[New-imc] Online form: Proposed new IMC! (Santa Barbara Independent Media Center (SB-IMC))

[ginnybrowne at riseup.net]

Submitted by: Ginny Browne <ginnybrowne at riseup.net> on Tuesday, October 28th, 2003 @ 8:36:34 pm (-0800)

Client Variables
----------------

HTTP_USER_AGENT:
Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.0)

Online Form Fields
------------------

imc_name:
Santa Barbara Independent Media Center (SB-IMC)

city:
Santa Barbara

state:
California

country:
USA

contact_name:
Ginny Browne

contact_email:
ginnybrowne at riseup.net

contact_phone:
(805) 452-3896

tech_name:
Bryan Brown

tech_email:
bryan.brown at kcsb.org

tech_phone:
(805) 571-6560

supporting_groups:


regional_focus:
yes

critical_dates:


resources:
Some of us in the group have advanced tech skills in web design and maintenance, software production, and engineering.  Others of us in the group are very interested in process issues, in particular relating to consensus facilitation, grassroots organizing, relationships among IMCs, and anti-oppression work within individual collectives and the larger network.  We hope to aid in whatever way we can to strengthen these skills and sensibilities in the IMC movement as a whole.

outreach:
Last April, our group came together with representatives from the major independent, community media outlets in Santa Barbara as well as from a range of economic justice, environmental, anti-war, anti-imperialist and high school activist organizations.  Later in the Spring, we held a media convergence, including video, audio, and news trainings, at the annual People’s March for Social and Economic Justice (Santa Barbara’s largest yearly cross-movement, activist gathering) where we met with and recruited dozens of activists and supporters, some of whom have become core organizers for the group. While we have strong diversity along age and gender lines, we recognize a lack of racial diversity as a core problem for the group.  In combating this, we aim to build a solid, targeted outreach strategy for the coming weeks and months, and also plan to bring a “Challenging White Supremacy” workshop to the group before the end of the year.  

introductory_statement:
Never before have issues of media ownership and access been so central in the spotlight of radical movements in the U.S. and around the world.  Recent attention to the seemingly arcane field of communications policy has come hand-in-hand with a growing recognition by activists that access to a free and open media is critical to the growth of social change movements.  Our collective of media, social, and economic justice activists has identified the struggle for a global independent media movement as vital to creating the world we want to see.  By offering regular trainings in grassroots media and an outlet for dissemination, SB-IMC will create a forum for local activists both to report on their own movements and to make connections with other struggles taking place in our area.  By encouraging contributors to tap into their own experiences as sources of wisdom and knowledge, SB-IMC will directly challenge cultures of hierarchy perpetuated by mainstream, commercial media.  The
  IMC consensus-based operating structure and open-publishing mission will allow community members to participate in the creation of truly democratic media.  Finally, as part of a global IMC network, SB-IMC will both bring news and perspectives from Santa Barbara to readers around the world, while carrying news of underreported stories and struggles from other communities back to our area.