[New-imc] Philly IMC concerns on IMC-US

[Mike R]

The Independent Media Center of Philadelphia does not place a formal
block on the entry of IMC-US, but expresses concern and makes the following
suggestions:

- That the founding documents, mission statement, and the official text
of the site itself be translated at least into Spanish, and that the site
provide readers with the technical ability to post in the different
languages spoken within the US, and to view posts sorted by language.
That there be a regular interface between IMC-US and the translation
listserves and collectives an international translation tools already
available within Indymedia, in order to make this linguistic diversity
real.  That participants in internal discussion make an effort to keep the
mailing list bilingual, and that the coordinators conduct real outreach to
include non-english-speaking participation, and that this be reflected in
the outreach statement of the founding documents.

- That the phrase in the outreach statement, "Additionally, the outreach
group would contact other independent media organizations (especially
those in areas where there are no IMCs) to spread the word about the
US-IMC website" be changed to "Additionally, the outreach group would
contact other independent media organization (especially those in areas
where there are no IMCs) to encourage mutual aid and support,
collaboration, and to invite input and support to the US-IMC website," so
that the process is more reciprocal.

- That the IMC US internal discussion include direct participation from all
the US-based and US-territory-based IMCs whose news they syndicate.

- That there be a clearer explanation of the process of human involvement in
decision-making within IMC US.  If it is not to be a purely automatic
syndication site, then the process of feature-writing and sorting of
features should be made more clear and should include direct participation
from representatives of all of the sites syndicated, with provisions for
broad democratic participation, for example by providing for periodic
face-to-face meetings based regionally.

- That the IMC-US list be made more accessible to broad participation of
Indymedia volunteers by linking to the IMC-US internal list from the site
http://lists.indymedia.org, placing founding documents on Wiki pages at
http://docs.indymedia.org, and encouraging broader participation in
the list. 

- That the site layout be changed so that the syndication newswire header
reads, "collected features from participating Indymedia Centers within the
US," rather than just, "Collected from the IMC Network".

- That wherever the official site text and documents make reference to
"America" "American" or "Americans," these be changed to "United States"
and "US and US-territory residents."

- That the newswire have an open publishing feature as well as a syndication
feature, using for example the same format as the global site, to
encourage democratic participation in the news-making process.

- That inasmuch as the site layout and feature selection are influenced by
human decision-making, the coordinators emphasize cross-border
collaboration, such as projects of the Northeast North America grouping,
border camps, the current realities of the impact of US policy on the
rest of the world and especially Latin America, and other trans-border
issues.

- IMC Philly is already actively involved in regional organizing such as
NENA and regional and national independent media collaboration on issues
such as radio broadcasting and media ownership.  We will maintain
contact with IMC-US to help encourage broader and more democratic participation
and diversity.  At least one of our volunteers, SuZQ, will stay
involved with IMC-US process and will volunteer translation assistance.


-Mike R
Philly IMC