Hi folks
I am writing to you on behalf of Indymedia Ireland in order to issue an invitation to participate in an upcoming conference that we are organising. This conference will consist of a few large forums and a large number of practical workshops with the aim of educating the public about the potential for using new media technology as a means of distributing information and democratising the media.
As part of this conference, we would like to hold a few sessions which concentrate on free and open source software as well as a forum on access to the information society. In particular we intend to hold a workshop on free software alternatives in the field of multimedia (eg. gimp, linux video capture software, staroffice, etc). If anybody in the IFSO/this list would be able to help out in the organisation and planning of such a workshop, that would be great. Although we do have a certain number of techies within indymedia, we prefer to offer space for dedicated groups to host such workshops rather than us doing everything ourselves.
The conference will also include an exhibition space where participating groups can mount information stands and the IFSO or other similar groups would be welcome to have a stand in this. The participation of the group would also be welcomed in our community media forum, which will be an open forum on the problems of uneven access to the information society. We will consider any recommendations that you might have for panellists in this forum.
As part of the conference preparations we will be putting together a network of computers with public access to the internet. We intend to use open source software for all of this and are aiming to construct a network of disk-less linux workstations. One of the technical problems that we face is the lack of an ADSL connection to the conference venue, so we are investigating the possibility of using wireless and satellite solutions for the provision of internet access. If any members of IFSO are interested in helping out in this technical side of things, their assistance would be much appreciated. If you would like to get involved and help out, just reply to this email and let me know.
Although I'm sure that some of you are probably aware of indymedia (and hold strong opinions on it!), I will explain a little about the background of the indymedia project and the aims of this conference in particular.
Indymedia Ireland is part of the global indymedia network, a global network of non-profit, volunteer-run, autonomous media projects. The Irish node was originally formed in 2000 and since then has become a key resource for Irish activists. Among other things we were responsible for breaking the news about the Dame street police riots in May 2001, which has been partly responsible for a widespread and unprecedented level of public scrutiny about the role of the police in our society. Perhaps most importantly, we were responsible for publicising the role of Shannon airport as a military base for the US airforce, fully 9 months before any of the mainstream media decided to cover the story and we continue to document the fact now, when the rest of the media has once again consigned the story to the memory hole. You can view our website at www.indymedia.ie to get a flavour of the project.
On the first of May of this year, as Ireland currently holds the EU presidency, Dublin will host the ceremonies to mark the accession of the 10 new member states to the European Union. The ceremony will bring all 15 EU heads of state to Dublin, as well as the heads of state of the 10 accession countries and it is anticipated that it will be marked by protests from social justice groups who are opposed to various aspects of policy that is being pursued at a European level.
In the week before the accession ceremony, Indymedia Ireland will be hosting a week long conference / festival entitled "Another view of Europe". This conference will run from Friday the 23rd of April until Friday the 29th of April. Thereafter the Indymedia centre will mostly concentrate on dispatching news from the events in Dublin to the global indymedia network. The conference will focus on gathering together material from the European Indymedia network for a series of exhibitions, including a photo exhibition, a series of video showings and a series of practical workshops intended to educate the public about the potential of new technologies as a means of distributing information and escaping the corporate domination of our global news media. Much of the material that will be used in the exhibitions will be sourced from the Indymedia Centres in the accession countries.
The major focus of this conference will be on running practical workshops to asst local community groups and disadvantaged groups in using new technologies to distribute information and connect with wider networks.
However, as a means of raising publicity within the mainstream media here and attracting new people to the Indymedia project, we are hoping to hold a public meeting which will feature high-profile figures who are critical of the news media as it currently operates. This event will have the theme: "What's wrong with the media and why we need an Independent Media." In addition to prominent media critics, the meeting will include speakers from Indymedia Ireland and indymedia UK who will describe the history and aims of the global Indymedia project and why we think such projects are important. Vincent Browne will be one of the keynote speakers.
We will also hold several other general forums. One of these will look at access to the information society and will include various media rights campaigners, and reports from attendees at the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) conference in Geneva as well as the We-Seize counter summit. Others will concentrate on issues arising from EU integration and the events planned for Mayday in Dublin and examine the coverage that they have attracted in the mainstream media (pretty sensationalist to say the least!).
I apologise if this invitation is at rather short notice. We have only recently definitely secured a large premises in a city centre location for the period in question and, although it has been in planning for a while, we felt it was best to hold off on issuing invitations until the venue was definitely confirmed.
Yours Sincerely Chekov Feeney (Secretary of the Independent Media Support Group Ireland)