indythoughts – questionnaire

  • 10 March 2005

1. do you see indymedia, apart from being an alternative media outlet, blah blah, as some kind of experiment, where co-operation, non-hierarchy, and other principles that indymedia reporters preach, are put into practice? In other words… is indymedia an alternative community that practices a different style of relationships between people? Is it a valid model of alternative society?

2. if we can consider that some of the objectives of indymedia are…

a) to inform about issues that do not appear in the mainstream media
b) convert people to anticapitalism
c) inform the converted about how to practice anticapitalism
d) [help to] create a new society

in which order or importance do you think they stand? Which one would you add or remove? (You can answer regarding both indymedia.org and/or “your” indymedia)

to what extent do you think these objectives are being implemented?

3. if you were involved in the creation of your local indymedia, or if you got involved with the existing indymedia collective, why did you decide to do so? What are your reflections after… (how many years again)?

4. in relation with the objectives, and with the theories and practices within indymedia, what do you think helps to advance towards those objectives? What does not?

5.
* Who uses Indymedia? * What makes it different?
* Why hasn’t it happened before?
* Why do we need it? * Why does Indymedia suit Pro-Change protes?

indythoughts

  • 9 March 2005

The human being does not wish to make the same mistake twice, it wishes to learn from mistakes, mainly in order to not suffer so much.

This is why processes, instructions, norms are created. They should be drafted by people who have been in that given situation and have learned from it. Instructions and norms tend to turn into structures, which are almos always hierarchical.

They are primarily defence mechanisms to face a situacion that has given negative results in the past. They are not opression mechanisms as such.

Skype

  • 4 March 2005

For those who are mad with the b**y skype…

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,9481674~mode=flat

commitments

  • 4 March 2005

Some from one of the hacklabs from Madrid has come to London and I saw him today, because I have not forgotten how hard the first days in London were, when I didn’t know where to start, I didn’t know anyone, and I was desperate to talk to some one, happy to talk even in English.

Dissertation Proposal. Indymedia

  • 3 March 2005

I have been involved in this website for some time. Quite a few academic researchers have attempted to analyse it, but on the one hand, much of their efforts went into understanding the dynamics of how it works, and on the other hand, inevitably their analyses were limited to an external vision and whatever glimpse they could get from interviews with volunteers. I would like to analyse it from the inside, which is something that has not been done so far and would be very useful for indymedia volunteers.