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...being written....

13th October 2003, notes from Owen

Oxford IMC minutes 13/10/03

Corrections, comments, other interpretations etc welcome.

Agenda/Summary

1. Sheffield (UK IMC network meeting)
Discussed various issues which will arise at Sheffield.
2. Fresher's Fair
Reportback.
3. Undercurrents proposal
Discussed it, agreed to help with blag, Suzie will write proposal.
4. OUCS event
Postponed for next meeting.

Details

1. SHEFFIELD

1.1 Regional Autonomy

We discussed the 4 regional autonomy proposals: http://docs.indymedia.org/view/Local/UkNetworkAutonomyDebate

We also discussed ideas for more drastic transformation of the UK indymedia site, eg Hamish's idea of replacing the UK newswire with syndicated stuff from the regions.

There was also mention of the possibility of introducing twiki-like software which allows articles to be rewritten, while still retaining the original version. This could allow local articles to be given a UK context or vice versa.

We touched on the big question of 'what is UK indymedia for?' (also in the next discussion).

_Upshot_
We agreed that at the very least, we wanted to see proposal 4 implemented, and that people going to Sheffield should convey that.

1.2 Editorial Policy (non-news etc)

We discussed issues of hiding, etc. eg should we create a new sections eg for 'non-news'/rant, 'culture' etc. It was suggested that covering some of this stuff isn't really indymedia's job; there are other websites which do that. Which brought us back to the question of what we see as indymedia's purpose and values. It was pointed out that news is difficult to define; the boundaries of all these sections can be blurry. Someone suggested linking to other websites which provide services, rather than trying to cater for everything ourselves.

We also discussed the conflict between indymedia as a place of free speech for anyone, and indymedia as a space for progressive social movements: can we be both? and if not, which do we want to be?

_Upshot_
No decisions reached, except that we want to keep our options open with autonomy, so that if UK IMC goes down one path, we can choose another if we want.

2. FRESHER'S FAIR

Quick reportback from our stall at OU Fresher's Fair. We shared a (doublesized) stall with the new Oxford Student's Activist Network. Gave out the wicked new indymedia leaflets, and 350 people signed up for OSAN, all of whom will probably be hearing about indymedia. So, overall, quite a success.

3. UNDERCURRENTS PROPOSAL

Undercurrents are having problems funding-wise, they have packed up the Cherwell St office and will have to leave Oxford (for Swansea) unless they can get funding. Hamish proposed the idea of using Oxford indymedia to help undercurrents get funding for a video training space. However, this would be an undercurrents space; others might be able to utilise it, and the increase in DIY video skills would benefit OxIMC, but undercurrents would have the final say.

Hamish had concerns about equipment going missing etc. Discussion continued, some people were uneasy about the proposal, and some political difference emerged.

_Upshot_
We will let undercurrents use OxIMC name purely as a funding blag, and any individuals who want to get involved in the funding bid or general project are, of course, welcome to. Suzie said she will start working on writing the funding proposal.

4. OUCS EVENT

Since this is a way off yet, and the meeting had gone on quite a bit, we postponed this.

15th September 2003, notes from Eileen

Present

Niki C., Richard H., Charlie H., Charlie C., Rupert, Eileen CK

Agenda

1. Funding (contd)

2. Gig

3. Anarchist Book Fair

4. Leaflets for (2) Freshers' Fairs

5. Oxford Analytica

6. Calendar events

7. Flaming (contd)

8. CD of London anti-war demo

9. Next meeting

1a) Richard H.wanted to send in the first application for funding a.s.a.p. (deadline Oct 1st) but needed details of our new Coop bank account. Eileen said she would notify him as soon as she had received these details from the bank.

b) Charlie H. expressed his willingness to be the third signatory for the bank account, and would provide the Bank with the necessary details of his own account.

