* reduced names or ego.
* hardly any moderation of right hand column news.
* only collated feature articles from best of right hand in central column.
* prominent calender.
* full adherence to global principles of unity ( like on Malta IMC at top of front page)
http://www.malta.indymedia.org/?q=PrinciplesofUnity
* encouragement of graphic design over protest photos.
* no commercialisation of comments via youtube.
* clear publishing form with all copy options from copyright to creative commons (like barcelona - you’ll need to switch to English first to read the page http://barcelona.indymedia.org/?lang=en_US then go here http://barcelona.indymedia.org/newswire/index.php?function=publish )
*** and so
- complete and guaranteed rotation of editors
- no duplication of roles
- no editors also mastering tech list
- no editor running list moderation
- and guaranteed gender balance.
Indymedia began a decade ago in Seattle for the G8 and London for the “Reclaim the streets” Mayday celebrations. Neither of these events would be covered properly in the commercial or state media. They thus generated their own newsvalue & media outlets. Read more…
Indymedia globally began using “Active” whose benefits included quicky and easy adoption by new IMC groups. But the software was never updated despite various pojects to do so. The founder of the open source movement and GNU project Richard Stallman saw his ideology championed in time by most new software systems developed globally for IMC use. These included MIR and Ithaca but by far the most important and widely spread was and is IMCDada. Read more…
A curious combination of jargon and therapeutic words which are used to cover the relationship between any indymedia collective and its commercial or state media hinterland as well as its own readers, contributors & volunteers. This category will offer a brief look at how this relationship has been abused to maintain a self-perpetuating core & unfairly promote reputations of some contributors over others.
Also of interest will be the surprisingly extensive section of Irish Political groups or Rights based groups and Trade Union or labour related groups who do not nor have ever been touched by “outreach”.
Indymedia Ireland very early on in its history attempted to tailor the global standard Creative Commons and Copyleft licenses. All versions of the software platform “Oscailt” adopted by the collective placed legally non-binding conditions on open publishing and thus alienated authors’ moral rights. Whereas other Indymedia sites had offered a range of publishing options ranging from the “Creative Commons” license to various levels of “Copyleft” interpretation, the Irish site chose to present a vague declaration of support for “CopyLeft” in general made in the name of “we in Indymedia” which could not nor can not remind binding. Thus “Indymedia Ireland” obstructed & obstructs open publishing by limiting the Indymedia contributors’ choices and undermining their rights. In doing so endangering the very protections Global Indymedia’s peer group are supposed to maintain. The process of publishing or contributing material which has developed on “Indymedia Ireland” further facilitates the usurption of author & contributor rights through the “feature articles” often presented as the work, or implied to be the work, of other named third parties. The practise of crediting authorship to the more prominent central column texts stands in sharp contrast to the collective anomynity chosen by most other Indymedia sites globally.
This category will look at this in detail as well as exploring an extensive history of plagiarism, mis-credited words & phrases and un-credited contributions.
As with many indymedia collective the Irish site is based legally around another group which registers and administers the domain as well as the associated bank accounts. The category “behind indymedia ireland” will look at the “inner sanctum”. It is very important to note that a key reason why Indymedia Ireland has failed to be a democratic organisation and can not become one is the role Oscailt development has played in ensuring the same quartet of individuals on the technical development list have remained the same supposed volunteers with editorial privilege and the same supposed impartial volunteers who have taken the positions of moderatorship.
this is in clear breach of global principle 6 of Indymedia unity.
When a national or city node blocks the contributions of its only disabled writer describing her as “below par” that node may no longer be considered to adhere to the unifying principles of Indymedia.
Indymedia Ireland has, like many other sites before, been hijacked by a self-perpetuating clique centred around one individual who has been subject of complaints at global Indymedia level for sexism, prejudice & abuse of privilege.
But that doesn’t really matter. Pirate Bay have provided this blog space, not to complain, but to uphold similar ethical principles of liberty. Those aboard the “pirate conspirators” ship who will now form a new Indymedia Ireland collective are not focussing their energies on conflicts or provocations with any one individual or any quartet.
Rather we are engaging in the much more noble project of Reclaiming Indymedia!
