[IMC-Tech] IMC Communication Minutes - Jan 1-7

Sun, 07 Jan 2001 19:01:02 -0800

in the spirit of kellan's inspiration in making the weekly summaries happen
for each of the global lists, i'm going to take on imc-communication (busy
week and not always dealing only with communication issues).  i'm also going
to stay within his format since it's easy to follow.  thanks kellan.

i also think we might want to include in these summaries, a highlighted
section of proposals so that people can easily find them.  i realize that
alot of things are in process so they are not necessarily concrete
proposals, but it might help focus the discussion.

sheri

(sent to imc-communication, imc-tech, imc-process, imc-global,
imc-editorial)

*************************************************************************

IMC-COMMUNICATION MAILING LIST SUMMARY for the week of Jan 1 - Jan 7, 2001.

IMC-Communication is a global mailing list for discussing communication
issues related to the IMC network, including systems of communication and
coordination intra-IMC and supporting the various processes for
decision-making currently underway on process and editorial.

This is intended to be a regular update on what is happening in the
imc-communication collective.

note: this is sheri's version of what happened this week and please feel
free to make any necessary changes or friendly amendments.  this was also a
rather hectic week on imc-communication with cross-posting and other items
that belong on other lists.  if i missed something, please add it to the
summary.

*****************************************************************

ANNOUNCEMENT: JANUARY 13 IRC MEETING FOR IMC-COMMUNICATION

time still to be determined.  a draft letter has been circulating [1], but
should be finalized shortly.  goal:  bring as many people together on one
list as possible and begin the process of full representation of all imc's;
figure out better ways of communicating and using the lists; the discussion
also includes global roundtable (getting all imc's onto one list/one forum),
ongoing role of the communication list; highlights of j13 irc planning
meeting (12/20) [2]; logs from that meeting [3]. this will be the first of
what we imagine to be many, perhaps biweekly, meetings.

1.
http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/public/imc-communication/2001-January/000
278.html
revised letters:
http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/public/imc-communication/2001-January/000
297.html
http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/public/imc-communication/2001-January/000
307.html
2.
http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/public/imc-communication/2001-January/000
287.html
3.
http://global.indymedia.org.au/front.php3?article_id=95&group=webcast

*****************************************************************

    SUMMARY FOR THE 1ST WEEK OF JANUARY 2001:

    Contents:
        january 13 irc meeting (see above)
        gainsville imc discussion
        criteria for new imc's
        imc survey
        global site discussion
        need for decision-making process
        lists, clarity, accountability, transparency

NOTE:  as we try and gain sanity over the lists and our on-line lives, and
keep from cross-posting unnecessarily, we are still faced with the reality
of the parallels between process and communication, and editorial and
communication, etc.  i think that's why we have so much discussion happening
on communication.  in some people's view communication=process, so therefore
the cross-over.  also, communication has been dealing with alot of issues
that have been quiet on other lists.  so some of these items don't
necessarily belong on imc-comm.  as we move toward greater distinction and
clarity of the mission and scope and responsibility of each list, as we gain
more and more representation of all imc's on the global lists, as we see
more weekly summaries like kellan's to help us process all this information,
as we have list coordinators that can point out when a topic needs to moved
to another list, as we have proposal and discussion topic updates, etc., we
will have more sanity in our communication and process and working
collective endeavors.  so in the spirit of clarity and simplicity and making
media and communication happen in a good way!

*****************************************************************

    GAINSVILLE IMC/CRITERIA FOR NEW IMC'S

http://www.metanet.org/gainesville-indymedia/

this discussion is currently ongoing on a few other lists (tech and
process).  the issue being that a gainsville imc has sprouted (supposedly
since last summer) but does not use an open publishing system.  there is
currently no contact information for them.  there are some cool aspects to
what they've done on their site.  it brought up the issue of criteria for
new imc's (since that had been a discussion on the list as well).  people
felt strongly that to be an imc, you needed to have open publishing.  still
under discussion

issues:  
(1) should someone contact them and check it out; collaborate, next steps?
(2) move the discussion to process not communication

what makes a site an indymedia site:
http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/public/imc-communication/2001-January/000
291.html

******************************************************************

    IMC SURVEY (GENERAL AND TECH)

we'd like all IMC's to respond to the general survey!

the imc survey was sent out a month or so ago in the attempt to find out
more about all the various imc's in the network:  who is involved in them,
what stage of development are they in, what are their needs, what kind of
decision-making processes do they have, mission statement, etc.  the goal
being better communication, coordination, collaboration for production and
distribution among a few goals.  this survey was distributed through the
imc-communication list and just recently resent to folks who missed it the
first time.  we encourage folks to take it to your local imc (whether
existing or just beginning) and answer as many of the questions as possible.
we'd like to then have the answers posted to imc-communication hopefully by
the end of this month.  (but we're not sticklers:).

