[00:00.000 --> 00:07.800]  If you're not sure what the IMC is, it's an independent media center and it's a clearinghouse for all things independent media.
[00:08.020 --> 00:13.660]  And we're going to talk a bit about the origins and some of the interesting... still have feedback also.
[00:14.860 --> 00:15.460]  Better?
[00:16.080 --> 00:22.360]  Some of the interesting technical issues that are currently facing us and we can field some questions, too.
[00:25.620 --> 00:26.140]  Yeah?
[00:26.460 --> 00:26.620]  Okay.
[00:28.040 --> 00:33.120]  First of all, what's wrong with the corporate media?
[00:33.660 --> 00:37.440]  I think that a lot of people here already have some idea of that.
[00:37.700 --> 00:47.400]  But just to give a few examples, the corporate media is bought, owned, and sold by the advertisers who sponsor it.
[00:47.400 --> 01:07.140]  And it is always in the best interest of the advertisers and the shareholders of public corporate media groups to cater to entertain rather than to edify and to make sure that a story gets complete and in-depth coverage.
[01:07.700 --> 01:09.620]  That's a little bit about that.
[01:09.620 --> 01:21.280]  One good example is Clear Channel Communications, which is a large owner of radio stations and other media holdings across the country and the world.
[01:21.540 --> 01:34.960]  And they always cut costs in order to maximize profits and remove diversity from news and music stations in order to get the best market share.
[01:34.960 --> 01:37.300]  And so, there's one example.
[01:38.060 --> 01:54.720]  And alternative media is needed because if it isn't purchased or controlled by advertisers, it allows the individuals who take part in it to express a relatively unsullied view of what actually happens in the world around them and also to encourage others to do the same.
[01:55.020 --> 01:57.520]  It spreads like a virus.
[01:59.620 --> 02:01.860]  It encourages other people to make their own media.
[02:01.860 --> 02:01.880]  So, yeah.
[02:03.560 --> 02:04.460]  I guess that's it.
[02:06.100 --> 02:06.500]  Okay.
[02:06.760 --> 02:07.000]  Hi.
[02:07.180 --> 02:07.860]  My name is Anna.
[02:08.240 --> 02:10.340]  I'm from New York City, sort of.
[02:11.760 --> 02:20.500]  I'm just going to talk a little bit about the history of the IMC, kind of how it came about, how it exploded, and then we're going to get into probably some more relevant stuff about the tech aspects of it.
[02:22.060 --> 02:28.920]  The idea for an alternative media network kind of came up in many different conferences held around the world simultaneously.
[02:29.760 --> 02:40.020]  Probably the most well-known is the Encuentro for Humanity and Against Imperialism that was held in Chiapas, Mexico in 1996.
[02:41.400 --> 02:46.800]  And there, the Zapatistas called for an independent media network.
[02:46.800 --> 03:04.760]  And there was many people there from all over the world who came to that Encuentro, went back to their respective parts of the world, and other conferences were held like the New York Free Media Conference here in New York City, and others in Europe that gave birth to projects like Dow Communications,
[03:05.520 --> 03:14.460]  the Direct Action Media Network, the Next 5 Minutes media conference series in Amsterdam, and on and on.
[03:14.720 --> 03:23.140]  Various experiments were made, but the IMC has been probably the most successful model for alternative media.
[03:24.000 --> 03:29.100]  And it started in Seattle with the World Trade Organization protests in November of 1999.
[03:29.100 --> 03:31.500]  And the idea was pretty simple.
[03:31.680 --> 03:42.460]  It was just like, we need a newsroom to cover the protests at whatever's happening minute by minute, because the corporate media is not going to do that, or they're going to portray it in a, you know, protestors in a really negative light.
[03:43.380 --> 03:52.440]  So they opened up a newsroom, and at first the concept was just a place where alternative media journalists could come and share content.
[03:52.440 --> 04:17.000]  But by chance, this programmer from Australia, called Matthew Arneson, happened to be in Colorado a couple of weeks before the protests, and offered a code to the people who were organizing the Seattle IMC, that allowed anybody to publish directly to the internet in rich media format.
[04:17.000 --> 04:23.640]  So people could directly publish to the newswire texts, photos, video, and audio material.
[04:23.640 --> 04:27.980]  It would show up directly, and there wouldn't be an editorial process to go through.
[04:28.500 --> 04:30.140]  So they tried that.
[04:30.280 --> 04:32.780]  It went up like the night before the protests started.
[04:33.060 --> 04:35.640]  And it was incredibly successful.
[04:35.840 --> 04:43.080]  There were 150 posts per day or that week that just kind of really showed what it was like to be on the streets.
[04:43.080 --> 04:48.260]  And this was the kind of material and content that people really wanted to know what was happening.
[04:48.500 --> 04:58.200]  But the corporate media was just like looping the same window-smashing scene over and over and over again, and ignoring the rest of the 70,000 people there, or why they were there.
[04:58.320 --> 05:00.540]  So it was incredibly successful.
[05:00.700 --> 05:03.000]  It was no advertising at all, just word of mouth.
[05:03.240 --> 05:04.380]  It kind of just grew.
[05:04.680 --> 05:10.500]  And pretty soon people were organizing independent media centers for every big event that was happening.
[05:11.080 --> 05:15.880]  Prague against the World Bank, the IMF.
[05:16.320 --> 05:18.420]  DC also against the World Bank and IMF.
[05:18.800 --> 05:20.280]  And just on and on and on.
[05:22.240 --> 05:29.240]  And pretty soon thereafter, I'm trying to keep this like really short, but pretty soon thereafter there was the concept of a permanent IMC.
[05:29.320 --> 05:30.180]  What would that look like?
[05:31.100 --> 05:38.380]  And New York City was, I think, one of the first ones to be a permanent IMC that was not organized around a specific event or protest.
[05:39.900 --> 05:45.160]  And actually 2600 gives us our space for free down on 29th Street.
[05:45.520 --> 05:47.100]  So mad props to them.
[05:48.340 --> 05:48.980]  And...
[05:50.280 --> 05:51.800]  Yay to 2600.
[05:54.100 --> 06:04.360]  And as more IMCs kind of took shape and started to organize and become rooted in their communities, we also... the network started to be built.
[06:04.580 --> 06:11.800]  And we started to talk to each other and using listservs to communicate and a whole translation network has been set up.
[06:11.960 --> 06:23.720]  We now have 600 lists internationally in 12 languages with 32,000 subscribers, all coordinating alternative media making from the grassroots level.
[06:23.860 --> 06:24.740]  It's pretty amazing.
[06:25.520 --> 06:29.720]  And we're always working towards how are we going to make communication better?
[06:29.720 --> 06:46.660]  How do we use listservs more efficiently to really create working groups that function well and accomplish things like distributing donated money to local IMC projects and collaboration on video productions across continents.
[06:47.040 --> 06:49.080]  Just all sorts of projects like that.
[06:50.500 --> 06:52.480]  And local IMCs function in the same way.
[06:52.600 --> 06:54.100]  They are themselves networks.
[06:54.100 --> 06:59.620]  Like New York City, for example, has a lot of different media collectives that kind of participate in it.
