[New-imc] IDAHO (decision deadline 18:00 GMT, October 19)

[Jay]

Below is an introduction and response to the draft membership criteria but 
the aspiring Idaho IMC.  Everyone on the new-imc list, take a look.  If you 
have dissent or questions, please respond by the decision deadline, 18:00 
GMT, October 19.

IDAHO IMC introductory_statement:
The IMC\'s have become the most important new form of communication for
activists around the world. Idahoans have been working since the
inception of Indymedia to bring this resource home. In Idaho, politics
are more unrepresentative than in many other parts of the US and the world
(as represented by the gulf between public opinion polls and the
composition of the Legislature). A major reason for this is an extremely
closed media system. In Idaho, the major outlets are either owned by out
of state interests, or by very powerful local interests. We believe Idaho
Indymedia will become one of most effective tools in bringing activists
together, and in challenging the media and political monopoly in our
state. We will be proud to uphold the ideals and further the mission of
Indymedia\'s global network.



Below and attached are a statement in response to the IMC Networks 
Membership Criteria, and a Mission Statement and Editorial Policy for Idaho 
IMC.

IDAHO INDEPENDENT MEDIA CENTER NETWORK APPLICATION

IMC MEMBERSHIP CRITERIA:

Idaho Indymedia, having organized and established a committed membership 
substantial enough to sustain a functional IMC, and having held a number of 
open and public meetings over the course of a year, has agreed in spirit to 
the NIMC Mission Statement and Principles of Unity, and has adopted a 
Mission Statement consistent with that of the IMC Network (see below).

We have established and published a democratic, transparent editorial 
policy consistent with IMC policies and practices.  We are committed to the 
use of Open Publishing as described in the NIMC Editorial Policy, have 
adopted a consensus-driven decision-making policy that is open, transparent 
and egalitarian (see below).

We have appointed two spokespersons willing and capable of participating in 
the global decision-making process and meetings as rotating liaisons and 
representatives, with a clear understanding of the responsibilities that 
come with this role.  We intend to participate in the key IMC Network 
Communication Methods that pertain to the health and vitality of the 
Network and that contribute to the work of the IMC, and will assure that at 
least one person from Idaho Indymedia participates at any given time on the 
IMC-Communications list.

Idaho Indymedia has no official affiliation with any political party, state 
or candidate for office and shall in no way engage in commercial for-profit 
enterprises.  We have displayed a "local version" of the IMC logo on our 
website and literature, and have included a current IMC Network "Cities 
List" on the front page of our site.

Our site is complete, and is available for inspection at 
http://208.39.216.125/.  We are immediately ready and look forward eagerly 
to participating in the IMC Network.


IDAHO INDEPENDENT MEDIA MISSION STATEMENT:
The Idaho Independent Media Center (Idaho IMC) is a non-commercial, 
democratic collective of Idaho independent media makers and media outlets, 
and serves as the local organizing unit of the global Indymedia 
network.  Our mission is to encourage a world where globalization is not 
about homogeneity and exploitation, but about diversity and cooperation, to 
cover local events that are ignored or poorly covered by corporate media, 
to provide edited audio, video, and print stories of the above on the 
internet for independent media outlets and the general public, to 
facilitate the networking and coordination for the coverage of local events 
as well as gather information about events to cover, to provide links to 
alternative media, activist, and research groups, to seek out and provide 
coverage underscoring the global nature of people's struggles for social, 
economic, and environmental justice directly from their perspective, to 
offer community classes for training in internet and media skills, and to 
encourage, facilitate, and support the creation of independent news 
gathering and organizations.

IDAHO INDEPENDENT MEDIA EDITORIAL POLICY:
Idaho IMC provides an un-moderated, open-publishing newswire in accordance 
with our Mission Statement.
Idaho IMC maintains the newswire and website as a community space, and as a 
safe environment for users ­ especially members of marginalized groups.
Idaho IMC serves to create a medium that respects people's rights to engage 
in free and open dialogue.
Idaho IMC works to preserve the quality of the website as a useful media 
resource.
Postings to Idaho IMC are un-moderated.  Members of the editorial 
collective will regularly monitor the newswire, looking for particularly 
significant, informative contributions to add to the front-page 
center-column feature section. From time to time there will be a call for 
articles around specific issues.
While committed to maintaining the open nature of the newswire, as noted 
above, in circumstances contrary to the editorial policy of Idaho IMC the 
editorial collective may reclassify news postings as comments, or remove 
them from view.  In most cases, postings are reclassified or hidden because 
they are empty or duplicate posts, or because they consist of advertising 
or other inappropriate content.  You can monitor decisions made by the 
editorial collective by viewing the hidden article page.  The procedures by 
which the collective makes such decisions and the details of Idaho IMC 
policy are spelled out below.  If you disagree with the content of a 
particular article that someone has posted or can provide further relevant 
information, you may comment on the article through the "add your own 
comments" link at the bottom of each post.
In accordance with Idaho IMC's mission, the online newswire is designed to 
give people the tools to become independent journalists by providing a 
direct, un-moderated forum for presenting media ­ including text articles, 
audio and video recordings, and photographs ­ to the public via the 
internet.  Within that general framework, we specifically encourage 
individuals to publish:
­ Researched and timely articles
­ Eyewitness accounts of progressive actions and demonstrations
­ Coverage of local regional, national and international issues and events
­ Media analysis
­ Investigative reports exposing injustice
­ Stories about events affecting under-represented groups
­ Media produced by under-represented groups
­ Local stories with national or global significance
­ Stories about people or projects working towards social and economic justice
The views expressed and content of postings to Idaho IMC are the 
responsibility of the authors.
EDITORIAL PROCESS FOR HIDING NEWSWIRE ARTICLES:
This policy explains the process by which postings to Idaho IMC may be 
hidden, or removed from view, by members of the editorial collective under 
certain conditions. These conditions are divided into four groups, each 
described below along with the corresponding process for hiding a posting 
from the newswire.
A. Problems For Immediate Action:

1. Posts containing no content
2. Duplicate carbon copy posts
3. Profit Motivated advertising or job descriptions

Process for hiding posts containing problems for immediate action:

1. An empowered editor (active member of the editorial collective) 
identifies a posting as a problem and immediately hides it.
2. The editor appends a signed comment to the hidden article explaining why 
it was hidden.
3. The editor addresses an explanatory letter to the author of the posting 
(if email is given), and sends the letter first to the editorial collective.
4. If no objections are raised by the editorial collective within 1 day, 
the explanatory letter is then forwarded to the author.

B. Problems Requiring Discussion:

To be dealt with on a case-by-case basis. Maintaining openness is a 
fundamental goal of the policy. Where consensus is not achieved within the 
editorial collective about the removal of a post, the post remains unhidden.

Potential problems identified so far include:

1. Content that is borderline profit motivated advertising
2. Clearly off-topic postings
3. Copyrighted or other illegally duplicated content that exceeds the 
bounds of fair use.
4. Racist, sexist, homophobic and/or pornographic comments unrelated to or 
contributing no substantial value to the topic under discussion

Process for hiding posts containing problems requiring discussion:

1. An empowered editor identifies a posting as a problem and alerts the 
editorial collective, recommending that the post be hidden.
2. At least two additional editors must concur with the first editor's 
judgment, and none express disagreement, or, 24 hours must pass without any 
editor expressing disagreement.
3. The editor hides the posting.
4. The editor appends a signed comment to the posting explaining why it was 
hidden.
5. The editor sends the author an explanatory letter (if email address is 
given), also forwarding it to the editorial collective.

C. Spam Attack Procedure

A spam attack is defined as a pattern of abuse of the newswire by a 
particular poster. If the editorial collective reaches consensus (at a 
meeting or on the listserv) that a specific individual is launching a spam 
attack on Idaho IMC, the spammer's post(s) may be hidden from the newswire 
by a member of the editorial collective. Each instance of recognized spam 
will be considered individually, and the reason why the editorial 
collective perceives the post(s) as spam will be stated on the editorial 
list, as well as in a comment on the hidden article itself. When a member 
of the editorial collective hides a post, (s)he shall immediately notify 
the editorial listserv.

D. Unanticipated Problems

This category accommodates the evolutionary nature of our editorial policy; 
future postings containing unforeseen problems may require editors to 
intervene, and then to further refine our policy.

Process for hiding posts containing unanticipated problems:

1. An empowered editor identifies a posting as a problem and alerts the 
editorial collective, recommending that the post be hidden, and carefully 
articulating specific reasons why editorial policy should be changed to 
restrict the problem in question.
2. At least two additional editors must concur with the first editor's 
judgment, and none may express disagreement, or 24 hours must pass without 
any editor expressing disagreement.
3. The editor hides the posting.
4. The editor appends a signed comment to the posting explaining why it was 
hidden.
5. The editor sends the author an explanatory letter (if email address is 
given), also forwarding it to the editorial collective.
6. The new restriction becomes, provisionally, part of editorial policy. As 
soon as possible, the editorial collective should critically discuss the 
provisional policy change, deciding whether and how to alter the written 
policy.
7. Online policy documents are altered to reflect changes in policy.


resources:
350MGHZ - 16gig drive - 256K DSL; Programmer with 21 years experience
including HPUX, AIX, Linux, DOS, Windows; Members of working group have
extensive experience in organizing, activism, web journalism, photography,
and law.

outreach:
The Idaho Indymedia working group has held a number of public meetings,
and invited members of human rights, women\'s rights, minority rights,
GLBT, disability and other groups to participate. We will redouble our
outreach efforts once the site is active.