[New-imc] Re: [IMC-Process] (no subject)

[Joe Lanter]

Trying this again....

A proposed new IMC is being requested.
Details are as follows:

Proposed IMC Name:	Springfield Independent Media Center
Contact Name:		Marc Sanson
Email:			marc at msanson.com
Phone:			217-546-1210
City:			Springfield
State:			IL
Country:		United States of America 
Tech Contact Name:	Lisa Hensley
Tech Contact Email:	mslisa at insightbb.com
Tech Contact Phone:	217-428-9278
Regional Focus:		yes
Issue Focus:		%issue%
Event Focus:		%event%
Critical Dates:		
Supporting Groups:	*The Springfield Community Network
*The Media Activist Coalition
*Heartland Peace Center
*Springfield Greens
*Mary Wood Branch, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom
Other comments:		We have conducted public events and programs aimed at attracting a diverse group of people and interests.  We plan to continue reaching out to underserved and diverse interests in our community through outreach and through the stories and issues we cover.  We will also seek out the involvement of local organizations representing minority, homeless, women, immigrant, disabled and GLBT communities.
Resources to contribute: Although we have limited physical and financial resources at this point, we have a wide variety of skills and knowledge we can contribute to the global IMC network.  Skills among our members include: web design, video production, technical training, grassroots organizing, consensus training,  and many years of combined experience building progressive movements and organizations.

Why we want to be an IMC: The Springfield Independent Media Center is a grassroots organization committed to using media production and distribution as a tool for promoting social and economic justice in Springfield, Illinois and the Sangamon River Valley.. It is our goal to further the self-determination of people under-represented in media production and content, and to accurately illuminate and analyze local and global issues that impact ecosystems, communities and individuals. We seek to generate alternatives to the biases inherent in the corporate media controlled by profit, and to identify and create positive models for a sustainable and equitable society.

We wish to participate in the Indy Media Network in order to be able to share our skills and efforts with those working toward similar goals throughout the world.  We also hope to draw upon the knowledge, skills and energy of others in the network in order to help us achieve our purpose and vision locally.  Among the purpose of the Springfield IMC are the following:
- Move beyond coverage of only activist news and work toward providing a viable local alternative news source (i.e. covering local events that are ignored or poorly covered by corporate media)
- Actively reach out to communities which are under-served and under-represented in the Springfield area press and provide a forum for their voices to be heard and welcome them to participate in the SIMC
- Facilitate the production and dissemination of audio, video, photo and print stories by the general public
- Awaken critical thinking with regards to media, specifically the corporate and state media systems - provide links to alternative media, activist, and research groups
- Share Internet and technical media skills in workshops
- Utilize all forms of new and old technologies to achieve these goals so as to reach communities in our region who may not have access to the Internet

Individually, we also have our own purposes for promoting independent media locally and in joining the global IMC network.  Below are some of the individuals in our collective and their own personal statements:

Joe Lanter
Hello, I\'m Joe Lanter.  I am interested in being involved with the IMC because there is a crying need in Springfield for viewpoints that are progressive.  IMC and The Space (a local organizing center with which I am also involved) are two avenues for this need to be fulfilled.  I hope to bring some skill in organizing and a little content to the IMC banquet.

Marc Sanson
I've been involved in the Springfield Independent Media Center since the winter of 2000/2001, as well as other community and progressive interests in Springfield IL.  It is through my interests in peace, social justice, political reform, community building, and local control over media that I came to the SIMC.  It is my goal to utilize my skills in journalism, web design and organizing to help build a grassroots movement locally and contribute to the global IMC network in any way I can.