[06:59.960 --> 07:03.320]  But then things are produced in the New York City IMC.
[07:03.460 --> 07:06.980]  Like we have a monthly newspaper, which I'm sure some of you have seen floating around.
[07:08.660 --> 07:16.320]  We have a video working group that produces documentaries every once in a while, like 9-1-1, which has been screened all over the world to millions of people by now.
[07:17.840 --> 07:26.820]  We have a Wednesday night live radio webcast where people are learning how to do a webcast and actually make it a regular show.
[07:27.120 --> 07:29.560]  And anybody is welcome to join any of these projects.
[07:29.720 --> 07:32.720]  We have a tech collective, a photo collective, and a web collective.
[07:38.020 --> 07:41.160]  And I think that's all I'm going to go with.
[07:42.260 --> 07:50.880]  And maybe we'll just hear from a couple other people about what their local IMCs are doing and how they started and we'll move into the tech aspect of it.
[07:55.320 --> 07:57.100]  I didn't introduce myself before.
[07:57.320 --> 07:58.540]  I'm Hannah from Philadelphia.
[07:58.540 --> 08:04.160]  And I'll get to talk a little bit about the origin of the Philly IMC.
[08:04.840 --> 08:08.920]  Like Anna was saying, we galvanized around a particular action.
[08:09.120 --> 08:14.200]  The Republican National Convention was unfortunately planted in our fair city.
[08:14.480 --> 08:21.260]  And it was actually right after the HOPE conference that had happened in 2000.
[08:21.300 --> 08:27.260]  And the idea of people making their own media came out of that pretty strongly.
[08:27.260 --> 08:30.660]  And we happened to kind of get together at the same time.
[08:31.320 --> 08:49.440]  A group of people organized and rented a space right in the center of the city, very close to a lot of the convention and its actions, and made sure that they covered all of the different protests, all of the different actions, all of the different counter-conference events,
[08:49.440 --> 08:55.420]  and all of the different aspects of the convention proper that were happening.
[08:55.760 --> 09:03.940]  And provided a daily newspaper, a really excellent website with an open news wire, just like Anna was describing.
[09:04.420 --> 09:08.000]  A very active video team, audio team.
[09:08.000 --> 09:23.560]  And the space was a really incredible place to get together because it had all of the aspects of newsroom with the frenetic pace and the constant work and the network breaking down all the time.
[09:23.560 --> 09:31.000]  And after that, we stayed together as a group and continued to cover other large events.
[09:31.100 --> 09:44.540]  But now we have a very active tech collective and web collective, which makes our code for our page and changes the format and ensures that we have lots of different kinds of coverage.
[09:44.540 --> 09:57.980]  And we are purchasing... we've purchased a big rotting building in West Philadelphia that we're now converting into a permanent space with a number of other groups who are interested in having permanent office homes.
[09:58.300 --> 10:11.880]  So with a constant influx of new energy and a constant affirmation of the goal to have independent media going in Philadelphia, we're doing pretty well.
[10:15.940 --> 10:18.860]  Any next in Mexico or do you want to go next?
[10:19.220 --> 10:19.600]  Okay.
[10:20.020 --> 10:21.440]  My name is Adriana.
[10:21.700 --> 10:23.240]  I'm from Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
[10:23.940 --> 10:27.280]  I'll cover quickly MCs in Latin America.
[10:29.260 --> 10:39.040]  MCs started... MC Brazil was the first one that started and it was half a year ago in South America.
[10:39.040 --> 10:48.260]  And from that point, we didn't have yet the new MC process, which is the first step for you to start an MC.
[10:49.720 --> 11:05.580]  And besides from MC Brazil, we have MC Argentina and MC Uruguay, which both work with SF Active, which is a code that San Francisco MC developed from the basic code active.
[11:06.540 --> 11:10.440]  And there is a lot of cross-collaboration between those MCs.
[11:10.700 --> 11:17.560]  Since in South America, we don't have as much tech people involved as in North America.
[11:17.560 --> 11:27.280]  One of the big challenges to keep going MCs in the South is to provide them internet access.
[11:27.840 --> 11:38.420]  It's not as used... It's not as... Internet access is not as good here in South America as it is in the United States.
[11:39.900 --> 11:48.300]  Besides these MCs, we have MC Chiapas, which is pretty much grassroot organized, as is MC Bolivia.
[11:49.940 --> 11:59.740]  There are some examples from groups, media groups, that are organized with a web base, but do a lot of work outside of the internet.
[12:02.960 --> 12:07.580]  Before we go on, maybe it would just be useful to kind of explain the website a little bit?
[12:07.680 --> 12:07.840]  Yeah.
[12:08.400 --> 12:09.200]  I think that's a good idea.
[12:12.360 --> 12:13.320]  So... Whoops.
[12:13.520 --> 12:13.740]  Sorry.
[12:14.640 --> 12:15.120]  Okay.
[12:15.500 --> 12:19.440]  So on the right-hand column, that's the Open Publishing Newswire.
[12:19.620 --> 12:27.040]  That's where anybody can just post directly from their computer any text, video, audio, or photo file.
[12:28.920 --> 12:42.640]  And then there are editorial collectives, both for the global site and each local IMC, that kind of culls the best and most relevant news from the Newswire into features, which is what you see in the middle column.
[12:43.360 --> 12:49.020]  So there's both a non-editorialized and an editorialized aspect to the media.
[12:50.200 --> 13:03.780]  And there are many codes, which Miles and Josh will be talking about, that have developed since the first active code, that allows for categorization of the Newswire and all sorts of rating systems.
[13:04.000 --> 13:06.300]  And that's what we'll be getting into now.
[13:08.060 --> 13:16.220]  Oh, also, if you guys have any questions about the editorial collective or the editorial process, we're going to try not to cover that so much here, but it's also an interesting topic.
[13:16.260 --> 13:17.860]  So you can just talk to us after about that.
[13:21.400 --> 13:22.560]  Sorry, maybe.
[13:23.100 --> 13:31.580]  Actually, in the global site, in the left column, we don't have the Open Publishing Newswire.
[13:31.840 --> 13:37.220]  We have updated the features from each local IMC.
[13:37.220 --> 13:40.920]  So you don't go there and you don't see it.
[13:41.120 --> 13:48.980]  We still have Open Publishing in the global site, but what is in the column is the features from the local IMCs.
[13:52.280 --> 13:54.480]  Shall I just talk quickly about Aotearoa?
[13:54.620 --> 13:54.880]  Yeah.
[13:55.800 --> 14:01.340]  We're going to just quickly tell some stories about setting up different indie media centers.
[14:04.240 --> 14:07.560]  And very recently, we set up an indie media center in New Zealand.
[14:09.100 --> 14:11.100]  And my name is Miles Thompson.
[14:11.400 --> 14:14.920]  And I'm from Aotearoa, New Zealand, as well as New York.
[14:15.200 --> 14:19.960]  And the process of setting up an indie media center is more than just putting up a website.
[14:21.640 --> 14:24.620]  The way that it started was discussion on various lists.
