[New-imc] Proposed new IMC!

[evan at protest.net]

Hi Jenny and Govinda

I'm Evan from the new imc working group. I'll be working with you to try
and help you through the process of starting an imc and joining the
indymedia network. I live up in arcata and would be happpy to come down
for a meeting to any questions you might have.

The first thing you need to do is look over the documents at
http://newimc.indymedia.org. Because you've filled out the form i assume
you're already familure with them. I especially recommend reading through
some of the applictions from other imc's. This will give you a sense of
what the new-imc working group is looking for.

Of course indymedia is an autonomous decentralized network of media
centers so you don't ever have to ask permission to start organizing. A
sucessful imc starts when local people who are enganged in social
movements take initive. We created the new-imc process for two reasons.
First so that we will have a democratic and transparent process for
deciding who is part of the indymedia network. This is not a process by
which we judge and run you through the system. Rather we hope that through
a dialog about indymedia and your local imc we can come to a mutual
understanding. Part of this process is to educate people starting an imc
about some of the values, politics, and history of indymedia.

The most important part of starting an imc is the organizing work. The
'paper work' should come out of the organizing. We ask for a letter of
introduction explaining some of the background, editorial policy, and
mission statement. We need a point by point response to membership
criteria and principles of unity. This doesn't mean that you have to agree
to all of them but you do need to read them and respond. If you disagree
that will start a dialog about the meaning of the point and your imc's
perspective. These principles of unity and membership criteria are not
finalized because we have not achieved consensus among all the imc's on
them.

I have a few questions for you regarding outreach. Have you been in
contact with Penny from HAVAC in Laytonville? They've been involved in a
number of indymedia video projects. How about the Albion Monitor, green
fuse, or KMUD? We've had some meetings up in Humboldt county about
starting an imc. So far we've decided not to create our own website or
oganize a formal imc at the moment. For now we've been using the forest
activism section of the SF imc site. We also have an indymedia type media
/ computer lab at the redwood peace and justice center in arcata.

What scope were you thinking of the imc covering? It's my understanding
that ecotopia has traditionaly streched from south of santa cruz through
british colombia. There are already 7 existing imc's in the region. If
your imc is really based in ukiah then perhaps we should think of a more
specific name. I believe there might be interest in collaborating on some
sort of regional imc with one website but physical centers in a couple
cities. There is precident for this. Brasil has local imc's in 7
cities and Italy has more than a dozen. They colaborate on one website but
maintain seperate media centers and local organizing.

One other thing. On the 15th some groups in arcata are putting together an
event with mobilivre about independent media, books, and zines. Mobilivre
(mobilivre.org) is a traveling bookmobile/media making project that's been
going around the US and Canada and has already stopped off at a number of
imc's. It would be cool if some folks from Mendocino could come up for it.

I hope i haven't overwelemed you.

in solidarity,
evan

PS feel free to give me a call 822-1860 if you perfer talking on the phone
to email.

On Thu, 25 Jul 2002 jenny at cloudforest.org wrote:

>
> A proposed new IMC is being requested.
> Details are as follows:
>
> Proposed IMC Name:	ecotopia.indymedia.org
> Contact Name:		Jenny Burnstad
> Email:			jenny at cloudforest.org
> Phone:			707-463-2482
> City:			Ukiah
> State:			CA
> Country:		USA
> Tech Contact Name:	Govinda Dalton
> Tech Contact Email:	govinda at tucradio.org
> Tech Contact Phone:	707-467-0518
> Regional Focus:		yes
> Issue Focus:		%issue%
> Event Focus:		%event%
> Critical Dates:
> Supporting Groups:	Cloud Forest
> Institute,
> TUC Radio, KZYX&Z
> Mendocino Environmental Center
> Other comments:		Micropower radio webcasts of county Board of Supervisors meetings, indigenous peoples gatherings, and community events.
> Resources to contribute: Satelite link, 1.5 gigabyte Athelon server, 40 gig hard drive,
> local fm station, webcasting set-up, personnel with extensive technical experience in micropower radio, computer hardware, telecommunications, database design and community event organizing.
>
> Why we want to be an IMC: To establish a grassroots communications network and to provide a platform for alternative perspectives concerning community issues.
>
> _______________________________________________
> New-imc mailing list
> New-imc at lists.indymedia.org
> http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/listinfo/new-imc
>

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