Μερικούς μήνες μετά τον εορτασμό της 5ης επετείου από την ίδρυση του Κέντρου Ανεξάρτητης Πληροφόρησης, ως μιας μη-εμπορικής ύπαρξης για την ανοιχτή δημοσίευση νέων και πληροφοριών, περίπου 150 ιντυμιντιάδες, οι περισσότεροι κάτοικοι ΗΠΑ, συγκεντρώθηκαν στο Austin, Texas για το συνέδριο Indymedia, που πραγματοποιήθηκε στις 18-20 Φλεβάρη. Κατά τη διάρκεια του Σαββατοκύριακου πραγματοποιήθηκαν επίσημα αλλά και ανεπίσημα εργαστήρια, συζητήσεις, ανταλλαγές δεξιοτήτων με στόχο τη βελτίωση της αποτελεσματικότητάς μας ως δίκτυο ριζοσπαστικών μέσων πληροφόρησης. Υπήρχαν επίσης οι παρουσίες των ακτιβιστών των media Douglas Kelner, John Downing, Clemencia Rodríguez, και Amy Goodman.

Οι συζητήσεις μας περιελάμβαναν θέματα όπως επαγγελματισμός και Indymedia, ελαττώματα και δυνατότητες του IMC, τα γεωγραφικά εμπόδια, εγκατάσταση ενός IMC για μαζικές κινητοποιήσεις, Blogging και Indymedia, IMC και αδκημένες κοινότητες, and Φυλές και φύλα μέσα στο Indymedia. Άλλες ομάδες εργασία και ανταλλαγής δεξιοτήτων ασχολήθηκαν με την Συνέλευση IMC Print, IMC Video, πώς να κάνεις ραδιοφωνική εκπομπή, και γράφοντας για την αντίσταση. Αρκετός χρόνος δαπανήθηκε για να συζητηθεί το Indymedia.us, μια ιστοσελίδα ανοιχτής δημοσίευσης που συγκεντρώνει ειδήσεις από όλα τα άλλα IMCs στις ΗΠΑ. Πριν ξεκινήσουν τα εργαστήρια της Παρασκευής, συζητήσαμε πώς θα καταγραφεί το συνέδριο και συντονίσαμε τις προσπάθειες κάλυψης. Ελπίζουμε να βρείτε τα έγγραφα χρήσιμα και ζητούμε την δική σας άποψη για όλες τις παραμέτρους του συνεδρίου.

[ Austin Indymedia | Indymedia.us | Indymedia.us Syndication FAQ | John's Indyconference Dispatch | Indyconference Fosters Different Views ]

On Friday afternoon, conference participants gathered in the Governor's Room at the University of Texas to meet up with each other and ensure that everyone would be well accommodated while in Austin. One person's anonymous feedback to the conference organizers was that, "meeting face to face definitely adds to the feeling of solidarity with, and accountability to, the IMC network." Our discussions included Guerilla Journalism Ethics: Professionalism and Indymedia (audio), Internal Instabilities: Shortcomings and Potentials of IMC (audio), as well as Trolls, Hackers and Moderation. In the evening we communicated with keynote speakers Douglas Kelner & John Downing on the topics of "Oppositional Politics and the Internet" and "Radical social movement media: their typical Achilles' heels and their surprising powers."

Saturday was packed full of workshops! We explored topics such as The Geography Hurdle: Organizing state and national IMCs, Setting up an IMC at a Mass Mobilization, Blogging and Indymedia, Radical Referencing, Reporting Skills and IMC and Underserved Communities. There were also workshops focused on Print, Video, Radio (audio) and US–IMC. There were many folks from Austin who learned about Indymedia for the first time when they watched the film Independent Media in a Time of War (Dial-Up | Broadband) and heard a presentation from Amy Goodman, host and executive producer of Democracy Now! On Saturday night, a local housing cooperative opened their backyard up to all the visiting IMCistas for a party which turned out to be a great venue for a guerilla video screening of popular videos from the resistance such as Fuck The Corporate Media and A Call to Media Arms.

Sunday was an emotional day for many of the participants, especially those of us that were involved in a workshop focused on Race and Gender in Indymedia. In a workshop on Documenting Resistance: The Historical Imperative of Video Archiving (audio), we discussed the possibilities of establishing a video archive to properly store and make available Indymedia footage. Our Closing Session (audio), which included almost all the conference participants, was also emotional for some of us as we discussed our experiences with Indymedia, the ways in which our local IMCs are both similar and different to other local IMCs and the visions we have for the Indymedia network. One big area of concern was outreach to people at other IMCs that may not have known about the conference or been able to attend for various reasons, such as time away from family, inability to take off work and overall cost. We want to strengthen all aspects of Indymedia, from our local IMCs, to Indymedia.us, Indymedia.org and the areas on the globe that may benefit from a new Independent Media Center.

The amazing level of face-to-face interaction and building of connections is bound to strengthen the US and global network. Our friends in Austin, including The Rhizome Collective, Austin Spokescouncil and The Austin Independent Media Center were very hospitable to all the guests from out of town. Our experiences at Indyconference will help us plan, and participate in, future regional conferences.

Indyconference followed a regional conference that happened in Oceania last year, as well as the Media EmergenC which took place in San Diego. Shortly after Indyconference, a network gathering of the United Kollectives took place in Bristol. Discussions at the network gathering included the seizure of the Ahimsa servers and other recent libel/defamation case attempts, as well as the G8 summit taking place July 6-8 in Scotland.

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