RE: [IMC-Philly] December 2002 MINUTES

The next Philly Anti-War Forum meeting is indeed Sunday Jan 5 from 1-3pm =
at
the aspace 4722 Baltimore Ave. We are excited about IMC folks attending, =
and
will put the joint media forum at the top of our agenda. If you have
specific things you would like to discuss, brainstorms or proposals, or
questions, feel free to email us before the meeting at [email protected] =
so
we can put stuff on the agenda. Otherwise, we'll plan on beginning with =
a
brief update of our thoughts on a media forum, and move from there.
Clarissa
Philly anti-war forum

-----Original Message-----
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] =
On
Behalf Of Amy Lorraine
Sent: Tuesday, December 17, 2002 7:42 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: [IMC-Philly] December 2002 MINUTES


IMC-Philadelphia December 2002 General Meeting
-- MINUTES --

Highlights:
* Meeting structure change =96 still the third Sunday,
but now in two parts: 4pm =96 steering committee /
business meeting; 5:30 =96 breakout / project planning
meetings * with food. * Next meeting: January 19.
* New server purchased; assembly in process; options
are exciting!
* We=92re involved in two collaborative projects =96 one
with the Philadelphia Anti-War Forum and one with the Sustainable =
Business
Network. Read on for details and email [email protected] if you =
want
to help out.

On the Agenda:
I. new server update & future possibilities
II. global IMC reportbacks: IRC meeting, new IMC list,
finance list
III. IMC-Philly financial report
IV. discussion: projects, priorities, planning
- web focus group project
- sustainable business network project
- PA anti-war forum event

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Present: Mike Rosenberg, Dan Obley, Rolando d=92Aguiar & =
Elana-the-adorable,
Jon Waxman, Amy Dalton

I. Server Update and Future Possibilities
* The first server was purchased for $1500 and the
tech team met last week to assemble all the parts. Unfortunately, the =
power
supply failed upon startup (complete with a dramatic display of sound =
and
light), and so the effort is on hold until the company sends a =
replacement.
This should arrive within the week.
* A decision was made to purchase $500 extra in memory
since we fundraised $2100 total. This purchase has not
been made yet. More fundraising will need to be done
if we are to fulfill our plan of purchasing two
servers.
* Server location: The data center where are server
currently resides is considering moving from its
current location in Conshohocken to Phoenix, Arizona.
If this happens, we will either need to move the
server to another local location, or make arrangements
to administer it from Phoenix. Jon W. felt that the
latter option was not impossible; a suggestion was
made that we get in touch with the Phoenix IMC. The
benefits of having the server live there are: the
location is incredibly secure and the DSL connection
is virtually fail-proof. We could perhaps find an
alternative data center, but probably not for free.
* Hosting 1: Jon W. reports that no hosting efforts
are on hold because of the server per se, but because
of lags in communication. At this point it looks like
Economic Human Rights Campaign and NY-IMC=92s The
Independent will both be hosted on the new server. Amy
reported that The Independent sent a big packet of old
papers but that no note was attached.
* Hosting 2: At October=92s meeting the option was
raised of using the new server to host new IMCs, such
as Turkey. Mike noted that Iran also needs a host.
Some concern has been raised with the amount of
technical support this will require. We discussed this
and came to 3 conclusions: (1) we should develop a
protocol / process document for how we host other
IMCs, to guide us in making this decision. (2) We
should go to the global tech network for advice and
assistance on this. Ro is the liaison to the global
tech list, but he has been unable to keep up with it
in the last month. Jon W. agreed to re-subscribe, and
serve as a liaison as well. Ro agreed to research the
process other IMCs who own servers use in the hosting
process.  (3) When we get such a process in place, and
make arrangements with Turkey, Iran, or others, we
should apply for a small grant from the global fund.