IMC survey: 
http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/public/imc-communication/2001-January/000
293.html

the tech survey (which is included at the bottom of the general imc survey)
was sent out on november 15th.  the goal being to gather information about
the bandwidth needs of all national imc's.  we still are looking for imc's
to respond to this survey as well (only us-based imc's need to respond to
this survey).

tech survey:
http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/public/imc-communication/2000-November/00
0137.html
example from boston:
http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/public/imc-tech/2000-December/009877.html

**************************************************************

    NEW IMC REQUIREMENTS

the discussion of what it means to be an imc and what kind of criteria we
should have (if any) has been ongoing for a long time.  but we're getting
closer to having some specifics.  an expanded draft was sent out on 11/30
[1].  this draft has been tossed around for a bit and ended up on the
communication list where people were very excited to refine it and support
the tech collective who have been bearing the burden of making decisions for
way too long.  it was then updated with some extra bullet points and put
into more of a summary format [2]. a few points caused some concerns in the
network about certain requirements [3]. this discussion is ongoing on
communication and process [4].

issues:
should it be moved to process only?
need a clean version drafted with just key points
criteria of open publishing is hot

1.  
http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/public/imc-process/2000-November/000367.h
tml
2. 
http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/public/imc-communication/2001-January/000
299.html
3.  
http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/public/imc-communication/2001-January/000
315.html 
4. 
http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/public/imc-communication/2001-January/000
316.html 
http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/public/imc-communication/2001-January/000
323.html 

**************************************************************

    GLOBAL SITE DISCUSSION

what is the role of indymedia?  this topic came up in response to the IMC
requirements.  the topic swiftly shifted from imc requirements to global
site [1] in which some provocative suggestions were made about the role of
the global in relation to the local sites and what to do with the global
site, including eliminating the newswire etc. a lengthy response from arthur
was sent out that was entitled the future of indymedia [2] which articulates
and illuminates a number of the roles that the global site plays within the
network.  this is an ongoing and important discussion [3] and one which
involves tech and process and editorial and global.

1.  
http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/public/imc-communication/2001-January/000
317.html 
2.
http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/public/imc-communication/2001-January/000
319.html 
3.
http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/public/imc-communication/2001-January/000
326.html 
http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/public/imc-communication/2001-January/000
322.html 

**************************************************************

    NEED FOR DECISION-MAKING PROCESS

a simple and to the point email stating that we currently do not have a
decision-making process and how are we going to deal with how to spend our
money.  many of us are very aware of this and one of the reasons we are
trying to get full imc network representation in order to move forward with
a few decisions.

http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/public/imc-communication/2001-January/000
324.html 

this should be moved to process list.

**************************************************************

    LISTS, CLARITY, ACCOUNTABILITY, TRANSPARENCY, SANITY

as i've mentioned above, the communication list has become a place where
alot of topics are being discussed, from process to editorial to global to
finances.  in the desire for more sanity and clarity in our lives, several
suggestions are being put forward [1].  essentially, let's keep the various
lists well defined, let's move the discussions where the really belong and
perhaps start using global as a place for discussion of indymedia finances.
a rather short and succinct proposal was sent out [2] that outlined a few to
do's for list sanity:  (a) imc requirements moves to process; (b) outreach
letter for missing imc's and upcoming irc meeting stays on communication;
(c) global site discussion stays on process only; (d) we stop cross-posting
as much as possible; (e) we post discussion topics every few days.

another email suggested keeping the same subject line unless the theme
really shifts.  then change it.

1.  
http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/public/imc-communication/2001-January/000
328.html 
2.
http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/public/imc-communication/2001-January/000
325.html

issues:  
1. agreeing to the recommendations and following through with them
2. where to post discussion topics (need for cross-posting exceptions)
3. using global list as a place for financial discussions (or setting up
another place)

**************************************************************

SOME INTERESTING (PERHAPS EVEN RELEVANT) EMAILS FROM 2000 FOR YOUR RELAXED
READING PLEASURE

imc-communication beginnings:
http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/public/imc-communication/2000-November/00
0093.html
diversification (full representation of all imc's):
http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/public/imc-communication/2000-November/00
0133.html
proposal for next steps of communication and process (surveys and more):
http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/public/imc-communication/2000-December/00
0147.html
balancing global and local:
http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/public/imc-communication/2000-December/00
0164.html
working group representation for network:
http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/public/imc-communication/2000-December/00
0210.html
listening salon proposal (outreach):
http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/public/imc-communication/2000-December/00
0175.html
volunteer coordination:
http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/public/imc-communication/2000-December/00
0247.html
http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/public/imc-communication/2000-December/00
0249.html
http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/public/imc-communication/2000-December/00
0211.html
lists organization:
http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/public/imc-communication/2000-December/00
0246.html

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