[HacktionLab] other ideas for hacktionlab Jan 2012

[m3shrom]

I liked your ideas there Alan!

The following is a bit of blue sky thinking for what a good UK based
media activist group / network might look like.

I know that hacktionlab is often quite techie - although at the more
accessible end of that I would hope - and that a lot of the following is
more alt media orientated - but I think that there is a lot of scope for
hacktionlab to really cross over with some of the other collectives that
were involved in rebellious media conference.

This is just a brain dump really - and not a specific proposal - more
pub talk.
--//

*** Scope; Grass roots media activism on a UK and European level, a
group or network to fill the gaps left by Indymedia and other similar
groups including;

* Collective production of media
* Covering events with mobile computing set ups
* Media activist training, internet publishing, making video, writing
reports collectively
* Film screenings
* Networking & Publicity - appearances at conferences and events, using
media and outreach projects to promote media
activism and partner projects

*** Specific Projects

* Mapping Alt media activity
This would continue the work of mapping existing media collectives,
bloggers and campaign groups using media. The work would collect and
collate contacts which can be used to promote future projects.
This could be done using an online contacts system and emailing system.
Specifically CiviCRM is one based on drupal which seems to work well.

* Networking events
A series of events bringing together relevant people to discuss tactics,
share skills, and promote new projects. These would replace old
Indymedia network events and would be more outwardly facing.

* Publicity Materials
Helping to organise, design, printing and distribution of publicity
materials for projects which provide a platform for media activism, eg,
bethemedia, network23, aktivix and other partners.

* Workshop resources
Networking existing resources for putting on workshops on media
creation, publishing technology and open source software. Also creating
publicity to make it easier to promote workshops. Working out where
there are gaps in existing resources and aiming to fill the gaps with
new materials.

* Screening Packs
Regular screening packs of films and publicity which can make it easier
to put on film screenings for emergent groups.

*** How to organise?

Up until now we have mostly been volunteer only collectives with
informal decision making structures. A viable option is to continue in
this way and accept the limits that this brings. If you look at the
scope of work it looks like what Indymedia did at it's most active.
However, personally I think we could do it with our existing partners.

But, with some of this work there is a fair amount of data that is being
collected a more formal organisation may be more suitable to look after
this data. There is a spectrum from forming a full charity and trying to
fundraise for salaried positions and partnering with an existing group
to handle small payments to cover events and specific funded project
costs.
Also a fair amount of work which is pretty boring or specialist. It may
be that we  might want to pay people an hourly rate to do some of the
data entry or other work that is far from exciting. A more formal
organisational structure or partnering with a trusted existing body
would help to access funding and mediate any difficult decisions or
disagreements that may happen.

In any case, how we organise in terms of structure and / or funding
depends on the scope of activities that is chosen, and would probably
need a fair amount of discussion and then some advice from other groups.