[imc-scotland-discussion] Final draft of IMC-Scotland documents

[HR Halpin]

Everyone,
   Here's the latest and hopefully last draft of IMC-Scotland documents.
Assuming there's no major problems by anyone on this listserv, I'll send
it off to new-imc-process and SB will send it to various IMC-UK listserves
in the new few days. At the meeting we basically decided that decisions should
be made by active concensus, such that concensus implies active participation
in the work of maintaining the IMC. Thus, this will not allow agent provacateurs
and others to sabotage the concensus process and will help get work done quickly
and effectively by tying those make the decisions into the actual work. We also
decided that while we use the term  'open-publishing', despite everyone
at the meeting being wary of it, as IMC-SCOTLAND we would reserve the right
to full autonomy over our publishing process. Lastly, we decided that we would
as our maxim for publishing encourage anything that is 'relevant, written
for IMC-SCOTLAND, and not spam'. Common-sense. So, here's the final documents.
Now that this process is hopefully finished, I will focus on getting the
web-site up. 
                                          -Harry
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What is Scotland Indymedia Center / IMC-SCOTLAND? 

The Scotland Independent Media Center (IMC-SCOTLAND) is an non-corporate, anti-
authoritarian network of independent Scottish media makers and media 
outlets, and the local organizing unit of the global Indymedia 
network. Indymedia was founded in direct action reporting and the Global Days of
Action, and it in this path we walk in. 

IMC-SCOTLAND Reasons for Having its own IMC:

   IMC-Scotland is an official IMC in all but name only. It has
regular  meetings with good attendance in multiple cities,
currently Glasgow and  Edinburgh. It has put on workshops on tech
and media activism, throws on  regular alternative and
anti-capitalist movies (including showing the European IMC
Newsreel), and  regularly updates the sub-page it was given on
indymedia.org.uk. However, IMC-SCOTLAND, while grateful to the
rest of Indymedia UK, has had its growth  significantly hampered
by not being a fully independent IMC. First, the current web-page
allows posting of features with only the utmost of technical
difficulty  by manually hacking together HTML. This is a skill
IMC-SCOTLAND has tried and  is trying to spread, however this
process excludes non-technical people from posting features to
IMC-SCOTLAND. Although we realize that IMC-UK is switching to Mir
and this may correct many of the technical issues IMC-SCOTLAND is
facing, we have no firm deadline, and would rather have the autonomy
to solve our own problems. Also, There are many activists in Scotland who have 
expressed interest in a IMC-SCOTLAND newswire Lastly, the name IMC-SCOTLAND has
been in  use for almost a year now, and is becoming known among
the local activism and media community,  and the inevitable
question is: 'Where's the web-page?' or 'Why  is
scotland.indymedia.org.uk  not working?'. We have recently
convinced the server www.ibiblio.org to host us and our streaming
media for free, and with the aid of ibiblio staff have already commenced 
setting up versions of both Mir and DadaIMC and hope to have one or the other
fully running by the end of February. On March 8-11th Indymedia Scotland is
hosting a 3-day Guerilla Camcorder weekend in Glasgow, with workshops on
media activism and video editing. We expect this to be a large and
well-attended event, and would highly appreciate it if we were
approved by new-imc-process by then. Indymedia Scotland also intends
to remain fully active in the Indymedia UK network, and will only
be strengthened by the changes it is suggested. We are sending
multiple representatives to the Lancaster IMC UK network meeting. 
Since both dadaIMC and Mir support full RSS syndication, we also plan
to continue syndication with IMC-UK. We believe our own IMC would strengthen
IMC-SCOTLAND's active participation globally, in the UK network, and locally.  