Sheila Nopper
After visiting with folks in Seattle who were organizing the first indymedia center to coordinate the media coverage of the demonstrations at the 1999 Festival of Resistance against the WTO, I began to work toward creating an IMC affiliate in Springfield, initially by making it the focus of my master¹s project for my self-designed degree in Media & Cultural Activism.  I was able to offer the SIMC skills in organizing, community building and alternative media which I developed from years of activism within Toronto¹s multicultural milieu, as a programmer and documentary producer at community radio station CIUT, as a freelance writer and from local projects developed by the Media Activist Coalition which I founded in Springfield in 1999.  My emphasis has always been to provide a radical critique of the status quo, and a place where the marginalized voices silenced by corporate media could be heard.
In collaboration with other Springfield-based media, and peace and justice activists, as well as some guidance from UCIMC, SIMC has developed a non-hierarchical and transparent organizational structure that is supported by a commitment to making decisions by building consensus.  Though at times it has been a struggle to accomplish this task, I believe the resolve of the group members to continue through the sometimes-difficult process of building consensus on these issues demonstrates our determination to become an IMC affiliate.
As someone who has always promoted the concept of integrating a physical space with the cyberspace component of indymedia---especially here in Springfield where access to a collectively operated community center was nonexistent---I am very pleased that the SIMC has decided to utilize and help financially sustain \"The Space,\" a small house that was recently rented by the new non-profit Springfield Community Network.  I think The Space will stimulate more people to \"become the media\" as well as help to build a more diverse and integrated web of activist projects in the area.
As for myself, I will soon return to Canada where I plan to continue to participate in the indymedia network as a freelance contributor to the
Vancouver and/or Victoria IMC.

Ron Sakolsky
I have been interested in starting an Independent Media Center in
Springfield ever since returning from Seattle where I got to visit the just established IMC right before the Festival of Resistance in 1999.  My ongoing interest has been to link Springfield up as a participant in the global network of IMC media activists and news sources, and to have a local IMC that can hopefully be a catalyst for the community-building process here in Springfield by offering an opportunity for progressive people to \"become the media\" and collectively create a culture of resistance.  What I have brought to the table is my skills at organizing/activism, consensus decision-making and grassroots fundraising.  While I personally will be leaving Springfield to move to Canada in August, I am increasingly impressed with the SIMC\'s accomplishments.  We now have a website and have begun to cover local stories, are attracting new participants, and have been involved in creating a promising new physical space in the community in conjunction with the Heartland Peac!
 e Center where grassroots activists can meet, hold events, organize and just plain hang out together.  Consequently, it seems that we have at this point, after much perseverance, established a solid foundation on which to build an active SIMC affiliate of which we can all be proud.

Bill Jarrico
Springfield is a flat and pious place.  The ground isn't steady because of carelessly dug mines under the city.  I haven't had the exposure to left culture here that I had before I came.   I hope to write and speak for the SIMC and maybe there are other ways I can help.  I've been a computer programmer since 1964 (in several different places) and have also worked as a lawyer.  I am the moderator of a website for local writers.

Lisa Hensley
I wish to bring my internet, computer and media production skills to the Springfield IMC in order to report on stories, groups and activities ignored or under reported by mainstream media and to teach others these skills in order to empower them to become the media themselves. I am also interested in event organizing in our physical space in order to promote SIMC\'s presence in the community and to facilitate outreach to the community as well.




  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Jay 
  To: Joe Lanter 
  Sent: Tuesday, July 02, 2002 7:16 AM
  Subject: Re: [IMC-Process] (no subject)


  Hi Joe,

  At 06:59 PM 07/01/2002 -0500, you wrote: 

    Actually, we've already applied and everything and were supposed to be in the weeklong "objection phase"  However, no one has responded...we sent in our application about 3 weeks ago.

  Oh jeez.  Hmm.  I just checked the new-imc list archives and can't pin down the posts with your information in it.  You're talking about your responses to the membership criteria and your IMC's introduction, right?  Hmm.  Sorry about the mix up.  I'll keep looking, and if I find it I'll make sure everyone at the new-imc working group has taken a look.  Just in case, would you be able to send it to the new-imc at indymedia.org list.  Make the subject: "SPRINGFIELD (replies to membership criteria)" so everyone knows to look.

  Apologies, 

  Jay

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