[14:25.220 --> 14:35.420]  And eventually, because we all had to apply to indie media global in order to get our DNS, they told us to go talk to each other.
[14:35.580 --> 14:45.860]  And they suggested we needed to have some sort of organization and to have some real...
[14:46.280 --> 14:48.160]  You know, not to just be a website, really.
[14:48.260 --> 14:51.240]  To just be a group of people who have come together and got themselves organized.
[14:52.020 --> 14:59.020]  Almost all the IMCs, well, okay, all the IMCs are organized in a non-hierarchical fashion.
[14:59.280 --> 15:05.780]  So there's no, like, director or, you know, commandant or anything.
[15:08.140 --> 15:14.240]  And that creates an interesting kind of dynamic which you have to get used to if you wanted to start your own IMC.
[15:15.900 --> 15:18.340]  I don't know how much time we have, so maybe I should move straight to the tech?
[15:18.480 --> 15:18.620]  Yeah.
[15:18.620 --> 15:19.560]  Okay.
[15:19.860 --> 15:26.100]  I was going to talk very briefly about the actual code bases which are available.
[15:29.560 --> 15:33.820]  The history of the IMC goes back to IMC Active.
[15:35.220 --> 15:45.200]  Sorry, the software which is called Active, which was originally written by this chap Matthew from Australia when he was in Seattle right before the WTO protest in Seattle.
[15:46.400 --> 15:49.960]  And then that has clearly evolved over time.
[15:50.120 --> 15:52.280]  It's sort of PHP, MySQL-based software.
[15:53.660 --> 16:00.580]  San Francisco has really taken a serious branch off of that and have really tidied it up and set it up in their own way.
[16:00.960 --> 16:03.320]  And what I've got down here...
[16:04.100 --> 16:04.880]  I've got a mouse?
[16:05.000 --> 16:05.360]  I've got a mouse.
[16:05.360 --> 16:10.520]  Around here you can see that the Active code base is branching a little bit.
[16:11.060 --> 16:15.860]  So this sort of indicates that the New York City is currently writing a slightly customized version of Active.
[16:16.140 --> 16:21.360]  And Israel, for example, they needed to support...
[16:22.660 --> 16:23.740]  Oh, they wanted to...
[16:23.740 --> 16:26.480]  Oh, actually, it's actually PHP Postgres.
[16:26.480 --> 16:29.360]  So Israel changed it to support MySQL, that sort of thing.
[16:30.340 --> 16:32.060]  At the top we have...
[16:32.060 --> 16:40.540]  Philly is running a version of the slash code called slash IMC, which is basically slash code with support for open publishing.
[16:41.920 --> 16:48.860]  The Germans, in the kind of inimitable German style, went off and wrote everything in Java.
[16:49.720 --> 17:00.460]  And so they've got this rock-solid Java base called Mir, which is being used in the Netherlands and Germany and some other places.
[17:01.100 --> 17:02.840]  Actually quite a lot of places in South America.
[17:05.860 --> 17:16.060]  There was a project a fair while back to write a version of Active which would support XML RPC with the idea that all of the...
[17:21.600 --> 17:22.040]  Yeah.
[17:23.420 --> 17:24.820]  Active, I don't know what...
[17:24.820 --> 17:29.740]  I mean, if you go to active.cat.org.au, it's just like their name for it.
[17:30.840 --> 17:30.960]  So...
[17:30.960 --> 17:32.700]  A-C-T-I-V-E.
[17:32.840 --> 17:34.080]  Yeah, Active, yeah.
[17:37.300 --> 17:38.880]  Okay, sorry for the accent there.
[17:40.260 --> 17:44.800]  So, yeah, Active XML RPC actually never quite really came to fruition.
[17:44.800 --> 17:46.060]  It hasn't been used on any sites.
[17:47.160 --> 17:56.660]  Right now there's a project underway to create another version of Active using Python, which is currently being called Active 2, although there's work under...
[17:56.660 --> 18:00.340]  We're thinking of changing that name because it's not actually based on the original Active.
[18:00.740 --> 18:01.300]  You see what I mean?
[18:02.440 --> 18:04.640]  There's another code base called Data IMC.
[18:05.160 --> 18:11.560]  New York actually is just in the process of looking at what code base we really want to run.
[18:12.820 --> 18:17.220]  It is quite good in that you don't have to write everything from scratch.
[18:17.600 --> 18:21.000]  A fair number of the IMCs actually have done exactly that.
[18:21.840 --> 18:24.780]  So, down here you see other custom builds with no names.
[18:25.080 --> 18:30.900]  I mean, there's a lot of just custom stuff, but I'd say the vast majority of sites currently run a version of Active.
[18:31.500 --> 18:39.200]  Various people have also run sites just using out-of-the-box Post Nuke, or a thing called Drop, or...
[18:39.900 --> 18:42.000]  Actually, New Zealand was running on Manila for a while.
[18:42.760 --> 18:43.440]  You have a question.
[18:43.900 --> 18:44.800]  And I have a question.
[18:45.000 --> 18:45.120]  Yeah.
[18:45.340 --> 18:45.580]  Sorry.
[19:08.640 --> 19:09.000]  Right.
[19:10.380 --> 19:12.880]  We really have to use the mic, folks, for recording this.
[19:12.980 --> 19:15.660]  Yeah, I'm just going to repeat the question as soon as I work out what it is.
[19:19.300 --> 19:20.280]  Zope is really cool.
[19:20.660 --> 19:20.760]  Yeah.
[19:21.180 --> 19:21.960]  We are well aware of that.
[19:22.140 --> 19:29.020]  And I guess if we wanted to do some stuff in Active 2, we would probably end up running it with Xeo and that sort of stuff.
[19:29.180 --> 19:31.240]  And maybe we can put it on your servers.
[19:34.550 --> 19:34.910]  Okay.
[19:35.470 --> 19:35.910]  They are not yours.
[19:36.030 --> 19:36.330]  That's fine.
[19:37.150 --> 19:37.370]  Yeah.
[19:37.730 --> 19:38.090]  We...
[19:38.090 --> 19:43.610]  In terms of our actual server hosting, we have this data center in Seattle, which a lot of people are hosted on.
[19:43.610 --> 19:59.310]  I don't know if, like, for instance, Mexico, but that sort of place, which is actually a little bit overloaded, plus, obviously, there's, you know, upwards of 10 or 20 different servers out there that host more than one IMC, plus various countries have their own IMC.
[20:01.670 --> 20:01.990]  Okay.
[20:02.230 --> 20:02.670]  Was that me?
[20:05.670 --> 20:06.770]  I was just going to...
[20:07.430 --> 20:10.250]  We wanted to get into some of the projects which are upcoming.
[20:11.570 --> 20:15.530]  And I'm just going to talk very quickly about Active 2 and where we're going with that.
[20:16.130 --> 20:22.010]  And, I mean, the call out on all of this is definitely, you know, we want people to come help us out.
[20:22.130 --> 20:22.870]  We need tech people.
[20:23.070 --> 20:24.370]  Like, we really need tech people.
[20:25.750 --> 20:30.850]  If you're interested in travel, probably Dre could give some more thoughts on that.