c) Richard also wanted the group to apply for another grant (Local Networks Fund???), deadline Oct 24th. There was some discussion about whether we really wanted to spend time applying for lots of grants. Richard said we needed funds to do more outreach work, possibly targeting schools. In addition, if we could get capital grants we would be able to have our own Oxford Indymedia equipment such as digital cameras, digital video cameras etc. Also, it had been decided in a previous meeting that we needed to rent a space - in Cherwell St - which we would share with Undercurrents. Someone raised the question of whether these premises would actually enable people to 'drop in' on Indymedia, seeing that we had no 'staff'. It was pointed out that that there would always be people 'around', as Corporate Watch and Rising Tide were neighbours.

d) There was some confusion over whether the Oxfordshire County Council's 'Living and Learning Grant Scheme' (mentioned by Eileen in Sept 8th meeting) was the same one as the grant we were already applying for. Richard will check this.

2) Fundraising Gig. Charlie C. to be Indymedia's main organiser. To be a joint event with Brookes STWC. Matt would be Charlie's main contact in Brookes: mjdmorton at ecocentrus.co.uk. Gig to be held in Helena Kennedy Student Centre. There was much discussion about the type/s of music. Charlie C. to investigate bands (possibly roots reggae?), contact Radiohead, Annie di Franco etc. Possibly DJs. As there is a mezzanine area in the centre, it could be used as a chill-out area, possibly with softer music? Check there is free access to Brookes for non-students. Check the bar situation. Date: 1/2nd week in Nov. depending mainly on bands.

3) Charlie H. urged us to go to the Anarchist Book Fair on 25 Oct. Venue: London University Students' Union bldg.

4) Leaflets for the 2 Freshers' Fairs. Stig had done a general one - Charlie H. to chase him up. Rupert asked for volunteers to hand out leaflets at Brookes Freshers' Fair 27/28 Sept. A flyer/poster specifically for the gig also needed - Charlie H. volunteered either to do it himself or ask Stig. Niki C. said she would produce some small 'handbills', with details of OU Computer Centre training on 10 November (lunchtime).

5) 'Oxford Analytica provides strategic analysis to over 35 governments..., the leading international institutions., as well as over 150 of the world's most successful mncs...

Niki C. thought we should discuss this organisation some time.

6) Calendar events. Niki C. urged us to go to the anti-war network meeting on Wednesday, Blackfriars 7.30pm.

7) Flaming - further developments. People were extremely perplexed at the sudden disappearance of most of this thread. It seems to have been removed by a Scottish Indymedia volunteer. This problem of who can 'clean' a regional newswire will need to be discussed at the Sheffield meeting (see also email from andi on 15 Sept). There was a discussion about the guidelines, with some favouring a strict interpretation and others preferring as little censorship as possible.

8) CD of kids' demo in London: At the beginning of the meeting, someone (name?) came and gave us a copy of a film shot in March in London, saying we could use it as we saw fit (the idea being to get it widely seen/distributed). It was decided to make a number of copies - initially Richard would copy the raw footage and also include an edited version, reduced to 10 mins.

9) Next meeting: Mon 22 Sept 7.30, at the Rap Yard.

8th September 2003, notes from Eileen

N.B. Please remember that every e-mail you send to these mailing lists goes directly onto the internet, and can therefore be read by anyone. You may want to think twice about putting your address, phone number or other personal info in any message to this or other indymedia lists. By way of an experiment, I'll put first names and initials only for these 'minutes', but I'm not persuaded it's useful.

Present

Jon F., Kal A., Eileen CK, Ian H., Charlie H., Niki C., Rebecca R (K?)

Agenda

1.. Briefing about some current Oxford Indymedia activities.

2.. Bank account

3.. St Giles Fair - report wanted on website

4.. Helping with DSEi dispatches

5.. Flaming on our website

6.. Plans for London demo, 27 Sept.