IMC-SCOTLAND Mission Statement 

The Scotland Independent Media Centre is a network of activists that are 
committed to using media and journalism as a tool for social  
change. As a network, we will make decisions through a concensus process
and do our best at representing the diversity of our local communities. Though 
currently based in Edinburgh and Glasgow, the IMC-SCOTLAND will attempt to
cover  
issues anywhere in Scotland that are not being given adequate coverage by 
any other media. The Scotland Independent Media Center will also work to 
network with existing independent media and publications that are committed to 
social, ecological, and economic change throughout Scotland, the UK, and beyond.
The IMC-SCOTLAND will continually oppose hierarchy within its structure.The
Scotland Indymedia Center advocates and promotes  media democracy through video
showings, skill-share workshops and teach-ins,  which are to be open for the
benefit of all. Along with web publishing, we will also hopefully produce print
resources and videos to spread media democracy amongst those who 
may not have access to on-line resources. The Scotland Independent Media Center
will actively oppose racism, homophobia, classism, sexism, mobbing, and
nationalism within our framework and within the framework of society. We believe
that Scotland  is only as large as our collective imagination. Since we are a 
regional media center, we will include other parts of Scotland by allowing them 
to have as much autonomy as they wish, including full access to all features of
the site and moving main IMC-SCOTLAND meetings  from city to city so one group
does  not centralize undue influence on IMC-SCOTLAND. This process has already
admirably worked with the two IMC working-groups set up in Glasgow and
Edinburgh, Scotland UK. 

IMC-SCOTLAND How to Join 

IMC-SCOTLAND is a regional IMC network, with a single web-site 
http://scotland.indymedia.org (assuming we get approved) available to the many 
groupings of independent media activists in Scotland. This is a network that 
maximizes decentralization through autonomy.

Other IMC-SCOTLAND groups may and hopefully do form in other
parts of Scotland. These groups should  abide by the IMC-
SCOTLAND editorial\newswire policy and Principles of Unity\Mission Statement. 
If they do, they are an official IMC-SCOTLAND group. They are  
subscribed to the imc-scotland-discussion%20at%20lists.indymedia.org listserv 
to which all meeting minutes and proposals are  sent and we meet
with all other groups, when they form, at least face-to-face biannually to
discuss IMC-SCOTLAND. Decisions are made by active concensus. This means that
concensus is reached by IMC-SCOTLAND about issues effecting the IMC, and that
this concensus implies both active participation in the concensus process and in
getting the work done. Region groups in Scotland all  have the ability to 
autonomously commuicate using face-to-face meetings and listservs,to help create
front-page IMC features and regulate  IMC-SCOTLAND with respect to our newswire
and editorial policy. If there is any conflict between members of IMC-SCOTLAND,
it will be solved through meetings, discussion, and possibly mediation.
Currently IMC-SCOTLAND groups in Glasgow and Edinburgh me et together 
at least monthly and locally more often. 

IMC-SCOTLAND Principles of Unity

The Scotland Indymedia Center:

Agrees in spirit to the IMC Mission Statement and Principles of Unity 

1) has a committed membership substantial enough to sustain a functional IMC. 
2) has open and public meetings (no one group can have exclusionary
"ownership" of IMC-SCOTLAND). Currently such meetings are held nearly bi-weekly, 
although that is subject to change given circumstances. 
3) has a local Mission Statement and a Statement of Purpose. 
4) has established and published an editorial policy which is developed and 
functions through democratic process, and with full transparency. 
5) agrees to the use of open publishing as described in the IMC Editorial 
Policy, with the understanding that clarification of the terms and practice of 
open publishing is constantly evolving and is subject locally to the approval
of IMC-SCOTLAND. If there is a conflict between IMC-SCOTLAND and any global
decision-making process, IMC-SCOTLAND will exercise full autonomy. 
IMC-SCOTLAND is also currently investigating options like GNU licenses and
Creative Common licenses as a way to take open content publishing to the next
level of evolution, 
6) has adopted a decision-making policy that is in alignment with consensus 
principles which include open, transparent and egalitarian processes and 
active participation in the work of running the IMC, 
7) has a spokesperson(s) willing and capable of participating in the global 
decision-making process and meetings as a rotating liason/ representative, with
a clear understanding of the responsibilities that come with this role, 
8) will participate in the key IMC Network Communication Methods that pertain 
to the health and vitality of the Network and that contribute to the work of 
the IMC. At least one person from the Scotland IMC will participate at any 
given time on the IMC-Communications list.
9) has no affiliation with any political party, state or candidate for
office, although individuals have freedom to do whatever they like and
local IMCs may "feature" stories influenced by various political parties and 
initiatives. 
8) does in no way engage in commercial for-profit enterprises and is committed
to the decommercialization and decolonization of information and so will 
disassociate from any other IMC that decides to become a for profit media 
corporation. IMC-SCOTLAND, is in addition, anti-capitalist.  
9) will display a _local version_ of the IMC logo on our website and 
literature. 
10) will include the IMC Network current Cities List on our site, preferably on
the front page. 

