[New-imc] PROPOSAL [Deadline 3/2]: ny.indymedia.org zone

[Arc]

Short Proposal:  

Creation of ny.indymedia.org zone for IMCs in New York State, especially
smaller cities and villages, and for subsections of existing IMCs which
have seperate sections of their website for seperate coverage reigions.

I propose 7 days for discussion and review, at which time we can extend
for further discussion or pass if nobody blocks or requests extension.

Deadline: March 2nd, 2003

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Long Proposal / Explaination:

I discussed the prospect of a Southern Tier IMC with Rachel yesterday on
the phone, basically it looks very prosective but difficult to organize
a full IMC in Corning + Hammondsport, so we discussed alternatives and
ways to progress towards this goal while operating as an IMC.  This is
an interesting case as both Corning and Hammondsport are only a 40
minute drive from Ithaca, where we currently have two members who drive
a greater distance than this to attend our weekly meetings.

Here in Ithaca we have already discussed, at length, having meetings in
neiboring cities and villages with the effort to create extensions of
our IMC which would eventually grow to become full autonimous IMCs.
Until I spoke with Rachel last night this remained just an idea we were
tossing around, however.

Tonight at our general IMC meeting it was consensed on that we would
begin creating "bud" IMCs, mini-IMCs that are a part of our group (and
in some cases including current members who travel up to an hour each
way to attend meetings) but have their own section of our website which
they have editorial control over.  They are responsible for their own
fundraising but can share equipment and, because of our close proximity,
our human resources.  This is to help them grow as organizations, they
may choose to remain part of the larger IMC or they may eventually
decide to become their own IMC, which would obviously require they pass
through the new-imc process and obtain status as a full IMC.

The main concern locally is the concept that Ithaca is imposing it's
established policies on other cities, whereas it would be optimal that
they would be self-governing.  For this reason we'll be giving editorial
control to these sub-groups, within the guidelines of Open Publishing
and the Principals of Unity, with IMC-Ithaca's editorial policy only a
starting point for cities which have not drafted one of their own.  We
also invite members of these subgroups to attend general IMC meetings
(we already have atleast two members who travel an hour or more to
attend meetings) and participate on our list to be part of the parent IMC.

This has been happening already, such as North Carolina IMC, which has
several sub-cities with the hopes that these cities would eventually
become IMCs of their own, so this is nothing new or precident setting.

Alternativly, ny.indymedia.org could be created for all IMCs in New York
and smaller cities within the state could be given, wether sub-IMCs or
official IMCs, a domain within this subdomain.  Larger cities could be
given both.  Our state has more IMCs than any other state in the
country: NYC, NY-CAP (Troy/Albany), Ithaca, Rochester, and Buffalo, and
there are currently three new-imc applications which would make 8 total.
I doubt this is the end, as there's been organizing in Syracuse and
Watertown as well, and I really don't think the pace is slowing down.

I'm also proposing that an existing IMC can request a state subdomain
for a city in which it represents, both by providing news coverage for
and by having members living in/near, without first having to pass that
new city through the new-imc process.  This is not an IMC and must point
at that IMC's website, prehaps to a section of that website.  This does
not prevent that city from forming an autonimous IMC by passing through
the standard new-imc process, but rather, is in the hopes of making the
process of creating a new IMC easier.

I believe this process would also be great for parts of CA, where there
are many small cities close to eachother but not close enough for
members to often travel to a central point for a meeting.

More than anything, it allows Indymedia to expand into rural/suburban
areas of the country where the populus cannot support a full IMC but has
energy to do media work in their area.  This is of course an experiment,
as all of Indymedia always has.  We're interested in trying this new
organizational model, one which appears to be working elsewhere.

The ny.indymedia.org zone isnt a requirement for this, but it would
make the subgroups more accessable via easier to remember URL and make
the future transition to becomming an IMC easier for these subgroups.

Please note that ny.indymedia.org is not being proposed as
ithaca-controlled, but available both to new-IMCs and to subgroups of
all IMCs in NY.  Ie, NY-CAP may wish to create seperate Albany/Troy
domains pointing to seperate sections of their website, or an
IMC-Canton may be given canton.ny.indymedia.org to distinguish it from
Canton, OH.


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