[20:30.930 --> 20:35.090]  But I know that some hackers tend to be more transient than your average Joe with a job.
[20:35.090 --> 20:42.330]  So, if you're interested in travelling to various exotic locations, I'm sure that a lot of the IMCs would really need your help.
[20:42.430 --> 20:52.330]  Maybe if you get involved in your local IMC and then build up a name, then I'm sure that there'll be, like, a lot of come crash at our place offers coming from all around the world.
[20:53.090 --> 20:53.870]  Bribe to you.
[20:55.230 --> 20:55.590]  Dry.
[20:55.590 --> 20:56.070]  I'm sorry.
[20:56.270 --> 20:56.630]  Bribing.
[20:56.990 --> 20:57.470]  I said bribe.
[20:57.870 --> 20:58.710]  Oh, bribe.
[20:58.870 --> 20:58.990]  Yeah.
[20:59.430 --> 20:59.930]  Yeah, we'll do anything.
[21:01.290 --> 21:01.770]  Okay.
[21:02.110 --> 21:06.850]  So, just very quickly on the subject of a future project, which is this Active 2.
[21:08.030 --> 21:14.030]  We're really keen to move it towards a sort of a more peer-to-peer kind of based publishing system.
[21:14.390 --> 21:20.610]  So, there'll be news sources and then there'll be websites to display it and there'll be two different things.
[21:21.850 --> 21:26.610]  And that you won't necessarily have to get your content from a particular site.
[21:27.290 --> 21:31.850]  Part of that is to do with legal restrictions.
[21:32.750 --> 21:34.770]  We don't like a lot of...
[21:34.770 --> 21:45.010]  We've had various trouble with police and stuff coming and raiding various data centres and taking away our servers and or threatening legal action.
[21:45.150 --> 21:56.830]  So, we want to distribute our content around the globe and so move more to a sort of standard name-based publishing system that you can get a particular story whatever server you connect to.
[21:58.270 --> 22:00.990]  And there's a lot of other neat things we're adding into that.
[22:02.550 --> 22:18.690]  Or the folks are talking about adding along the lines of rating systems for various stories and being able to create your own sort of scratch pad so you can collect together news stories that you find interesting.
[22:18.830 --> 22:19.490]  They're called filters.
[22:19.850 --> 22:21.530]  And then you might have your own perspective.
[22:21.830 --> 22:25.830]  So, you might set up a site which has your perspective on the global sort of news wire.
[22:27.210 --> 22:29.190]  So, there's a lot of really exciting ideas like that.
[22:29.310 --> 22:32.310]  And there's actually some more ideas and I think Josh was going to talk about that.
[22:34.310 --> 22:35.030]  Yeah, let's...
[22:35.030 --> 22:36.590]  Alright, sound levels have worked out.
[22:36.890 --> 22:38.250]  Hi, my name is Josh.
[22:38.570 --> 22:40.450]  I'm originally from Portland, Oregon.
[22:40.450 --> 22:43.250]  I recently moved to the New York area.
[22:43.930 --> 22:47.230]  Let me see if I can tilt this right so I'm projecting.
[22:48.070 --> 22:49.690]  The two projects...
[22:49.690 --> 23:04.810]  Indymedia, in case you hadn't realized what we're talking about, is entirely volunteer-based and just on basically donated services, donated bandwidth, donated time, donated money, which we can always use more of.
[23:05.010 --> 23:05.430]  Plug, plug.
[23:05.430 --> 23:11.370]  So, one of the big problems we had is that during major actions, we couldn't...
[23:11.370 --> 23:13.250]  we just couldn't handle the bandwidth.
[23:13.990 --> 23:24.350]  And during Genoa last year, during the July of 2001, we were getting like 50,000...
[23:24.350 --> 23:29.490]  like just 3 million hits a day and I can't even remember what that was per second.
[23:29.710 --> 23:31.690]  And it was completely shutting us down.
[23:31.970 --> 23:35.770]  And what we had to do is we had to switch over to squid servers.
[23:36.210 --> 23:38.350]  And the problem with anybody who's...
[23:38.350 --> 23:40.570]  to use squid servers is the logging sucks.
[23:41.090 --> 23:41.510]  That's basically...
[23:41.830 --> 23:44.370]  if you're used to Apache-style logging, it's just not there.
[23:44.710 --> 23:50.610]  So, if anybody's looking for a project or wants to help out, there's a great place for people to plug in.
[23:51.270 --> 23:52.670]  Also, somebody came...
[23:52.670 --> 24:05.730]  from that, somebody came up with the idea of a project called EdgeNet, which was the idea that you basically could take this little self-contained piece of software, put it on your DSL connection, and say, I want to mirror...
[24:05.730 --> 24:09.110]  I want to give this much of my site to...
[24:09.110 --> 24:12.350]  I want to mirror this much of my site with this much of my bandwidth.
[24:13.050 --> 24:14.830]  And that way, using...
[24:15.530 --> 24:22.330]  quickly refreshing DNS records, it could just basically start pulling the content and correctly throttling it.
[24:24.110 --> 24:27.430]  So that way, during mass actions, it would just be really...
[24:27.430 --> 24:34.450]  people just sort of sign up and say, I've got DSL or cable, and I've got 240 up, and nobody's...
[24:34.450 --> 24:35.990]  it's really not being used.
[24:36.150 --> 24:39.750]  That way, if a hundred people do this, it can really become a valuable resource.
[24:40.470 --> 24:42.210]  So, that's another idea.
[24:43.290 --> 24:43.410]  What?
[24:45.510 --> 24:45.990]  EdgeNet?
[24:46.250 --> 24:47.430]  It's still in the...
[24:49.850 --> 24:56.330]  It's still very theoretical at this point, and people sort of have the idea, and if people are...
[24:56.330 --> 25:04.730]  if that's the type of thing people want to pick up and run with, the URL is abduction.org slash edge net, and there's a list at...
[25:04.730 --> 25:07.830]  edge net at lists dot rise up dot net.
[25:09.830 --> 25:10.810]  It's not edge...
[25:10.810 --> 25:12.390]  It's not edge net dot com.
[25:12.550 --> 25:14.770]  Do a search for edge net and squid, actually.
[25:14.990 --> 25:20.610]  Edge net is a private company, because it's just a cool name, and like eight people thought of it, so...
[25:21.170 --> 25:22.510]  Ah, sorry.
[25:22.990 --> 25:23.470]  Abduction.
[25:23.830 --> 25:24.290]  What?
[25:25.050 --> 25:25.530]  Abduction.
[25:25.990 --> 25:26.470]  Ab...
[25:26.470 --> 25:27.110]  Abduction.
[25:27.550 --> 25:28.270]  Abduction, sorry.
[25:28.270 --> 25:29.610]  Just ignore what's on the screen, okay?
[25:29.890 --> 25:31.270]  That has nothing to do with it.
[25:31.630 --> 25:35.950]  So, I can't really see behind me anyway, so...
[25:35.950 --> 25:36.550]  Alright, anyway.
