[IMC-US] Acorn Offer

[Garth Liebhaber]

Today I was thinking of a constructive plan for us to go forward on our issue.  I think we need more information;

1.  Outline of what is needed tech-wise to get the site up; something with which we can solicit outreach to Indymedia 
      Techs.  


2.  ACORN.  I think we need to know still more;  We know that it is a 501(c)3 group, specific mission to help social justice 
     groups with internet tech things.  I think concerns lay in the area separation between the volunteer basis of Indymedia 
     and involvement with money-making endeavors.  I am getting the impression that what has been referred to as a 
      'company' is a non-profit endeavor that aims to provide jobs for the workers.  Correct me if that aspect is wrong.  I am 
     curious why ACORN didn't form as an extended project of Indymedia, such as the various photo and video groups.  I 
     think what we are also coming to discuss are issues that have come up before under the descriptor of Proffessionalism.
     Without going further into it here, I would like to express sentiment within the Chicago IMC of trepidation around the 
     issue of Doner Capture.  I don't wish to ignite a flame-war with these thoughts, I do hope we can clarify important issues
     with eachother.

3.  We need to decide if we are going to do a last attempt at tech outreach, and see if we have that as a viable option.  We 
     also need to clarify  the ACORN option as viable to the needs of IMC.US  Our options will become:
          a.  Decide between two options:  'Diverse Tech Support" and the ACORN offer
          or;
          b.  If neither option is deemed viable, to wait or look for a 'third option'.


Hope this helps us,
garth
chicago imc


Hi all,

On Wed, 7 Jan 2004, joe wrote:

> Speaking as someone who's only been following the US IMC effort for a
> little while, let me suggest a couple of questions that would need to be
> addressed before I'd be able to have an opinion on the Acorn offer:
>
> 1. I don't know where US-IMC is in the process of going from an idea to
> an actual website. Are the stumbling blocks mostly technical
> implementation at this point, or are there still questions about how the
> site will work? I've been going through the maillist archives but haven't
> found much.
>
> 2. It's not clear to me what it is exactly that Acorn is offering to do.
> Host the site from their webserver? Write lots of custom dadaIMC code?
> Perform editorial duties?

Acorn's offer is simply to help with technical issues -- programming,
troubleshooting, etc. with the goal of helping get the site launched so
that more people can be involved with the project.  Editorial duties will
be carried out by the IMC-US-Editorial group and Acorn with have no part
in that.

> 3. If the Acorn proposal is agreed upon, would participation in the
> project remain truly representative of the whole US, or would US-IMC
> unintentionally become Acorn and UCIMC's view of the US?

The IMC-US editorial structure has already been established (the idea is
to create a working group that will oversee this), though the day-to-day
proceedures are still to be agreed upon, Acorn wouldn't be in any way
involved with this aspect of the site.  The UCIMC also doesn't have any
special place in the IMC-US hierarchy.

--Sascha

> These all seem to me at least as important as the question of giving
> credit.
>
> As has been discussed before and elsewhere, the importance of electronic
> communication (emails, pages on docs.indymedia.org) is much greater for
> non-local IMCs. I know the people who've been involved with this effort
> from the start have already put lots of effort into it, but it's going to
> be difficult for anyone else to get involved until a little more
> information is available.
>
> - Joe

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