[Imc-web] Editing Etiquette and Noting Some Needed Updates Again

[Brian Dolinar]

Thanks for the clarification Mike.
I agree with whatever you all decide.
And I will be writing a full fledged article
when the Myers case is resolved
which may or may not be Monday
given several past continuances.

Will keep you posted.

Peace, BD

On 2/24/07, Mike Lehman <rebelmike at earthlink.net> wrote:
> I've added Brian Dolinar to the imc-web list, since he apparently didn't
> add himself to the list when I suggested that this was SOP for web
> editors after he was granted editing privileges. All web editors must be
> on this list, as it is the primary means by which this function is
> handled at UC IMC.
>
> Just to go over this again -- although I know that everyone should
> already be aware of this, because I made sure to CC the info to Brian
> the last time it came up a couple of weeks ago.
>
> If you make a story into a Feature, please remember that you should send
> a brief message to this list, including a link to the story as a
> feature, with a brief justification for why the feature was created.
>
> Announcements, except for IMC events, are generally not made into
> features. Exceptions can be made, but this justification must be
> included as part of the feature justification.
>
> I want to raise one thing I do have a concern with, given the ways
> things have been going. The feature that Brian created today announces
> the upcoming plea bargain date for the long-running Myers story, which
> has been the subject of numerous prior features. My recall on this is
> not perfect, but most of its content has actually been previously
> featured. And I suspect that this story may finally be resolved this
> coming week, after many false starts. Then I presume that Brian will do
> a story on what is actually new news, the outcome.
>
> So I am a bit troubled that the plea bargain announcement is now a
> feature. This also contributes to some of the misunderstanding in the
> community about the difference between our users -- people like Brian
> who actually do the writing and retain ownership and responsiobility for
> it -- and the IMC itself -- where decisions on what should be featured
> are subject to some sort of group vetting process, even though we assume
> that the creators of content can also involved in this decisionmaking
> process.
>
> This is a potential problem, if we somehow let it appear that there is
> no distinction between the two aspects of using Indymedia, because our
> editing needs to use this small bit of discretion due to the status of
> UC IMC as a non-profit. We are here to serve underserved parts of the
> community, but we also must not give the appearance of simply being an
> extension of any group's political project, no matter how good or
> compatible it might be with the wide range of political interests
> represented in the underserved communities that UC IMC exists to support
> through our making available to them easy media access.
>
> I would suggest that the announcement of the upcoming plea bargain
> should be de-featured, under the presumption that we will actually have
> new content upcoming shortly on this story that will clearly be eligible
> to be a feature.
>
> There are many more policies and understandings that are part of web
> editing legacy that may be unfamiliar to new editors. I'd be glad to
> have a meeting to discuss and/or clarify any of this. Our editorial
> policy page is buried on the old website, but it was agreed several
> years ago it needed a rewire to reflect actual practice as it has
> evolved through various Steering group decisions and into the present
> form of leaving much of the actual decisionmaking to the Web group, in
> order to incporate current policy. This has been working well with the
> fairly stable and small group of editors we've been operating with, but
> is also somewhat less than optimal from being transparent to anyone new
> being involved as well as to website users.
> Mike Lehman
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>


-- 
Brian Dolinar, Ph.D.
303 W. Locust St.
Urbana, IL 61801
briandolinar at gmail.com