7.. Training at OU Computer Services Centre

8.. AOB

9.. Date/venue of next meeting

1.. Eileen brought members up to date, mentioning the Rap Yard Media Project and Oxford Indymedia's forthcoming application for funds to organize a programme of media etc training. Some of those present expressed an interest in coming to the Media Project's next meeting at the Rap Yard at 5.30 on Sept 15. Eileen promised to forward emails from the Rap Yard giving further info (and did so the same evening).

In addition to Indymedia's existing application for funds, Paul G. had suggested applying for a further grant from Oxfordshire County Council (Living and Learning Grant Scheme). Eileen to forward e-mail to the group with links to relevant website (done Mon pm). Possible further discussion of this next Monday? (Eileen has now contacted the Council's Gwenllian Davies and learnt that there is another deadline on 13th February - so we haven't missed our chance).

2.. Arising from the application for funds, we need a bank account. Eileen, Niki C. and Charlie H. to be the three signatories. Visit to Co Op on Tues to finalize arrangements (done).

3.. Ian H. was keen for Indymedia to cover St Giles Fair. He managed to get volunteers and the result is on the website. Well done!

4.. Jon F. wanted to ensure DSEi protestors could file their reports/access support quickly, and suggested a rota for people to sit on the end of their telephones to take calls. There were several volunteers (Eileen's comment: good idea, next time we should organize this a bit sooner probably).

5.. Charlie H. felt we had been right to be fairly tolerant of the flaming on website. Jon F. mentioned the possibility of a login system to 'control' the worst offenders (N.B. events have moved on very fast from here, we may need to mention it again next Monday).

6.. London demo: Jon suggested the Indymedia contingent should travel together by coach on 27 Sept.

7.. Niki had got permission for us to hold an Indymedia 'training' session in the OU Computer Services Centre. She e-mailed us the details on 9 Sept (date: lunchtime, Nov 10th).

8.. Freshers' Fair (10 Oct): No stall available, so a need for volunteers to hand out flyers (High St). Brookes Freshers' on 27 Sept: We will try to get someone in Brookes to distribute flyers for us.

9.. Jon F. made a remark about GMB/Unison in January - sorry, I didn't get the details.

10.. Next meeting, Rap Yard 15 Sept at 7.30pm (after Media Project meeting, 5.30 pm ).

1st September 2003, meeting didn't happen, brief mention by Eileen

...I could therefore, presumably, get the key[on the 8th]...but I hope some indymedia types will turn up this time!!!

25th August 2003, notes from Hamish

* money - seams IMC has \xA350 in a jar which was brought to the meeting... and was decided to set-up a bank account with the co-op

* indyemida in other countries - talked about working with a new Islamabad IMC and working with an existing US IMC - people will be checking out the international IMC list covering these areas.

This is a list of all the IMC organising e-mail list we should all join at least one extra one (: http://lists.indymedia.org/

some good ones might be: http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/listinfo/imc-europe

this is the one for offline/print work, might be interesting to re-start oxeceterlin the east oxford news sheet. http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/listinfo/imc-uk-print

this is a good local US IMC we have some connections two.. the are lots more... like the idea of twin up with one (: http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/listinfo/imc-boulder

Best to join as digest (at end of sign up page).

* dsei - need to organise a projector and the general need to be organised more with screenings...

* Teck problems - general html learning issues... the calendar etc.

* New features, racism, canal etc. would be good to do a list of possible future features.

* screenings - need to be more on the project...

That's a ruff outline if I missed anything please e-mail the list (:

Hamish XXX

18th August 2003, minutes from Suzanne original email

Dear all,

For those who didn't make it to the meeting tonight, and for those who did but have a low concentration threshold, here's what went down...

1)CALENDAR: We discussed the problem of the events calendar on our homepage - the problem being that we don't have a calendar purely for ourselves, but have to go via the national protest.net. It also seems to take a rocket scientist to work out how to do it, as we have all had trouble. It was decided that Charlie would look into the techie side of the possibilities for changing it, and that he would then contact IMC tech with the specifications for what we'd like on our page, so that some time in the future these would get implemented.

