[imc-tech-solidarity] Help for Baghdad?
Break A Silence
breakasilence at sbcglobal.net
Mon, 21 Apr 2003 17:48:52 -0700 (PDT)
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Hi,I am at Radio IMC here in LA. I would be interested in helping to gather tech support for you. Also, I am in contact with Ramzi Kysia of Iraq Peace Team in Baghdad and he sent out this call yesterday. They are interested in starting toward an IMC, but the main issues are no equipment and half the time, no electricity. Here is the email he sent out. Please contact him at rrkysia@yahoo.com It would be great to support him and the people he is working with in this endeavor. Also, please contact me about helping support tech support. Thanks!Crystal Cook Dear Friends,
I've been re-connecting with some students at Baghdad
University that I know, and all are very interested in
doing independent, Iraqi reporting about the situation
here. We are working on a consensus model, and - while
I'm offering lots of advice & encouragement - I am
making them (lol) make all the decisions themselves...
I agree that a full-fledged IMC Baghdad is not likely
anytime in the near future (mostly because of
infrastructure-related problems, both the physical
infrastructure & the human infrastructure - people are
going to need lots of training to run things
themselves).
I also think that it's absolutely critical that
whatever we end up doing be for *Iraqis* and not just
*by* them - in other words, an internet site is *not*
the only thing we should be planning, when no one here
(except a few journalists) can get on-line, and likely
that won't change for some time...
So... my thoughts are to do whatever we can for the
web, but to put the main thrust behind starting up a
community newspaper. We are locating a house/office,
we are brainstorming, we are building connections to
make this happen & bring as many different voices on
board as possible.
Here's what we've come up with so far:
1) A weekly (or semi-weekly if we can swing it, but
likely not at first) newspaper in Arabic and English,
called "Al-Muajaha, The Iraqi Witness." (al-Muajaha
means "The Facing"), to be printed & distributed here
in Baghdad, and world-wide on the Web.
2) Six sections to the paper:
- News & Features (news & human interest stories), 2-4
pages.
- Arts & Culture (to include 2 poems by local poets),
1 page.
- Religion (inclusive of all faiths & sects in Iraq),
1 page.
- Iraq Under the Saddam Hussein (but called something
else, tbd, where 1 submission per issue would be
accepted/solicited talking about experiences under the
previous regime), 1/2 page.
- Community Announcements, 1/2 page.
- Opinion/Editorial, 2 pages.
This gives us 14-18 pages each issue (dbl the #s for
English/Arabic).
3) We need: editors for each section, extra writers
for at least the News & Features section,
photographers, Arabic & English copy editors, and a
layout editor. We could rotate the editorial jobs to
make it less hierarchal, but I, personally, would be
worried that - at least at first - if we didn't have
one person responsible for each section, that it would
be difficult to actually get it done...
4) In terms of equipment, we need:
- 5 computers w/arabic language support & keyboards
- 2 printers
- a xerox machine
- a fax machine (once phone lines are back up)
- 2 phone lines
- a dedicated internet line (sat modems to serve until
phones are up)
- 2 digital cameras
- 2 video cameras
- 2 file cabinets
- 5 desks/chairs
- a sofa & lounge chairs
- an air conditioner
xiii) a fridge
xiv) a generator (even when power comes up, it's
likely not going to be available 24/7)
the sat modems are $1300 each, plus $13/megabyte
(downloaded or uploaded), the other stuff comes to
$12K, by our estimate (purchasing it locally)
5) Additional costs are:
- Rent: estimated $7-12K/year
- Transportation: est. $5K/year
- Food: est. $1K/year
- Office supplies: est. $1K/year
- Utilities: est. $1K/year
- Printing Costs: unknown, we are researching this
(it's taking some time as most places are still shut
down from the war, and travel in the city is both
time-consuming due to roadblocks, and expensive due to
gas prices & all the journalists here jacking up
prices, lol)...
So... we've got an initial estimate of $32K/year, plus
printing costs, to start this...
We also talked about salaries, and while everyone is
committed to making this happen for free if need be,
but they would like to make at least $20/month for
themselves & their families - so that would be another
$3K/year or so if we have a dozen people on staff...
How does all of this sound to folks - both the general
idea, and the budget?
We can work toward making this self-supporting asap,
but... if we don't sell advertising, I'm not sure how
we're going to do that for a paper...? Suggestions?
Feedback?
