[Imc-web] Re: [Imc-production] Steering Agenda Item: the IMC website

Thu Jan 29 12:27:29 CST 2009

I'm forwarding this to Tech and Web - not to bother Josh with complaints -
but to let him know that others are thinking of ways to distribute his
volunteerism to others at the IMC.

Josh has significantly improved the site from its former state, in my
opinion, though I agree with Chris that there are still problems with
posting and accessing content.  We have two approaches to making further
improvements to the site or to other things at the IMC - a) keep saying, "I
don't know - ask Josh;" or b) figuring out ways to spread tasks and
knowledge so individuals can address needs as they arise.

I believe the root problem is analogous to other working groups'
difficulties at the IMC, namely, that for many tasks, the volunteer body of
the IMC relies on one or two people.  So for Tech and Web, it is pretty much
Josh, Dan, and Mike; for Shows and Production it is pretty much me; for WRFU
it is pretty much Noel; etc.

Beyond everyone being strapped and focused heavily on keeping the building,
raising money, and paying bills (all too common non-profit challenges),
there are two reasons for these scenarios:

1) Volunteerism is generally weak at the IMC when it comes to anything that
is not directly activist (in other words, the media and tech stuff).  Books
to Prisoners, Print, AWARE, Finance, and CUCPJ are all strong, focus on
business/specific agenda, and rally around issues and deadlines.  Perhaps
the media/art-oriented groups need to learn from these other groups (who
happen to have an older, more serious and experienced demographic, which is
probably a factor).  I will admit that due to the presence of VISTAs and
especially the development work of Nicole, membership activity is indeed
improving in some of the other groups, and we are starting once more to
provide more in the space (Shows and Librarians are making great progress
for such small groups and for such spotty histories).  Will this continue
and are our members aware?

2) Access, especially to Tech and Web infrastructure, is limited, creating a
cycle in which Josh or Dan are often the ONLY people to contact about a
given issue.  As long as they are okay with this arrangement, I don't think
we need to change the way we work - after all, I don't think Josh wants
extra work by having to clean up messes that others less qualified than
himself make while doing things on the server or databases.  It is apparent
that IMC members (myself included) cannot do all the things that Josh or Dan
do, when it comes to web/internet work, but I don't know how much of that is
due to our lack of skills, lack of access/mutual training, or both.  I know
it's tricky, because security is of top concern when dealing with
technology.  Access is less of a problem with Shows, Production, and WRFU,
but I still get the impression that along with Web and Tech our work is
considered either too specialized, difficult, unimportant or undesirable for
volunteers to do - or even that we hold less clout or interest because our
work supports activism and artistry but is not directly activist or
artistic.  This especially pains me when I am here to train and openly offer
tutoring to those who would clearly rather just have me, Nicole, or someone
else do the work.

It is clear to me that we need to expand, even by a little, volunteerism and
access to active members that are deemed trustworthy.  I acknowledge that a
lot of this will be difficult because it requires a shift in the culture of
the IMC, which I do not think is "unhealthy" as one member said recently,
but is perhaps stale at the moment.  Josh, Nicole, and I are here to
increase the sustainability and capacity of the organization(s) we work
with, but I feel that there will be a vacuum if any one of us leaves, and I
am concerned that we (and others at the IMC) are being relied upon rather
than utilized.  That would be fine if everyone at the IMC received a salary
or stipend, or had clearly defined positions and authority, but it
contradicts the consensus, volunteer, anarchist structures touted by members
who have been here longer.

I detest argument for argument's sake, and I have not said any of this to
start a debate, to revel in exercising critical muscle, or to pretend that I
know any better than anyone else how to proceed from here.  I want to avoid
the petty personal and intellectual politics that too often constrain groups
like ours and divert conversations to the theoretical, and I merely make
these suggestions so we can act practically upon them.  We need to think
about sustainability through shared institutional knowledge.

-Stephen

On Thu, Jan 29, 2009 at 10:28 AM, Christopher Evans <caevans2 at hotmail.com>wrote:

>  By no means is this criticism of the IMC website intended to criticize the
> excellent effort and contributions of Josh King, who has worked very hard to
> maintain and upgrade the IMC's website.
>
> However, as one of the journalists who still regularly uses the site, I
> have to make a few comments about my current experiences with the site.
>
> 1) *hardly anyone ever posts* articles anymore, and hardly anyone ever
> comments to the few articles that do get posted. Shortly after the Brian
> Chesley articles posted by Brian Dolinar in March of 2008, the comments to
> articles have dropped dramatically. It used to be that a Brian Dolinar
> article could inspire 60 or more comments to an article. The inability to
> post Annonymously may have affected that, but even after the re-installment
> of Annonymous posting capability; hardly a response is given to what people
> post.
>
> 2) The site has become *difficult to see the featured articles*. They
> are not posted at the top of the page, but rather, are placed at the bottom
> of the page after the long scroll of international links to other IMC sites.
> To me, those links seem secondary for a site that offers local stories.
>
> 3) there is no *"Home" link *to get you back to the original page after
> you've navigated somewhere on the site.
>
> 4) the site is *unreliable*. This morning I was able to log on, but when I
> tried to respond to a comment, even though I was able to type in my
> text, the site would not upload it, and stayed in some kind of holding
> pattern. Finally, I tried to start over and now I can't even get to the IMC
> website.
>
> 5) there is *no side to side scroll bar *for the *calendar*. I can't see
> what is happening on the weekends at the IMC.
>
> I know Josh has tons of other duties and I know he has been
> very diligent in trying to improve the site for us. It's probably
> unrealistic for us to expect one person has the time to do the daily
> maintenance and designing of the site.
>
> I can only say that if the above is true for others, it might explain why
> one of the most dynamic sites for local news has become a silent graveyard
> for old articles.
>
> The IMC needs to decide if a website remains a viable avenue for news
> reporting and local IMC announcements, and if so, we need to make it as
> user-friendly as possible. If we have neither the time nor inclination to
> maintain this site, I will form my own blog on Illini Pundit and Smile
> Politely and assume that the tremendous history of the IMC website from
> 2003-2008 is over.
> thanks for listening to my rant.
> On behalf of Local Yocal,
> chris the building guy
>
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-- 
Stephen Fonzo
Media Training Advisor
AmeriCorps CTC VISTA
Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center
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