2) GEORGE'S EMAIL: We noted the email from George from rising tide, which raised two issues: i) We do not as yet have a page that gives a description of local groups along with links to a local contact. It was decided that this was a service imc should be providing. Suzie agreed to email George back and get a short paragraph from him on each of the groups he represents that he would like put up, and that she would email this text to Vince to write the code and put it up. ii) We don't have a "contact" email on the site which George complained makes it tricky to find us. We agreed that there are good reasons we don't have such a thing, namely that the way to contact indymedia is to get involved, join the list, come to meetings. We don't want one person responsible for replying to an email account in our names. It was decided that in future, when we receive a mail to the list, then whoever replies to it should email the list saying they've dealt with the enquiry and then inform everyone else via email or at the meeting what has been discussed. Richard said that the "contact" button takes you to an explanation of how to use the site currently, but that the site is still far from user friendly. Richard is going to write to Vince with what we'd like changed to make the whole thing simpler for first-time users.

3) BENEFIT GIG: Suzie told the group about a discussion the previous week proposing to hold a benefit gig to raise funds for Indymedia equipment, publicity etc. Generally agreed this was a good idea. Charlotte is going to reccy suitable venues. Matt said Brookes might be good, and that the Brookes anti-war society might join in the organising in exchange for a share of the funds. Hamish said other local groups might also be interested - eg. undercurrents. If people have ideas for bands, djs etc. they should come to next meeting.

4) TECHIE STUFF: Suzie whined a bit about problems putting up her DSEi feature. Much sympathy all round. Feature is now up though, so life will go on.

5) FUNDING: Hamish raised the issue of a grant of \xA31500 available for working with young people, training them how to do community based projects involving new skill acquisition. Sounds like it's made for indymedia, where we could pay undercurrents to do the course, with Indymedia people teaching. General excitement. Hamish is going to draw up a basic proposal, which we will then edit and send off. Need to do more funding applications to enable Undercurrents to keep an Oxford office, with possibility of IMC sharing the space in some way.

6) NEWS: Suzie is going to write a feature on subverts around Oxford with photos. Suzie is going to try to get an interview with local woman who refused to pay her taxes because of war. Eileen is going to write up a Campsfield newswire. Matt is going to write a newswire piece about the proposed development on the site of Jericho boatyard.

21st July 2003 notes from Paul

Below are some ideas that came out of the Launch Monday. It is not in any particular order. Sure some of you have started working on some already.

• RAP Yard project with Brookes
• Reach out to ehnic community
• Everyone inform 10 people of indymedia
• A forum for discussion
• Message board
• Computers on street
• battery from Sarah Lazenby is available with a cigar lighter
• Training
• outdoor screenings
• next meeting 7.00pm Monday 28th RAP Yard
• meeting after next in an allotment

14th July 2003 callout from Owen | notes from Paul

Attended by 6 people but 2 arrived at midnight! As this was the last meeting before the launch to sort out details it was disappointing.

Discussed the calendar and launch on 21st July (less than a week) and possible workshop at Rap Yard.

Calendar: we did not have the tec knowledge to make a decision but thought that perhaps it was a good idea to have events limited to 2 weeks.

Launch: We need a projector connected to the lap top. Can anyone organize this? Also need a screen. Will anyone take responsibility for this? publicity: copies of leaflets and posters have been sent to you. It was agreed that people would say where they would leaflet and some agreed to fly post. So who is leafleting where? Need to have leafleting outside Tecos, Cowley Rd., Cornmarket on Saturday would be good if not essential. Who is going to do this? Who is going to organise the fly posting? If we do not start publishing and organising the launch it is likely to be a fuck up. It is up to you. Recap on launch programme: 6.30pm all arrive to help with set up. 7pm Introduction by Owen and Hamish. Show Globalization and the media' and other film (who is organising this). Then more information on Indymedia and discussion.