Regards,
Ramzi Kysia
Voices in the Wilderness, Baghdad
http://www.vitw.org
Break A Silence
breakasilence@sbcglobal.net
P.O. Box 74210
Los Angeles, CA 90004
310 739 1159
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<DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV>Hi,</DIV>
<DIV>I am at Radio IMC here in LA. I would be interested in helping to gather tech support for you.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Also, I am in contact with Ramzi Kysia of Iraq Peace Team in Baghdad and he sent out this call yesterday. They are interested in starting toward an IMC, but the main issues are no equipment and half the time, no electricity.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Here is the email he sent out. Please contact him at <A href="mailto:rrkysia@yahoo.com">rrkysia@yahoo.com</A> It would be great to support him and the people he is working with in this endeavor.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Also, please contact me about helping support tech support.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Thanks!</DIV>
<DIV>Crystal Cook</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV>Dear Friends,<BR><BR>I've been re-connecting with some students at Baghdad<BR>University that I know, and all are very interested in<BR>doing independent, Iraqi reporting about the situation<BR>here. We are working on a consensus model, and - while<BR>I'm offering lots of advice & encouragement - I am<BR>making them (lol) make all the decisions themselves...<BR><BR>I agree that a full-fledged IMC Baghdad is not likely<BR>anytime in the near future (mostly because of<BR>infrastructure-related problems, both the physical<BR>infrastructure & the human infrastructure - people are<BR>going to need lots of training to run things<BR>themselves). <BR><BR>I also think that it's absolutely critical that<BR>whatever we end up doing be for *Iraqis* and not just<BR>*by* them - in other words, an internet site is *not*<BR>the only thing we should be planning, when no one here<BR>(except a few journalists) can get on-line, and likely<BR>that won't change for some time...<BR><BR>So... my thoughts are to do whatever we can for the<BR>web, but to put the main thrust behind starting up a<BR>community newspaper. We are locating a house/office,<BR>we are brainstorming, we are building connections to<BR>make this happen & bring as many different voices on<BR>board as possible. <BR><BR>Here's what we've come up with so far:<BR><BR>1) A weekly (or semi-weekly if we can swing it, but<BR>likely not at first) newspaper in Arabic and English,<BR>called "Al-Muajaha, The Iraqi Witness." (al-Muajaha<BR>means "The Facing"), to be printed & distributed here<BR>in Baghdad, and world-wide on the Web.<BR><BR>2) Six sections to the paper: <BR>- News & Features (news & human interest stories), 2-4<BR>pages.<BR>- Arts & Culture (to include 2 poems by local poets),<BR>1 page.<BR>- Religion (inclusive of all faiths & sects in Iraq),<BR>1 page.<BR>- Iraq Under the Saddam Hussein (but called something<BR>else, tbd, where 1 submission per issue would be<BR>accepted/solicited talking about experiences under the<BR>previous regime), 1/2 page.<BR>- Community Announcements, 1/2 page. <BR>- Opinion/Editorial, 2 pages.<BR><BR>This gives us 14-18 pages each issue (dbl the #s for<BR>English/Arabic).<BR><BR>3) We need: editors for each section, extra writers<BR>for at least the News & Features section,<BR>photographers, Arabic & English copy editors, and a<BR>layout editor. We could rotate the editorial jobs to<BR>make it less hierarchal, but I, personally, would be<BR>worried that - at least at first - if we didn't have<BR>one person responsible for each section, that it would<BR>be difficult to actually get it done...<BR><BR>4) In terms of equipment, we need:<BR>- 5 computers w/arabic language support & keyboards<BR>- 2 printers<BR>- a xerox machine<BR>- a fax machine (once phone lines are back up)<BR>- 2 phone lines<BR>- a dedicated internet line (sat modems to serve until<BR>phones are up)<BR>- 2 digital cameras<BR>- 2 video cameras<BR>- 2 file cabinets<BR>- 5 desks/chairs<BR>- a sofa & lounge chairs<BR>- an air conditioner<BR>xiii) a fridge<BR>xiv) a generator (even when power comes up, it's<BR>likely not going to be available 24/7)<BR><BR>the sat modems are $1300 each, plus $13/megabyte<BR>(downloaded or uploaded), the other stuff comes to<BR>$12K, by our estimate (purchasing it locally)<BR><BR>5) Additional costs are:<BR>- Rent: estimated $7-12K/year<BR>- Transportation: est. $5K/year<BR>- Food: est. $1K/year<BR>- Office supplies: est. $1K/year<BR>- Utilities: est. $1K/year<BR>- Printing Costs: unknown, we are researching this<BR>(it's taking some time as most places are still shut<BR>down from the war, and travel in the city is both<BR>time-consuming due to roadblocks, and expensive due to<BR>gas prices & all the journalists here jacking up<BR>prices, lol)...<BR><BR>So... we've got an initial estimate of $32K/year, plus<BR>printing costs, to start this...<BR><BR>We also talked about salaries, and while everyone is<BR>committed to making this happen for free if need be,<BR>but they would like to make at least $20/month for<BR>themselves & their families - so that would be another<BR>$3K/year or so if we have a dozen people on staff...<BR><BR>How does all of this sound to folks - both the general<BR>idea, and the budget?<BR><BR>We can work toward making this self-supporting asap,<BR>but... if we don't sell advertising, I'm not sure how<BR>we're going to do that for a paper...? Suggestions?<BR>Feedback?<BR><BR>Regards,<BR>Ramzi Kysia<BR>Voices in the Wilderness, Baghdad<BR><A href="http://www.vitw.org/" target=_blank><FONT color=#247cd4>http://www.vitw.org</FONT></A><BR><BR></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV><BR><BR>Break A Silence<br>breakasilence@sbcglobal.net<br>P.O. Box 74210<br>Los Angeles, CA 90004<br>310 739 1159
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