[25:37.970 --> 25:42.690]  So, if anybody's interested in proxying technology and helping us out there, that'd be great.
[25:43.070 --> 25:53.330]  The other cool, really, project that we picked up was this thing called Drop Radio, which was the distributed radio online project that got set up for...
[25:53.950 --> 26:05.610]  Last year, last November, when the WTO met in Qatar, which has no legal right to dissent and no legal right to protest, people decided to hold actions all over the world.
[26:05.890 --> 26:07.770]  And there was the need to report...
[26:07.770 --> 26:18.890]  Rather than having one center sort of be the focal point, it was, how do we get all these actions that are going on all over the world and have people sort of go to one place?
[26:19.130 --> 26:30.570]  And we thought, well, you know, we can sort of take this whole idea of open publishing of, you know, anybody can post and anybody can sort of walk in and contribute making media and thought, why not apply this to audio?
[26:30.570 --> 26:48.770]  So we set up newsrooms in Amsterdam, New York, San Paolo, LA, Seattle, San Francisco, and we had a collection of Icecast servers streaming MP3.
[26:48.770 --> 26:55.770]  And just, what we were doing was, there's basically one mount point for this entire 72-hour period.
[26:55.930 --> 26:59.150]  And we just kept kicking it between time zones.
[26:59.370 --> 27:03.410]  So one person, you would just, you could listen to it for the entire thing.
[27:03.550 --> 27:06.910]  And, you know, first you'd get a little, you know, you get a little news from here.
[27:07.090 --> 27:10.110]  And then a couple hours later, you'd be hearing interviews from somewhere else.
[27:10.550 --> 27:15.770]  And we did this again last January.
[27:16.250 --> 27:19.050]  And it was even more successful and had people...
[27:19.050 --> 27:26.850]  We had, again, San Francisco, Vermont, New York, India, Porto Alegre in Brazil, Munich, places in the UK.
[27:27.290 --> 27:35.290]  Just these massive ways that people could do collaborative media making that, to me, are really fun and exciting.
[27:36.290 --> 27:40.790]  And I think are sort of the more cooler projects that India Media's been involved with.
[27:42.170 --> 27:48.010]  Okay, so before we go to questions, I'm just going to quickly go over how you actually get involved and ways to get in touch with us.
[27:49.110 --> 27:50.370]  If you want to start...
[27:50.370 --> 27:57.590]  Well, probably the first place you would want to go is to our listserv because getting in touch with us via listserv is probably the best way.
[27:58.230 --> 28:02.950]  If you go to lists.indymedia.org, take out the www.
[28:04.010 --> 28:09.090]  By the way, you can also assume you can go to indymedia.org and then find all the things that you're going to refer to.
[28:09.270 --> 28:09.310]  Yeah.
[28:09.310 --> 28:09.970]  But just for your reference.
[28:09.970 --> 28:11.550]  I'm just going to kind of explain what's out there a little bit.
[28:11.810 --> 28:18.690]  So lists.indymedia.org, and it's organized by region, by global working group, and by issue.
[28:19.050 --> 28:22.210]  So you can do a search for your local IMC listservs.
[28:22.470 --> 28:25.090]  New York City has about 20 listservs.
[28:26.130 --> 28:31.290]  So if you're interested in, like, doing radio in New York City, then there's a listserv specifically for that.
[28:31.850 --> 28:35.910]  There are also global networking listservs around media making.
[28:36.230 --> 28:44.430]  There's a radio, IMC-radio, IMC-print, IMC-video, IMC-photo, etc.
[28:44.490 --> 28:48.490]  You can collaborate internationally with people doing the same work in your medium.
[28:50.310 --> 28:55.170]  If you're interested in, you can also, there are also web pages for all the mediums.
[28:55.270 --> 29:01.730]  So radio.indymedia.org, you can kind of see projects that are happening like Drop Radio and get involved that way.
[29:02.270 --> 29:10.970]  Print.indymedia.org is where you get to see all the print publications that individual IMCs are putting together, and they share content with that newswire.
[29:12.090 --> 29:18.130]  Satellite.indymedia.org and video.indymedia.org is where you can find all our documentaries.
[29:18.790 --> 29:31.710]  Satellite has really cool projects like Round Robin, which somebody developed a code that picks up all the video that's published to local IMCs and just streams them one after the other after the other after the other.
[29:31.810 --> 29:37.170]  So you get a little snippet of video from Brazil followed by a little snippet of video from India or whatever.
[29:37.430 --> 29:38.730]  And it's just...
[29:41.250 --> 29:48.470]  And if you're interested in starting your own IMC, probably the first place to go is newimc.indymedia.org.
[29:48.890 --> 29:54.370]  And there you will find the closest thing we have to documentation about what we do and how we do it.
[29:55.010 --> 30:04.630]  There's a couple of documents there that are in draft format about our principles of unity, our mission statement, what we kind of do together.
[30:09.170 --> 30:10.850]  And there's also...
[30:10.850 --> 30:19.110]  If you want to, like, specifically get involved in a project, if you go to volunteer.indymedia.org, you can fill out a form that kind of...
[30:19.610 --> 30:23.690]  It gets routed directly to what you're interested in doing and where you're interested in doing it.
[30:24.570 --> 30:31.970]  A warning, we get a lot of people filling out those forms, but as Josh said, we're entirely volunteer and not...
[30:31.970 --> 30:36.970]  There's no hierarchical structure, so there's no roles that people are mandated to fill.
[30:37.190 --> 30:40.590]  So sometimes we don't always respond to these emails.
[30:41.390 --> 30:42.390]  There's nobody who's...
[30:42.390 --> 30:46.470]  Nobody has a job to, like, respond to the hundreds of volunteer forms we get.
[30:46.670 --> 30:49.630]  So it's not always the most effective way to get involved.
[30:50.210 --> 30:55.830]  Probably either calling your local IMC or sending an email to local IMC, like...
[30:55.830 --> 30:56.750]  And just be persistent.
[30:57.890 --> 31:00.690]  Don't get discouraged if somebody doesn't get back to you right away.
[31:01.310 --> 31:01.650]  Just...
[31:01.650 --> 31:02.190]  Right back.
[31:02.830 --> 31:04.030]  That's all I got to say about that.
[31:04.170 --> 31:05.850]  Yeah, can I just quickly say, the...
[31:05.850 --> 31:13.850]  Filling out this thing on volunteer.indymedia.org is a great idea, but if you want to go and talk to some folks, get on to the irc.indymedia.org.
[31:14.110 --> 31:16.770]  Of course, that's just a tiny subset of the people, but there's the...
[31:16.770 --> 31:19.930]  The IRC type Indymedia folks are on there, and they might help you out.
[31:21.250 --> 31:21.490]  Yeah.
[31:23.070 --> 31:27.550]  IRC.indymedia.org, pound tech, the channel pound tech is...
[31:28.510 --> 31:29.770]  It's most exciting.
[31:29.890 --> 31:30.170]  Very active.
[31:30.930 --> 31:31.810]  It's fun.
[31:32.930 --> 31:33.710]  There you are.
[31:33.890 --> 31:35.290]  You're live on...
