[Imc-web] one last invite -- SCRA Biennial:

[Sascha Meinrath]

I just wanted to let folks know that we still have a space in our IMC
caravan to the Society for Community Research and Action conference where
we'll be talking Indymedia and enjoying the open road.  If you're
interested in coming along, please contact me ASAP.

Our presentation is called, "Indymedia (R)Evolution: The Global Network &
Rise of One Indymedia Center" and you can talk about anything related to
your experiences building the IMC.  More information on the conference is
available at:  http://www.nmhu.edu/scrabiennial/

--Sascha

P.S.  Here's the full abstract for the presentation -- we leave on Tuesday
and come back a week later:

Over the last three years, there has been a resurgance in grassroots media
production and empowerment efforts. This global movement, called
Indymedia, espouses a rhetoric of social justice, non-discrimination,
democratic and participatory organizing structures, egalitarianism, local
control of media production, skills-sharing and education, non-hierarchy,
and devolution of decision-making power. At the center of this movement
are media production and disseminations centers called Independent Media
Centers (IMCs). In September, 1999 there was one IMC. Today, there are
over one hundred IMCs in more than forty countries worldwide.

These alternative settings provide an ideal case study for investigating
the processes and procedures that are conducive to their continued success
and the logarhithmic expansion of the Indymedia network. Much of the
research on alternative settings dates back to the 1960s and 1970s. Today,
organizational research is mostly focused on coporate and established
institutional settings. This forum provides an opportunity for an in-depth
study of factors that support collaboration, sustainability, and expansion
of alternative settings -- from the point of view of the participants
themselves -- and offers a window into the successes and problems within
the modern-day Global Justice movement.

Truly understanding the factors that create successful outcomes requires a
holistic analysis of the setting and deep knowledge of the organization.
One way to gain a comprehensive undersanding is to participate and observe
in the setting. As an ongoing participant and co-founder of the
Urbana-Champaign IMC (UCIMC) and a core organizer of the Global Indymedia
Network, the convenor been studying changes in the climate, processes, and
protocols of one local IMC and Indymedia as a whole. This forum, provides
a venue for:

Viewing front-line Indymedia coverage of protests and events throughout
the world;

Listening to the stories of Indymedia participants; and,

Sharing strategies and tactics that have led to participants effectively
working together.

Through participants' observations, we hope to contribute additional
insight to answering the continuing question of "What contributes to
effective collaboration?" In particular, we will attend to elements of the
group process (e.g., decision-making, conflict resolution), structure
(e.g., organizational tactics, evolution of the organization),
goal-setting and implementation, and those factors that facilitate and/or
impede collaborative work.