Scotland IMC Editorial Policy


The process for making changes/additions/deletions to featured content on the 
website is: 

A request is presented at the weekly meetings detailing the requested changes. 
Anyone may request changes to the website. 
For the changes to be made a consensus must be reached by the IMC-SCOTLAND 
network if the change effects the whole website.   
If a IMC-SCOTLAND network request receives two rejections it will not be acted 
upon, rejections must be sent to the imc-scotland-discussion list within one 
week of the initial proposal. 
One week after the initial consensus if two rejections have not been registered
the website will be updated at its earliest convenience. 
The feature request originator may make further updates to the feature without 
further consensus. 

Members of the IMC-SCOTLAND network who  participate in maintaining
the site will update the site. 

Suggestions for helping the editorial process run smoothly: 

An editorial request should be made at the meeting of the working group or 
through the imc-scotland-discussion listserv. Always feel free to contact the 
IMC-SCOTLAND network at scotland%20at%20indymedia.org. A consensus process will 
approve or reject the request. 

Make requests as specific as possible, i.e. include all wording, url's, etc. 
Having a specific, well-formed request will allow the website to be updated 
more quickly.

In most cases, post it to the imc-scotland-discussion listserv first, then make
the request. Write a short introductory paragraph summarizing the content of the
posting. 
The introductory paragraph will appear on the front page with a link to the 
actual posting. 

Scotland IMC Newswire Policy

The Scotland Independent Media Center is a grassroots collective committed to 
using media production and distribution as tools for promoting social and 
economic justice. Through this work, we seek to promote diversity and unity in 
the progressive community throughout Scotland and the rest of the United
Kingdom, 
further the self-determination of people under-represented in the media, and 
to illuminate and analyze local and global issues that impact ecosystems, 
communities and individuals. We are dedicated to generating alternatives to the
corporate media and to identifying and creating positive models for a 
sustainable and equitable society, particulary in Scotland since it is our
local community.   

In accordance with the Scotland IMC's overall mission, the online newswire is 
designed to empower individuals to become independent journalists by 
providing a direct, unmoderated forum for presenting media, including text 
articles, audio and video recordings, and photographs, to the public via the 
internet. 

IMC-Scotland has the following maxim it would like to apply to publishing:
The article should be relevant, written for IMC-SCOTLAND and not spam. 

The Indymedia Scotland website operates on a system of 'open publishing' 
i.e. anyone can upload a written report, image or audio clip directly to the 
site through an openly accessible web interface, given the guidelines detailed.

 Indymedia Scotland encourages:

    . Grassroots coverage of important social and political issues, especially
    those ignored my mainstream media. 

    . A focus on events and issues relevant to people living in Scotland.

    . Announcements of any forthcoming actions or campaigns (in the Calendar
    section).

    . Comments added to any news report on the site. 

    . Participation in Indymedia Scotland is encouraged! 

Also, please remember Indymedia Scotland hides and may delete:

   · Language or imagery whichis racist, sexist, anti-semitic, bullying,
mobbing  or homophobic.

   · Commercial advertising.

   · Infactual or misleading reports.

   · Repeated posting of any text, image or audio clip.

   . Party political propaganda.

   . 'Spam' includes spam relating to activism that is mass-posted.  

   . Postings by individuals who have a pattern of behavior that leads to the
above mentioned
     discouraged postings.

After stories have been published, they can be edited, linked or even deleted 
by IMC-SCOTLAND. We like to link related stories, so that they appear grouped 
together on the summary pages. For instance, this can be used to display
together: 

sound bites from the same event; 
a picture with text about the same thing; 
a lower quality realaudio or quicktime file with a higher quality (but slower 
to transfer) MP3 audio clip for radio stations to re-broadcast; 
a video in realvideo or quicktime with a freeze frame picture; 
a group of stories about the same issues; 

The newswire is an open-publishing resource, as detailed by
above. The newswire is not intended for promotion of commercial
enterprises, advertisements, religious diatribes, or as forum for
sociopaths to abuse the community. To serve this end, the network
is empowered  to delete posts that are sexist, racist, homophobic,
pornographic, fascist, or repetitive  (spam). The decisions to make 
newswires center-column features on the main page will also take place 
through an IMC-SCOTLAND active consensus process.