Rap yard: Was suggested that we offer them a workshop and have a video made by the kids. This needs to be followed up.

If we pull out our proverbial fingers this can be a great success. If not it will be an embarrassing mess.

7th July 2003 callout from Vincent | minutes from Paul

See attached.

Need Becky to confirm the East Oxford Comm Centre today. The back of leaflet needs to be sent to me today This is to try and ensure we have leaflets for the weekend. Stig has agreed to help with design but Gary of Green print is away for 10 days and Oxfam seems the best bet at 3p for A4 sheet and 4 fliers per sheet. If we do both sides it is double this. I therefore propose we just do one side of A6. What do you think?

23rd June 2003

9th June 2003

19th May 2003

7th May 2003

27th April 2003

Hi group,

since many new people have been added to the imc-oxford list and would like to get involved, I think it would be a good idea to have a meeting to explain what indymedia is exactly, how the United Kollektives will work, to decide how the Oxford collective will work and to have a look at what we have to do now and what we will have to do when we are online. I looked at the One World Week schedule and I guess the best time would be tomorrow (Sunday April 27th) evening, say at 8pm. The best thing would be to meet up in my room in Holywell Ford since I set up everything on my computer and it will be easy to show you how it works and all.

However please confirm before tomorrow if you can come, so that it doesn't end up Linden and me having a chat about indymedia in general...

To go to my room: Take Longwall Street until you see on your right a small "Private Magdalen" path. Take this path until you bump into Holywell Ford! I live in staircase 3, room 3. If you're lost my phone number is 01865 286739.

hope to see you tomorrow,

vince

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In the 1960s, a student at Harvard Law School addressed parents and alumni with these words:

The streets of our country are in turmoil. The universities are filled with students rebelling and rioting. Communists are seeking to destroy our country. Russia is threatening us with her might. And the republic is in danger. Yes! danger from within and without. We need law and order! Without law and order our nation cannot survive.

There was prolonged applause. When the applause died down, the student quietly told his listeners: "These words were spoken in 1932 by Adolf Hitler."

from Howard Zinn's Declarations of Independence

21st April 2003 callout from Vincent

Hi group!

For those who can make it, there will be a first "official" Oxford indymedia meeting on Monday the April 21st - tomorrow - at 8pm at Magdalen MCR. Please tell anyone you think of who might be interested but who is not on this list.

How to get there: Well the best thing is to ask the Magdalen porters where the MCR is! I'll try to be at the Porter's Lodge to tell you where to go. If you get lost, my phone number is 01865 286739.

The plan for the United Kollektives (the UK network of local indymedias) is to release the new site on May 3rd, i.e. quite soon! Consequently Oxford indymedia will be released at the same time. Thus we have to decide a couple of things, so please come to the meeting if you're in Oxford and you want to be involved in Oxford indymedia!

What we have to decide: how the Oxford collective will work, the look of the local Oxford indymedia (to give you some ideas, you can have a look at different experiments from the Sheffield collective: http://www.synergynet.co.uk/sheffield-iraq/IMC/experiments/sheffieldsites1.htm ), and we have to split the tasks to do before May 3rd if we want to be online with the rest of the United Kollektives! We also have to discuss how we will publicize Oxford indymedia and how we will reach all the groups in Oxford that could be interested with an Oxford Independent Media Center.

Meanwhile, if my computer is ready (I'm installing a new and very cool Linux distribution (Gentoo Linux for the interested), but it's longer than I thought.... ), I will begin the process of classifying old postings on the general UK newswire and old features so that they appear on the Oxford local page when the United Kollektives are launched, i.e. so that the Oxford page is not a blank page. This and the other tasks that we have to do before May 3rd are well explained on the continually updated Twiki "Moving to MIR" set up by the UK indymedia collective (http://docs.indymedia.org/view/Local/UkMovingToMir).

Hope to see you all tomorrow,

paix, amour et liberte,

vince

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-- MarkBlinman - 19 Aug 2003