Minutes from IMC meeting 9/9/07 (public)

Minutes from IMC general meeting @ CAMP 9/9/07

Present: Nikhil K., Don F., Lisa B., Keith B., Digger, Ben W.

Next IMC general meeting: Sunday 10/14, 7pm @ CAMP

All editors! Please login into website reboot.stlimc.org and try out the forms for submitting features!

*IMC Communication...
*For those interested, please subscribe to our /public announcement/ list at imc-stlous@lists.indymedia.org. Many folks use this list, not just core IMC folks. Subscribe by going to URL http://lists.indymedia.org/mailman/listinfo/imc-stlouis

*Proposal for Collaboration with other Groups...
*Upon decision by collective (not just editors), IMC can provide sections of the website, e.g. a blog or a "media partners" column, to organizations, social justice groups, media groups, bloggers, etc. that share affinity with STLIMC. These sections would be distinct from the feature column (which is maintained by editors) and the newswire (open posting), and they would be maintained/moderated by whichever group, /not by IMC editors./ Why do this? IMC website is designed to put content online quickly, and this capability could be extended to groups who do not have the web resources or tech savvy as IMC volunteers. Likewise, these sections could provide such groups with channels for press releases and similar communiques, which may not meet threshold for feature content (e.g. in-depth reportage) but still merits publishing online. Why not just the newswire? Authorship on the open posting newswire can be uncertain. Furthermore, having multiple groups contribute content under umbrella of IMC could promote cross-pollenization between those groups.

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Inspiration for this proposal: Counterpunch and Z Magazine, which print only some of their submissions, but still publish most (all?) of those submissions online.

Open question: how to encourage reciprocity from group who share space on IMC?

*Creative Commons License...
*Although similar to copy-left and anti-copyright, CC is now widely used to preserve some rights on a creation (e.g. attribute the author, no derivative works) while still allowing the content to be legally shared w/o arcane restrictions of copyright. It is highly encouraged that folks contributing to IMC (editors, media partners, etc) opt for a CC license if they don't chose public domain.
More info: http://wiki.creativecommons.org/FAQ

*Feature Story Ideas...

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Various folks: ongoing campaign of stifling political dissent around country. E.g. "parade permits" in NYC, fining ASNWER, et. al for postering in DC, the "free speech zone" around the Arch.

In general, there is interest in covering stories about music, arts, and other cultural events. Especially from an "underground" perspective, or more seriously from perspective rarely seen in RFT, Sauce, and other arts/music publications around town. IMC's so often just cover political events, protests, etc., needlessly narrowing their appeal to larger audiences.

*Pending Website Issues...
*- Moving current stlimc.org to archive.stlimc.org (preserve old content)
- Links to indymedia.org, other IMCs
- Promotion of Creative Commons license (i.e. links on content submissions forms)
- Not mentioned in mtg: a "free tagging" field, where authors can type their own subject categories, besides those listed in upper left of main page. This would be useful to track stories on specific topics relevant to STL, e.g. Reggie Clemons, lead poisoning, police oversight.