[31:35.290 --> 31:35.590]  Woo!
[31:36.170 --> 31:36.510]  Okay.
[31:36.670 --> 31:37.550]  Are there any questions?
[31:38.810 --> 31:39.210]  Yeah.
[31:39.930 --> 31:41.070]  Is there one...
[31:41.510 --> 31:42.250]  Is there one...
[31:42.250 --> 31:44.810]  Is there one URL that will list all these things?
[31:44.850 --> 31:45.970]  I just wrote down a couple.
[31:46.330 --> 31:49.430]  There is no way I'm going to get all this information.
[31:50.010 --> 31:53.170]  Be nice to be able to find a web page.
[31:53.170 --> 31:56.250]  Go to www.indymedia.org.
[31:56.250 --> 32:03.470]  All of the local IMC sites are compiled there, as well as links to all the things we just mentioned to you.
[32:03.690 --> 32:06.270]  Just remember Indymedia, and you'll be fine.
[32:07.650 --> 32:08.130]  I...
[32:08.130 --> 32:08.590]  Oh, go ahead.
[32:08.950 --> 32:09.010]  Yep.
[32:09.570 --> 32:14.450]  I-N-D-Y-M-E-D-I-A dot O-R-G.
[32:14.950 --> 32:15.910]  One actually...
[32:15.910 --> 32:17.770]  This is kind of an interesting point about Indymedia.
[32:18.330 --> 32:24.230]  The thing that makes a site an Indymedia site, as opposed to another cool site which does news, which we support.
[32:24.350 --> 32:25.610]  There's lots of cool projects out there.
[32:25.610 --> 32:31.330]  The thing that makes it an official Indymedia site is getting listed in this left side panel.
[32:31.650 --> 32:38.510]  And you'll find almost all the sites have the same list of sites, most of which are different places in the world.
[32:38.770 --> 32:42.450]  At the bottom you'll see process, discussion, tech, volunteer, whatever.
[32:43.990 --> 32:45.530]  So hopefully that's of some use to you.
[32:46.310 --> 32:49.950]  Also, you should know one thing I just thought of that I should also say.
[32:50.150 --> 32:58.350]  There's many, many, many projects involved with the IMC that aren't technical or that don't use technology of the kind we've been describing.
[32:58.610 --> 33:06.650]  Like, if you're good with construction, if you're good with manning an info desk, there's so many different permutations for an IMC.
[33:06.770 --> 33:15.730]  And every time a new one starts up, it's always really exciting to hear about all the different projects they're doing and all of the different roles they have available for people.
[33:15.910 --> 33:23.870]  So tell your friends who think that you're the computer genius of the universe, because they can help too, as well as you.
[33:25.770 --> 33:28.010]  I have a larger question.
[33:30.530 --> 33:37.430]  As I observe what is going on here, I see three elements.
[33:37.430 --> 33:46.370]  One element is what the hacker world and the IMC world is opposed to.
[33:46.770 --> 33:53.490]  Corporate abuse, abuse of authority, the abuses of the media.
[33:53.670 --> 33:54.930]  They are clear.
[33:56.090 --> 34:03.470]  A second thing that I observe is the marvelous technology that exists.
[34:03.470 --> 34:05.310]  I don't have to go into it.
[34:05.390 --> 34:07.290]  You people know it better than I do.
[34:07.670 --> 34:12.290]  But the third element is what is all this for?
[34:14.110 --> 34:16.430]  What is all this for?
[34:18.510 --> 34:24.650]  What are the belief systems that are being advocated?
[34:24.650 --> 34:40.530]  And if these belief systems are of little value, then all this magnificent technology is amusing to the people who engage in it.
[34:40.610 --> 34:43.430]  But what does it contribute to society?
[34:43.430 --> 34:45.810]  That's a very large...
[34:45.810 --> 34:59.290]  Now, I understand I cannot go somewhere and find a book and say, and have your ideology laid out in one book, giving me...
[34:59.290 --> 35:01.650]  So I know what you believe in.
[35:01.770 --> 35:06.370]  With this diversity of people, there's probably ideological chaos.
[35:07.050 --> 35:08.770]  That doesn't disturb me.
[35:08.950 --> 35:13.410]  But what is the nature of that ideological chaos?
[35:13.730 --> 35:14.090]  Thank you.
[35:14.390 --> 35:15.390]  It's a great question.
[35:15.390 --> 35:15.810]  Okay, thanks a lot, yeah.
[35:16.590 --> 35:18.850]  I'm just going to take a quick pot at this one.
[35:19.010 --> 35:23.130]  The first thing is, you say, basically, what is indie media for?
[35:23.350 --> 35:28.170]  And I'll give you my personal answer, but of course, like you say, everyone has their own answer.
[35:29.250 --> 35:51.910]  For me, I see that the body of our democracies and our civilisation has all these systems built so that we have democratic elections, supposedly, and we have checks and we have balances and we have people appointed into various positions and blah, blah,
[35:51.950 --> 35:52.130]  blah.
[35:52.390 --> 35:54.730]  And it's almost like a living organism.
[35:54.730 --> 36:03.610]  And part of that system is that the news as to what's actually happening has to get out to the people because then they can hold various other people accountable.
[36:04.010 --> 36:17.650]  And we live in a situation right now where the corporate interests have essentially put a big clamp onto some of the main veins of our culture and it's killing the body.
[36:17.650 --> 36:27.570]  So it's just a part of the system, but you need to have a news which is free, which is open, which is not afraid.
[36:28.370 --> 36:34.650]  And, you know, at the moment, indie media acts mostly like an antidote to the rest of the media.
[36:34.690 --> 36:38.310]  But that's kind of my underlying vision as to why it's so important.
[36:39.510 --> 36:40.750]  But on just one person.
[36:41.310 --> 36:42.390]  Can I say one thing for you?
[36:43.270 --> 36:53.950]  I guess the best aspect of indie media that you can look at to sort of address that question is the open editorial process and our open newswire.
[36:54.330 --> 37:01.690]  And also many of our print and radio projects also ensure that there is an open editorial process.
[37:01.690 --> 37:09.610]  People with very dissenting viewpoints often use the independent media platforms to express their views.
[37:10.170 --> 37:18.570]  And often we'll see a number of stories on a newswire that individuals might personally disagree with, even really vehemently.
[37:19.490 --> 37:27.610]  But it's intrinsic to the spirit of indie media that those viewpoints have a venue for expression.
[37:27.610 --> 37:33.670]  People who might not have a particularly clear or eloquent way of speaking.
[37:34.010 --> 37:37.810]  People who might live in a kind of community or live in...
[37:39.170 --> 37:44.770]  Might be oppressed because of their race or their age or their economic status.
[37:45.490 --> 37:46.610]  We want to...
[37:46.610 --> 37:55.310]  The ideological purpose of indie media, as I see it, is to enfranchise people who do not have the opportunity to speak.
[37:55.310 --> 38:00.130]  And the corporate media's ideology is to only...
[38:00.130 --> 38:20.130]  Is to create a monoculture of media where the major organizations which provide us with information do their best to please economic standards rather than to communicate free information.
