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

[Josh King]

Sorry, this sounds kind of pissy now that I go back and read it. It's 
really just a lot of tired, unconnected thoughts. In summary, I'm sorry 
that the website isn't everything that it could be, I'm working on it, 
and I should try harder to put systems in place to include others in the 
process.

On 01/29/2009 08:19 AM, Josh King wrote:
> Hi Stephen, Chris,
>
> I just wanted to comment on a couple of things. First, I definitely want
> to expand the role of other people in the day-to-day administrative and
> monitoring aspects of the technical work at the IMC. It does, however,
> need to be done in a way that's more careful than giving a large pool of
> people root access. I can attest that even for someone like me that has
> spent a huge amount of time managing our systems and has the requisite
> skill set to design a large chunk of how everything fits together at the
> IMC, it's not too difficult to do something that screws up something big
> for everyone. The need for a careful, managed solution requires systems
> to be in place and structured in such a way as to allow that kind of
> careful management, and unfortunately putting those kinds of systems in
> place is one thing that I've spent a colossal amount of time on over the
> past year or so. I've started to reach out to certain people for them to
> help take over some day-to-day tasks, and this will happen even more as
> I continue to work on the IMC's websites and migrate the email server
> this weekend. But for Tech at least, it's going to be pulling a small
> number of people from an even smaller pool, as I don't currently have a
> lot of time for training people in server administration and web design,
> and so have to work with the people that I already know have the skills
>
> Chris, in response to your specific concerns, there was a problem this
> morning that Dan fixed where the partition on the offsite server where
> the website is stored filled up, and I'll be working with him to make
> sure it doesn't happen again. This may be why you had the problems
> you've had in 2, 4, and 5, as 2 and 5 I've never experienced. Featured
> stories should be at the top, except for the logo image, top menu, and
> the blocks "Local Interest," "Global Newswire," and "Upcoming Events,"
> which I placed up there in response to complaints that they were too
> difficult to find. It is true that there are bugs with the site,
> specifically one pertaining to uploading images and another with the
> WYSIWYG editor. I'm working on those and on a further redesign of the
> site, as the current version is a rough upgrade to improve performance
> and allow for anonymous commenting again, rather than an effort to
> significantly extend the functionality of the site as it existed before.
> It is true that there seems to be no "Home" link, though you can click
> on the logo image to return to the front page, and now that it's been
> pointed out I'll add one.
>
> It's clearly unacceptable for the IMC not to have a functional online
> publishing presence, especially if it's felt that the design and
> functionality of that presence is the main reason for lower traffic. I
> should probably have been more diligent about making sure that people
> interested in working on modifying the website get the shell access they
> require, but that's out of only 1 or 2 people who have asked. I'm not a
> great drupal developer, but since we're unlikely to have tons of drupal
> developers with lots of time on their hands popping out the woodwork,
> I'll try and set aside some of my other tasks and work between now and
> the next steering meeting on creating another potential redesign and
> improvement of the site to show.
>
> I'm thinking of implementing some kind of online to-do list for myself
> that people can submit to. My workload has gotten to the point where I
> can't always even keep track of all of the different things I have to
> do, and it might provide a more centralized way to keep track of things.
>
> I definitely agree with Stephen about the poor level of volunteerism in
> the more support or infrastructure oriented groups. Stephen and Nicole
> have done a great job of trying to foster that in the Production and
> Community Connections groups to some avail, me and Tech not so much.
> Partly this is just because if someone comes in and says they want to
> get involved doing Tech work, unless there's a specific project they
> already have in mind there's not a lot I can have them do without fairly
> extensive training. And just the fact that someone knows how to do
> something doesn't foster the trust that I need to have before I just
> hand over the keys to something that everyone in the IMC depends on. So
> I've been trying to come up with a better system of doing this, and I'm
> working on it, but it takes time.
>
> Anyway, I'll try and fix up the website some more.
>
> On 01/29/2009 12:27 PM, Stephen Fonzo wrote:
>> 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 <mailto: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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>

-- 
Josh King
--
"I am an Anarchist not because I believe Anarchism is the final goal, 
but because there is no such thing as a final goal." -Rudolf Rocker