II. Global Reportbacks
* IRC: Mike attended the IRC meeting that was held
earlier today and reported the following: (1) He
attended the Repression breakout meeting and the
Process breakout meeting. In the Process breakout, the
problems of technology and communication were
discussed. An idea was raised of organizing several
tech training caravans to train IMC organizers in the
usage of the network-wide communication systems such
as Wiki pages. A proposal was also made to shut down
all lists that were not functioning and further to
shut down lists that were not generating summaries for IMC-Process. =
There is
a web page set up to facilitate process discussions =96 =
global.indymedia.org.
It is underused. There was also a meeting on getting computers to =
actions in
the global south that he did not attend=97in the report back they =
indicated
that the computers which were sent to Ecuador for an October action are
still held up in customs.=20

* Global Finance: Amy reported that the fund
distribution is functioning now, though there is
frequent differences of opinion on how well. Several
grants have been made and the current system allows
for de facto consensus after the set period of time
(which varies by the size of the request). Amy has not
been communicating anything to these decisions unless
the group has met and discussed them (which is rare),
based on the assumption that it is better to give
small amounts of the money away than to sit on it. The
group was in agreement with this policy. Amy asked
under what circumstances people would want to engage
in a higher standard of review. Two circumstances were
noted: if the propsal came from an IMC that has not
completed the new IMC approval process or is
considered to be =93lapsed,=94 and (2) if the proposal is
over $500. The group agreed that in these two
situations, Amy would send a not to IMC-Discuss with
the subject heading =93$$ QUESTION: XXX=94 and request
feedback within the time frame for the decision. Upon dissemination of =
these
notes, Amy will send this policy to the IMC-Finance list and ask for =
advice
from other IMCs on how they have structured this feedback loop.

* Mike: Nothing much from New IMC; Rolando: no report
from tech

III. Financial Report

* Amy brought the budget report. We have $5,695.05 in
the bank. About $2100 of this is for the server, and
will be paid out shortly. Just under $2000 of it is
for the space. Just over $1500 of it is for Volta.
Several medium-sized reimbursements are pending.
Anthony and Amy are working on a grant app for
January.=20

* Question: Dan noted that he has been in discussion
with Jon D. about restarting the Unconvention, and
inquired about print money. There is $121 in the print sub-account. Amy
noted that this money is virtual, because the Unconvention is also in =
debt
to several small businesses who purchased ad packages which we have not
fulfilled. Amy does not know how much money we owe to which businesses,
because Jon D. was the pointperson for ads. Amy noted that she could
probably figure this out by reviewing the budget records with a lot of =
time
and effort, but that she has not been able to prioritize this yet. The =
group
agreed that this needs to be clarified before any funds for the =
Unconvention
are considered again. Dan agreed to try to find out from Jon D. before =
the
next meeting what businesses were owed how much money.

* Mike noted that the password for the Paypal site
seems to be broken. Jon W. agreed to check on this.

* Jon W. suggested putting the accounts on free
software to reflect the IMC=92s increasingly deliberate
attempt to use freeware whenever it is available.
Currently the accounts are on Quicken. Jon W. and Mike
agreed to look into this.=20

IV. Discussion: projects, priorities, planning

At the November meeting, the possibility was raised of
having a strategic planning process in the new year to coordinate =
priorities
and projects, and to plan for appropriate recruitment, outreach, and
fundraising. We revisited that discussion at this meeting, made a list =
of
relevant projects, talked about some in-depth, and came to a conclusion =
on a
shift in meeting structure that will help facilitate more effective
coordination between these projects. Below are details:

Projects=97We have a lot on our plate!=20
	- hosting on the new server =96 both other orgs
(indypendent, economic human rights project) and the possibility of =
hosting
new IMCs (Turkey and Iran have both been raised as options)=20
	- rewriting the site code
- community feedback meetings (aka =93web focus groups=94)
to be held in conjunction with the code rewrite so as
to incorporate the perspective of all the folks who
might use the site
- participation in the 4134 lancaster space
- specifically: building the computer lab, networking
the building, wiring
- volta-wpeb studio transmitter link project =96 making
this project is sustainable=20
- democracy now to wpeb =96 a definitive possibility;
needs some tech support and some funding / organizing foundation work
- February collaboration with the PA Anti-War Forum on
a media panel. We think the next meeting of PAWF is
Jan 5 at 1pm at the Aspace. Three folk indicated an
interest in attending and helping out.
- sustainable business network project =96 this project,
chaired by judy wicks of the white dog caf=E9
foundation, has asked that the imc bottomline the
creation of an =93independent media building block=94 for
their network. this would involve contacting local
press and could build off the research that aileene,
our intern from last spring, did. Next meeting,
tentatively scheduled for Jan 30, would focus on media
and bookstores.
	- Newsreal screenings =96 we=92d like to keep doing this
	- web features =96 new energy and creativity is needed
here; there is much burnout among those who have been
doing it for awhile
- VoltaNews program =96 this project could use more
energy & expertise
	- fundraising coordination
	- general news creation / facilitation
	- general outreach

Thoughts on the above:
Clearly to do some of the more ambitious projects,
like rewriting the site code, we need more people who
are involved and dedicated. We=92ve had a hard time
recruiting and involving new people. What prevents new
folks from getting and staying involved in IMC-Philly?
We came up with a list of real and perceived =91access
issues=92:
- early issues some techies had with our =91deviant
code=92 created some strange baggage; we think this is
mostly past but aren=92t certain.
- more current issues with access to the tech
collective =96 chicken or egg question on how to solve
this. are more meetings the answer? probably not.=20
- ratings system =96 some folks dislike it, think its
elitist, at one time the link to join the online
collective was broken, so this was a literal barrier
to entry.
- our system for responding to feedback forms from indymedia.org is not =
well
organized. we need to clarify this and also need to make the response =
more
dynamic, idea of mentoring system was raised awhile back. need someone =
to
make this project their baby. Folks interested in helping but not
bottomlining: Hannah S, Dave A, Petri.
- mediocre coverage on site =96 another chicken or egg
question. rooted in a bigger problem that folks
misunderstand the idea of indy media =96 still caught in
the paradigm of asking someone else to do it for them.
Posts following anti-war protest: =93I just went to a
protest with 3,000 people and there=92s nothing on
indymedia!! What=92s up indymedia??=94 mike responded: =93I
just read a post from someone who went to a protest
with 3,000 people, and wrote nothing about it!=94=20
- Facilitating focus to most of the above projects.
Most are about increasing the capacity for media. The
news creation collective model has not been our
driving force. This may have been the right long-term
choice, but in the short term it is hard.
- Meetings are at a bad time =96 is this accurate? What
would be better meeting times? We don=92t know, but we
know anecdotally that a number of folks haven=92t been
able to attend the meetings.

What to do?
Two options were discussed: a strategic planning
retreat, and the re-adoption of a steering committee
model. We decided that the steering committee was more sustainable at =
this
time, but that we should try to incoproate strategic planning=97thinking =
into
these meetings.=20

Decision: re-structure the monthly meetings as
follows.
4pm =96 steering committee meeting =96 recruit one person
from each project to commit to coming to each meeting,
or find a replacement. Agenda would include:
- $$ report
- media & tech collective reporbacks
- global liaison reportbacks
- fundraising check-in
- process check-in =96 what=92s working, what=92s not
5:30 =96 food and breakout groups
- As energy allows, each of the above projects could
have a breakout group. Encourage groups planning
submeetings to plan them in conjunction with the
general meeting. Recruit people interested in getting
involved in specific projects to come to this latter
section.
* We noted that this is how NYC IMC structures their
meetings.
* For now we=92ll leave it on the third Sunday of the
month =96 next one on Jan. 19th
* Location: Jon will check with the house of the
future; Mike will check also.=20
* Publicity: Jon will put an announcement on the front
page of the site, and link to a story with info about
each project and an invitation for people to use the
comment feature to add ideas and input.

That=92s all, folks!


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