The IMC movement is at a critical crossroads. We need to develop the research tools and methodologies necessary to understand the ways in which the movement is growing, how the application of radical democratic principles are impacting our work, how people are using the network, the effectiveness of our outreach etc. This panel will include presentations by several researchers examining these and other questions about the IMC movement and a discussion about how we can work together to create a more coherent, comprehensive research program.
see also:
ImcATXConferenceQuestionAire2
IMC & RESEARCH WORKSHOP - February 20, 2005
Austin Indymedia Conference
Rough notes by Sheri - audio will also be made available.
3 BRIEF RESEARCH PRESENTATIONS:
1st presenter - Andy Opel
(1) sees IMC as part of the \x93media reform
movement\x94 there are other wings of the movement which goes by different
names, but he prefers the term \x93media activism\x94 rather than media
reform or media democracy because it is about creating new information.
(2) we should connect with our allies more; we can see we have allies
with different skillsets - podcasting, bloggers, LPFM, media policy.
How we relate to these groups is a critical question for us.
2nd presenter - Lisa B. Brooten
(1) we need to break down the academia and
activist binary because it sets up a social hierarchy; let\x92s talk about
coproduction and coscholarship; (2) there are gender problems in the
movement - accountability issues in the movement and internal network
problems. (3) hierarchies are constructed in multiple ways; what
solutions are there? ex: Edward Said - emasculation of the Arab male;
(4) project - do a textual analysis pre-Iraq of Indymedia coverage. By
paying attention to gender, we see how hierarchies are constructed.
3rd presenter - Rich Templin
(1) looking at server statistics; how much
traffic on the Tallahassee IMC site; people got excited about how many
people were using independent media; (2) they recognized the security
issues around logging ip addresses, but they have a workaround -
Tallahassee IMC techie; (3) what they discovered from the responses
they got from the network regarding their study: (a) security (b) many
IMCs did not have access to their own servers - this seemed to be a
social and digital network disconnect; (4) the whole question \x93what is
indymedia?\x94 raises alot of questions: \x93If it\x92s a public sphere, what
does it look like?\x94; (5) there seems to be a problem with the \x93contact
us\x94 on many imc sites - you can\x92t get to the people behind the website;
(6) maybe we could do a census of the u.s. imc network.
DISCUSSION
Regarding the NYC traffic, there was a drop off in April 2003 - brings
up the question of the continuity in our audience.
We need ways for the network to talk about itself and aski ourselves
whether we\x92re achieving our goals. We need to be thinking
strategically and with reflection. This kind of thinking and
discussion leads to increased collective intelligence.
Website discussion: Several years ago, several people throughout the
network (activists, media makers and academics) discussed a website for
compiling all the research that had been done on Indymedia. We wanted
a place where people within and without the network could discuss the
topics that were being raised and written about. Increase
participation of indymedia participants in current and ongoing
research. there\x92s a disconnect often between researchers and
indymedia. we wanted to bridge that gap. We started to compile
research in english and portuguese but never got further. We talked
about the first steps being a wiki.
In light of the need for internal reflection, what about
reflection.indymedia.org rather than research.indymedia.org? Some
thought it would be confusing to people; it should be clear that it is
about researching indymedia vs. academia.
Goals of this kind of work, whether a website or a working group/list
would be to enable each other and put ideas together more
synergistically.
There\x92s been a failure in terms of archiving - could a researcher help
with that?
The wiki from the conference could lead to research.indymedia.org.
Indybook project discussed - how to put together a book about indymedia
with as much input as possible from all nodes of the network.
Some people view this as being class-based - intellectuals and
academics.
perhaps we need to hybridize academic and indymedia so it\x92s a new space.
How can we stop the use of our information from being used against us -
i.e., Rand, Cointelpro.
In all this discussion, we are forgetting the important piece of
teaching. Not everyone who is doing \x93research\x94 wants to publish a
paper, some people want to spread the ideas of indymedia and
participatory media and journalism to their students. Turn people on
to the possibilities.
Discussion about people wanting to see research ON indymedia PUBLISHEd
on indymedia. Some people shared that it was difficult if you wanted
to publish original work it couldn\x92t be published on a newswire. One
idea was to publish a draft or remove noncritical paragraphs and
publish it. This seemed important to many people in the workshop and
outside.
Possible solutions - open source publishing.
ACTION STEPS
1. Work on research site - short and long term steps for creating a
working space for sharing information
2. Set up imc-research email list for continuing the conversation
3. Link up with people like Lessig, Benkler and Eben Moglen to push
the academic and publishing world boundaries over copyright. Connect
up with Future of Music community re open source publishing.
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AaronCouch - 16 Feb 2005
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JeffLazar - 21 Feb 2005 - added questionaire
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AaronCouch - 04 Apr 2005 - added notes taken by Sheri