[38:21.030 --> 38:21.770]  I don't...
[38:21.770 --> 38:22.390]  That's...
[38:22.390 --> 38:25.130]  This is a very difficult question which we always are wrestling with.
[38:25.290 --> 38:26.170]  And it's good that you brought it up.
[38:26.790 --> 38:28.350]  Another quick response from Dri.
[38:28.470 --> 38:30.790]  And if anybody has another question, just come to the mic.
[38:32.050 --> 38:39.690]  I think it was a really interesting question because indie media has lots of meanings depending on where you're from.
[38:40.570 --> 38:50.650]  I think another core question, core issue about indie media is allowing people to tell their own stories in their own way.
[38:51.310 --> 38:57.210]  You get the media nowadays and you have a model of how you're supposed to write stories.
[38:57.930 --> 39:00.510]  And in indie media, you have open publishing.
[39:00.810 --> 39:03.230]  You write your own story in your own way.
[39:03.230 --> 39:09.330]  You don't have someone censoring you or telling you that's the right way and that's not the right way.
[39:10.550 --> 39:13.590]  Another core point for me is...
[39:13.590 --> 39:20.230]  And I'm speaking, like, for myself, not on behalf of anyone, but...
[39:21.230 --> 39:29.150]  It's the capacity of indie media to build communities around a project.
[39:29.150 --> 39:46.030]  So you have, for example, in Bolivia, one website that brings up a community of more than 100 people working on activism and protecting, like, their own rights.
[39:46.030 --> 40:00.730]  So I think it's really important that, like, a website and an idea that it's behind this website is bringing people to organize themselves locally.
[40:03.030 --> 40:07.710]  First question is, is this software open source or public domain as well?
[40:07.870 --> 40:08.850]  It's free.
[40:09.070 --> 40:09.510]  Okay, great.
[40:09.610 --> 40:10.630]  It's free as in speech.
[40:10.630 --> 40:18.570]  And then the more important question I have is, you all are saying that you don't have sort of an organized hierarchy saying this is who we are, this is the leader.
[40:18.830 --> 40:23.770]  And yet you say you're not a member of this organization unless you're posted on that left-hand column.
[40:24.330 --> 40:28.110]  So what's the criteria for going on to that column, as it were?
[40:28.390 --> 40:33.010]  And has anybody been kicked out of it because they violated some, you know, the principles, as it were?
[40:33.010 --> 40:34.170]  Can I take that on?
[40:38.030 --> 40:39.930]  Anyone can participate in indie media.
[40:40.270 --> 40:48.590]  A local IMC actually, like, opening a chapter has to go through a process just so we know that, you know, IMCs are...
[40:48.590 --> 40:50.450]  We're all kind of on the same page and doing it.
[40:50.530 --> 40:51.830]  We're in the same network for a reason.
[40:53.290 --> 40:55.350]  And there's a pretty simple process.
[40:55.350 --> 40:58.770]  There's a working group that is comprised of people from all over the world.
[40:58.950 --> 41:03.190]  It's New IMC listserv that accepts applications.
[41:03.390 --> 41:10.790]  When you go to newimc.indymedia.org, you basically fill out a very simple form, who you are and what you're doing, what you're trying to start.
[41:11.370 --> 41:22.470]  And somebody gets back to you and sends you a Principles of Unity document and a couple other documents just to kind of get you familiar with the network and how to participate.
[41:23.550 --> 41:26.270]  And what we look for is pretty simple.
[41:26.430 --> 41:28.190]  It's just that there's... it's not one person.
[41:28.430 --> 41:30.270]  It's not one party or a faction.
[41:30.570 --> 41:33.650]  That there is, like, community organizing around the IMC.
[41:33.930 --> 41:43.110]  That there's some sort of commitment to open publishing, although there is a wide spectrum of the definition of open publishing.
[41:44.650 --> 41:46.050]  Basic things like that.
[41:46.050 --> 42:01.290]  So, once it's... once you kind of... once you've had a meeting with your local IMC people and generally, in spirit, agree to the principles of unity, you get a web page and you get all the tech support from the global tech collective.
[42:02.350 --> 42:07.990]  But you can also, just as individuals, get involved with local projects or global projects.
[42:07.990 --> 42:14.130]  That's, like... there's no real process to that otherwise... other than just, like, taking initiative and stepping up.
[42:15.470 --> 42:18.450]  By the way, the principles of unity is kind of like an RFC.
[42:18.750 --> 42:20.510]  It's always just a draft.
[42:20.690 --> 42:24.710]  It never quite makes it to being... it's, like, recommended for discussion.
[42:26.690 --> 42:27.370]  I'm curious.
[42:27.890 --> 42:33.750]  Obviously, as a media organization and just trying to get the word out to other people, your goal is to get the word out to as many people as possible.
[42:33.750 --> 42:36.470]  And as that happens, you're going to draw in more and more mainstream people.
[42:36.650 --> 42:40.230]  And as we all know from practical experience, mainstream people are stupid as fuck.
[42:40.650 --> 42:52.010]  So, as you guys actually manage to get more people out there, what kind of checks and balances do you have in place to keep your democratic system of getting free speech out from being abused by the sheer majority of idiots?
[42:54.790 --> 42:56.050]  Can I take that a little bit?
[42:58.450 --> 43:01.350]  I'm sorry to say, but I find your question really offensive.
[43:02.310 --> 43:10.110]  I think that any individual is intelligent enough to understand that they're getting information from various sources.
[43:10.330 --> 43:21.030]  And if they get to a point where they realize that they want to make their own media and tell their own story, we don't discriminate between that.
[43:21.030 --> 43:24.410]  The open source or the open news wire is specifically for that.
[43:24.610 --> 43:42.230]  And if someone wants to join an organizing board for an independent media center, if they want to join a working group, a local one, then they're part of a consensus model where the entire structure is where people discuss things, where ideas are shared freely and through compromise and understanding,
[43:42.230 --> 43:43.710]  people come to a decision.
[43:43.710 --> 44:03.430]  So if someone comes to an indie media meeting and is green and is like, but Ted Koppel told me this, aren't we going to say this, wait a minute, then that person's view can be expressed and that person can publish a story and it just depends on what the consensus model,
[44:03.890 --> 44:05.550]  what the consensus group decides.
[44:05.550 --> 44:08.590]  Can I take a side to that?
[44:08.890 --> 44:17.490]  A totally different perspective, which is there are people that are deliberately abusing the open news wire.
[44:18.370 --> 44:25.790]  And like there's a dude who goes by the mnemonica smash the lift, who will upload pornography and hate speech.
[44:26.710 --> 44:32.710]  And we do remove those from the open publishing news wire as soon as we find them.
[44:33.530 --> 44:41.150]  We're not a hell of a comfortable with removing those by our own fiat, but we kind of have to, given our current situation.
[44:41.470 --> 44:47.330]  Some of the newer code bases are moving towards a situation where the people who are reading the site can log in.
[44:47.470 --> 44:52.010]  And if enough people vote a particular post down, then it doesn't appear.
[44:52.370 --> 44:55.030]  Oh, and by the way, when we remove a post, it's still visible.
