> motivation, methodology, theoretical framework transparent? Will results 
> and theories be discussed with indymedia, before publication? Openness 
> for collaborative research models? And finally - does anyone feel like 
> spending time on this project right now?
> 
> - etc etc
> 
> best
> ionnek
> 
> 
> 
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