|
IMC in Residence at Allen Hall
The IMC will be presenting a week of talks, programs and workshops giving an
introduction to the Indymedia revolution. All programs will be taking place
at the University of
Illinois' Unit One at Allen Hall. Unit One is a living/learning program
available to all Allen Hall residents that provides residents with an atmosphere
that is intellectually and personally challenging in a residence hall that is
characterized by a spirit of community interaction. The IMC will have a mini
production studio set up in the Allen Hall guest apartment where radio programs
will be produced for air on the IMC's radio programs.
Allen Hall is located at 1005 W. Gregory Dr., Urbana, on the University campus.
All events are open to the public and everyone is invited.
Monday Feb. 25:
8:00pm Opening Program: Birth of a Revolution: An Intro to the Indymedia
Movement,
Indymedia volunteers will give a brief introduction to the birth of the IMC
movement at the Nov. 1999 WTO protests in Seattle, and tell how these seeds
took root in Urbana-Champaign, growing one of the most active and thriving Indymedia
Centers in the world.
10:00pm Informal Discussion with IMC members (in the guest apartment)
Meet the volunteers behind Indymedia and find out about how grassroots media
happens.
Tuesday Feb. 26:
7:00pm Counteracting the Coercive Power of Corporate Media, a talk
by Paul Riismandel
The consolidation of corporate media pushes voices of dissent to the fringes,
while the media conglomerates solidify their control over the messages and images
we see and hear all day long. Paul will discuss how the corporate media maintains
this control, and how grassroots media activists are working to counteract and
undercut it.
9:00pm Workshop: Intro to Independent Radio News facilitated
by the IMC News Working Group: Pauline Bartolone, Michael Feltes, L. Orion Weill
Radio is arguably the most widely used medium in the world. Computer audio technology
has put the tools to produce high quality radio journalism in the hands of average
citizens. The IMC News Working Group will demonstrate how average citizens can
use this technology to report on the issues that are important and affect all
of us.
10:00pm Informal radio work time, other discussion (in the guest
apartment) come hang out or learn how to use the production equipment.
Wednesday, Feb. 27:
7:00pm The Global IMC Network; Making and Distributing Grassroots Indy
Media, a talk facilitated by Sascha Meinrath
With over seventy centers worldwide, the IMC network continues to expand bringing
alternative news and the power to be the media to more people every day. Yet,
this enormous global network is radically decentralized and democratic, with
no headquarters or directors. All Indymedia content is freely distributed and
reproduced the world over. Sascha will discuss how the Global IMC network works
and keeps the information flowing.
9:00pm Workshop: The Technology Behind Indymedia, Or, Using the Master’s
Tools, facilitated by the IMC Tech Working Group: Brian Hagy, Clint Popetz,
Zach Miller, Dan Lewart, Paul Riismandel
The availability of inexpensive digital technology is one factor in the creation
of the Indymedia movement. Digital video cameras, minidisc recorders, computers
and, of course, the Internet have all been put to use in reporting the news
that would otherwise go uncovered, often undercutting the goals of the global
corporations that create them. The IMC Tech Working Group will reveal how the
Urbana IMC stays connected to the world using these tools. This talk is for
geeks and non-geeks alike. Experienced techies will have the opportunity to
get into the nuts and bolts of the IMC website, community wireless project and
other tech initiatives.
10:00pm Informal radio work time, other discussion (in the guest
apartment)
Thursday, Feb. 28:
7:00pm Information Activism, a talk by James Jacobs and IMC Librarians
The Indymedia Revolution is truly an Information Revolution. The IMC movement
is about the creation and dissemination of critical information by people who
are outside the media production establishment, to people otherwise unable to
access it. Understanding how information is created, understood and organized
is crucial to making it useful to those who need it most. The IMC Librarians
take this task seriously and will explain why their work is a key component
of Indymedia.
9:00pm The Challenges of Indy Investigative Journalism, a talk
by Lindsay Robinson and Danielle Chynoweth
Investigative journalism is a fundamental necessity in a working democracy,
and yet it is something that the corporate media does less of every year. IMCs
have an important role to play in digging up the truth that is ignored by the
mainstream press, especially stories that can't be explained in just three minutes.
And yet, because they come from outside the mainstream media establishment,
Indymedia journalists also face unique hurdles in gaining access to people and
information.Citizen journlists Linsday Robinson and Danielle Chynoweth will
detail some of the techniques of investigative journalism, and recount the barriers
they've faced in uncovering the truth.
10:00pm Informal radio work time, other discussion (in the guest
apartment)
The People of Indymedia
Here are some short bios of the IMC volunteers who are working on this week
of programs. They represent just a small snapshot of the thousands of global
Indymedia citizen-journalists creating grassroots reporting every day.
Danielle Chynoweth is an active community member with involvements in
neighborhood organizing, business, education, and the arts. She has been a community
organizer for over twelve years. She is co-owner of On the Job Consulting, a
computer consulting company in the heart of downtown Urbana. Danielle is co-founder
of the Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center and serves on the Board of
Directors of the Computer Learning and Mentoring Center. Through Girlzone, she
works with girls ages 8-18 to develop a bi-monthly radio program around their
interests.
James Jacobs, transplanted Oregonian, is a graduate student in library
and information science at UIUC. He's interested in public information in all
its guises and would like to one day sculpt his own house.
Sascha Meinrath is a community organizer and social justice activist.
Locally, he is involved with over a dozen organizations. Among other volunteer
projects he works with, he is an active member of the Champaign County Living
Wage Coalition; a site organizer of the Urbana PermacultureProject; he has helped
create and maintain the Urbana-Champaign Wireless Project; and he is a co-founder
of the Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center. He has spoken at community
and organizational conferences throughout North America and is currently involved
with Indymedia projects in New York City, France, Nigeria, and South America.
Paul Riismandel has been active in independent and grassroots media
for over ten years and is a founding member of the Urbana-Champaign IMC. For
the last five years he has hosted Radio Free Conscience, a biweekly radio program
focusing on people, efforts and issues in grassroots media. When not making
media, Paul is documenting the history and political economy of independent
media as a graduate student at the Institute of Communications Research. His
chapter on low-power FM radio, "Radio by and for the Public; the Death
and Resurrection of Low-Power Radio," appears in the book the Radio
Reader, edted by Michelle Hilmes and Jason Loviglio, Routledge 2001.
L. Orion Weill is originally from Kentucky, and moved to Urbana, IL
after two years of grassroots organizing in Philadelphia, PA, where he was a
member of the IMC. Since December of 2001, Orion has been working at the Illinois
Student Environmental Network, and a volunteer journalist with the IMC. Starting
in March, Orion will be the Environmental Editor for the IMC's news publication
the Public I.
|
