[New-imc] IMC BOMBAY/MUMBAI EDITORIAL POLICY

[boud]

<crosspost new-imc,imc-mumbai>

Dear new-imc people,

Here's the IMC Bombay/Mumbai editorial policy, below. i'll put
my comments first.

(1) i think it would be good to create an editorial mailing list, in
order to separate this from general organising questions, and this
should be mentioned in the "howto" page, where the editorial policy is
written. If specific editorial decisions are only discussed once in
two weeks at the face-to-face meetings, this might not be enough.
However, when we see the minutes from the recent IMC Bombay meeting:

http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/public/imc-mumbai/2002-July/

maybe we'll see that this has already been well discussed.  In any
case, this is a local decision - if they have difficulty in the
absence of an editorial mailing list, then they can decide to create a
mailing list later.

(2) i don't how people feel about have a users' rating system which
can cause "low quality" articles to be hidden, as the risk is that
people with the least good internet access and poorest handling of the
language used (so far, English) could have their articles hidden for
this reason. However, that is again a local decision, and i think
there were long discussions about this elsewhere which i haven't
followed. As long as the locals have seriously thought and *decided*
about the problems and are capable of changing this decision later
according to their decision-making procedure (to be defined clearly
some time in the future), i think they have the right to make this
decision.

So neither of these justify delays, IMHO.

OK, below is the page and a copy/paste of the editorial policy.
URLs are indicated **like this**.



IMC MUMBAI/BOMBAY EDITORIAL POLICY (on the site as of 23/07/2002)

http://mumbaidada.bandwidthcoop.org/info/display/howto/index.php

How To Use This Site

The web site of the Mumbai Independent Media Centre has been designed
to be as user-friendly as possible, while still attempting to manage a
wealth of information, and some customisation options.

The right-hand column lists the main sub-section pages of the site, as
well as a frequently-updated list of the other IndyMedia/IMC sites
across the globe.

Users are encouraged to visit the **login** page, where they can
create a user account that facilitates publishing articles, and allows
some rudimentary filtering preferences based on ratings (see below for
more on ratings).

The center column is truly the centerpiece of the site. Our **feature
articles** are produced or commissioned by the editorial collective,
and offer quality journalism and opinion from the mumbai area.

The **media gallery**, highlighted at the top of the left-hand column,
is our repository for photos, videos, and audio files uploaded to the
site. When users have media to upload without accompanying text, from
protest photos to flyer illustrations and PDF files, it goes to the
media gallery. The gallery is broken down into categories, and can be
searched by title, keyword, caption, or artist.

The **newswire**, displayed in the left-hand column, is the backbone
of IndyMedia. Articles found on the newswire are uploaded by users all
over the world, and instantly displayed on the site. For our part, we
have divided articles into "Local Interest" and "Elsewhere", so as to
highlight local events and discussion.

While offering an empowering capability to users traditionally ignored
by the mainstream media, the newswire also provides a completely open
forum for viewpoints that may be in direct conflict with the focus of
the editorial collective -- anything from racist propaganda to
opinions that merely reinforce the views propagated by the mainstream
media.

It is the responsibility of the Editorial Collective (whose membership
is open to the public) to oversee the newswire with a careful eye to
balancing the open publishing philosophy with a desire to maintain the
"newsworthy" quality of the site. To this end, we employ two methods:
first, the editors will remove articles in direct violation of our
(very liberal) editorial policy. This includes advertising, duplicate
posts, and pieces which fail to even resemble news or commentary.

The second method is our user rating system. While browsing the site,
you are encouraged to rate articles using the popup menu at the end of
each piece. While user ratings cannot remove an article from the site
completely, they serve the invaluable role of deciding how much
prominence is given to the display of an article.

By default, only articles rated higher than -6 are displayed in the
left-hand column, and on the "newswire" home page. This is called the
"display threshold." If you have created a user account, you can even
alter that threshold to suit your own needs, e.g., display only
articles receiving +3 or higher. Articles which fall below the
threshold are moved to the **hidden articles** section, which is
linked from the bottom of the newswire column. They are still
available on the site, and can be linked to directly, but their
prominence is degraded as a result of user input. You are encouraged
to visit the hidden articles section to see what ends up there, and
why.

Finally, remember that the IndyMedia site is here for you. We
encourage you to **upload your own stories, commentaries, and
announcements** that may be of use to the community. And you are
further encourage to participate actively in the IMC group. Our
meetings are open to the public, and announced on the site's calendar
page as well as the Radicalendar at **www.radicalendar.org**