[44:55.170 --> 44:56.290]  It's just in a different place.
[45:04.890 --> 45:08.750]  One perfect example of abuse is all the friggin' trolls on Slashdot, okay?
[45:09.150 --> 45:11.590]  I'm proud to say that my beliefs... I'm a Christian.
[45:11.770 --> 45:16.210]  And when I post anything about my beliefs on Slashdot, I get modded down so fast it's not even funny.
[45:16.690 --> 45:17.830]  And I mean, come on, that's voting.
[45:18.010 --> 45:18.730]  That's democracy.
[45:18.730 --> 45:19.450]  That's what it is.
[45:19.770 --> 45:21.590]  But, you know, that happens to people.
[45:21.630 --> 45:22.710]  And it's going to happen.
[45:22.710 --> 45:24.870]  And so what are you going to do to keep that from happening?
[45:25.210 --> 45:25.810]  Meta-moderate?
[45:25.910 --> 45:26.850]  I mean, that sucks.
[45:27.050 --> 45:27.590]  So, I mean...
[45:27.590 --> 45:34.890]  Well, I mean, I think the thing is that with the newer view is that everyone will have their own kind of view on...
[45:34.890 --> 45:41.010]  Like, so a Christian group may set up their own filters and choose to filter the Christian posts up.
[45:41.430 --> 45:43.730]  And another group might choose to filter them down.
[45:44.070 --> 45:47.750]  So I think the idea is that everyone gets to publish and everyone can see it.
[45:48.090 --> 45:51.610]  The reality is that currently the Newswire is just purely time-based.
[45:51.610 --> 45:57.630]  So if you post something, it'll be there just as long as everyone else's until someone else posts something and forces your one off.
[46:00.510 --> 46:01.310]  Anybody done with that?
[46:01.670 --> 46:02.490]  Hi, I'm Bonnie.
[46:02.770 --> 46:07.090]  I worked for over a year on indie medias, mostly in New York City.
[46:07.270 --> 46:10.810]  I had to take a little break, lost my job where I did most of my IMC work from.
[46:12.410 --> 46:13.610]  I don't think there was a connection.
[46:14.410 --> 46:17.170]  And I kind of wanted to address the ideology question.
[46:17.930 --> 46:20.450]  Because I think there is a little bit more of an answer to that.
[46:20.750 --> 46:27.230]  And basically, the ideology is something that most people at this conference would be very comfortable with.
[46:27.390 --> 46:30.070]  The idea of decentralization, openness, transparency.
[46:31.550 --> 46:34.810]  And that does naturally lead to a sort of anarchy.
[46:37.390 --> 46:41.250]  And anarchy has a lot of different meanings depending on who you talk to.
[46:41.470 --> 46:45.670]  But IMCs really try to lead by example and show how it can work.
[46:45.770 --> 46:50.750]  How the collaborative sort rather than the everybody's armed against their neighbors sort of anarchy can work.
[46:50.910 --> 46:52.330]  Because there's only two ways anarchy can work.
[46:52.430 --> 46:56.270]  One is when you're all cooperating and one is when you're all antagonistic to each other.
[46:56.270 --> 47:00.870]  And we try to lead by example on how the positive model of anarchy can work.
[47:01.010 --> 47:03.390]  And often it does lean toward the left.
[47:03.430 --> 47:07.010]  And especially in the beginning, IMCs were accused of protest chasing.
[47:07.870 --> 47:11.690]  But I don't necessarily see that as a big negative.
[47:11.930 --> 47:16.590]  Because the protests are where the people are getting together to express their view of something that's not being heard.
[47:16.590 --> 47:17.650]  And we are covering that.
[47:17.750 --> 47:20.310]  We are getting those voices out, giving them more distribution.
[47:21.230 --> 47:26.030]  And even when it's not an actual protest, a lot of the news is driven by issue groups.
[47:26.030 --> 47:26.710]  Interest groups.
[47:26.850 --> 47:28.650]  Groups of people trying to make a difference in their community.
[47:28.870 --> 47:29.790]  And we're giving them a voice.
[47:30.450 --> 47:31.910]  A lot of them do tend toward the left.
[47:32.150 --> 47:35.850]  But really the underlying thing is openness, transparency, freedom.
[47:37.190 --> 47:39.070]  Which is a flavor of anarchy.
[47:39.510 --> 47:46.130]  And you don't have to be all the way out on the left in terms of anarchy to be welcome there as I learned luckily.
[47:48.550 --> 47:57.190]  But, you know, the mainstream idiots, as you were referring to, the kind of people that are tolerated less are the statists or the people posting hate speech.
[47:57.530 --> 47:58.410]  Things like that.
[47:59.410 --> 48:00.330]  Thanks, Bonnie.
[48:02.370 --> 48:11.050]  As an international organization, I was wondering how you dealt with language differences from different posters and different readers.
[48:11.250 --> 48:23.950]  Whether you had some memes by which people who don't speak Portuguese could read the Brazilian postings and find out what's happening there.
[48:25.710 --> 48:30.030]  That's actually one of the biggest challenges for us.
[48:30.190 --> 48:38.250]  We have several translations list where you send your article or an information that you want to send out to the network.
[48:38.250 --> 48:42.570]  And somebody says, I translate it and then writes you back.
[48:43.470 --> 48:50.390]  We had an IRC meeting about two months ago that was bilingual.
[48:50.810 --> 48:55.970]  Meaning that it was in Spanish and in English at real time.
[48:57.030 --> 49:05.410]  We are trying to decentralize the English speaking languages in the global list.
[49:05.410 --> 49:08.750]  Because, yeah, globalists are all in English.
[49:08.990 --> 49:14.750]  And if you don't speak English, you can't follow what's going on on a global level.
[49:15.890 --> 49:21.370]  But I think that's a problem that we are dealing pretty much well.
[49:21.590 --> 49:32.970]  Since there's a lot of volunteers that are working on making their local IMCs being heard by the global network.
[49:34.650 --> 49:41.810]  Also, just to add to that, different local IMCs take on their own initiatives to have translation on their websites.
[49:42.690 --> 49:46.210]  Argentina is now beginning to have English translation.
[49:47.010 --> 49:52.390]  Israel IMC has a really excellent Hebrew and English website.
[49:52.750 --> 49:56.070]  And there are others that have bilingual or trilingual websites.
[49:57.030 --> 49:58.670]  But it depends on the local IMC.
[49:58.670 --> 50:02.410]  The Aotearoa IMC tries to publish everything in Maori and English.
[50:02.850 --> 50:04.070]  At least our site is.
[50:06.230 --> 50:07.190]  Thanks very much.
[50:07.310 --> 50:13.810]  As you can see, this is an ongoing process which you could definitely use your participation in to make it go to the next level.
[50:14.250 --> 50:21.350]  And to make it grow and to prosper both your creativity and your technical skills would be most appreciated.
[50:22.130 --> 50:24.490]  And we'll stick around a little bit for more questions.
[50:24.770 --> 50:25.610]  Thanks very much for listening.
[50:25.630 --> 50:25.850]  Thank you.