#OMN idea of indymedia reboot

Did some images for #OMN idea of #indymedia reboot

The idea is to keep it simple to push the control balance from the geek to the users. To use existing tools to build a open network then let the users decide how to use it. This is the “news” part of indymedia the privacy focused actavist part is needed as well. Plugging in tor and scuttlebutt provides that side. In the end its just human moderated flows and actually technologicaly neutral, anything can be hub/peer on the network. Its just like the underlining tech of the internet and web itself.

Simple. And if you look at the fedivers all this already exists.

Tec in the post truth world

The #4opens are a kinda of constitution that keeps the “post truth world” at bay. As long as you keep the #4opens in place and respect the diversity they can hold in place.

It’s a chicken-and-egg issue.

The #OMN is a social technology held together by the #4opens that pushes into being digital commons. What we then do with this liberated space is up to us.

The rebooted #indymedia project is a radical media project motivated by the #pga hallmarks that can only be built as a trust based network in this #TAZ space.

Wikipedia is kinda your friend, arty view of #TAZ https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Temporary_Autonomous_Zone

And #PGA https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peoples%27_Global_Action

Talking about rebooting openweb media

Its too easey to talk cross purpose about actavisam, media and tech if the is any understaning at all most are talking about the end of indymedia and what came after, am talking about the start of indymedia and what came before. A simple misunderstanding that is surprising hard to bridge. There are now millions of normal non geek people using everyday the tech am surgesting, the UI works fine, the apps are good for a phone experience. What am talking about is already a success… just activists are stuck.

The has been a #block on radical tec for the last 10 years. As most actavisam was in with the #encryptionists which is a 10% project only if they overcome the #geekproblem if they don’t its just a wasteland. No wonder people flocked to the lonely #dotcons. Open/closed is a 90/10% split… not a 10/90% split. This the the difference between the start and end of the indymedia project.

Its a process, as we are on #failbook the #hashtags will not get outside to the #openweb. But they will to a limited extent bypass the algorithm and give you a wider view inside facebook. The power comes from useing them in openweb projects and searches. This gives power to organise alongside and outside the #dotcons

Tagging is at the hart of the bottom up approach the #OMN takes. So think of hashtags use inside the dotcons as a small help and a first big stepaway. Of course if you never take the effort to stepaway then its just a small help and kinda pointless.

The is a pessimism in defeat.

Talking about the possibility of rebooting our own media.

Lets rearly focus, when most people talk about our own media. They mostly talk about the closed/bureaucratic indymedia. When i talk about the open/serendipity indymedia. Lets be positive and try and bridge these views.

The #hashtags are a part of the open process. You can see the whole working of the network, ie its open not closed.

Yes i understand the desire for closed, i see this desire destroy left and right. Yes closed is obviously the way to destroy society and the natural environment. Yes closed is better, not.

Its a simple story.

Idea to escape the media manipulation that puts Trump and Johnson into power and will keep doing this as its the business models of #dotcons and #tredtionalmedia Were are the tools to organize. Am asking a simple question and giving a simple sulution #DIY with as strong a protection against #fashernistas cooption and #geekproblem irrelevance.

The name Open media network (#OMN) as its name implies is about building and holding bridges across the ghettos.

Please ignore all the crap that will be flying about and do something simple and positive.

A bit of history: Do you remember the early open process #indymedia before it died as closed and bureaucratic. It was not a ghetto and helped to shape #traditionalmedia narrative. If leftwing/anarchists history teaches anything usefull power is all about organization self or top down… what tools do we have to organize if the answer is non then we have no power just bubbles… kinda what today tells us. Learn the wrong thing and the next 5 years are lost.

Well that did not go well, were next?

Negative or Positive

Do we have the power and will to choice?

#OMN is a needed first step if you have power and will to overcome your digital addictions.

More ideas? We have 5 years of empty political space, filling this time with negative will be a waste. Who is up for building posative DIY, increasing the commons were we have the power to do this outside the electoral mainstream.

Have you taken a caring step to the #openweb have you stayed in the #dotcons to offer a helping hand to others? The answer to these questions likely sits uneasily with you, it does with meany.

Take the time to outreach your friends onto #openweb media projects is a basic step. https://campaign.openworlds.info if you try this one then you should take the time and effort to find 20 new to you people to follow otherwise it will not work. There are NO addiction algorithms on the #openweb projects so will only work if you make it work. Gather the people like you outside the #dotcons is a good first step.

If the election is a disaster over the next few days this is directly connected to your use of the #dotcons as your media source. This with the billionaire #traditionalmedia is pushing social control of the #deathcult over us all.

You have had plenty of time and opportunity to reboot the #openweb as your source of news. That you have not lifted a finger to do this is your own responsibility.

Of course maybe it will not be a disaster, as it clearly should not be. Cross fingers and get out into the streets to knock doors.

Take the step today #OMN

This election is human being vs the mashine, Labour supporters knocking doors vs dark targeted negatively adverts on Facebook.

The labour spending, much less than the tories is positive, in the light. The majority of tory spending, much more, is in the dark targeted by algorithm to swing the marginal, to push the darkness.

The problem we face for a progresive future is that the #dotcons that dominate our media were built to push dark agenders. its a built into their business models, the #deathcult is strong oneline

It’s well past time to step away from this mess #OMN

20 years of indymedia

If you are intrested in rebooting the #indymedia project. The #OMN process is based on experience of why the IMC project failed from internal stresses.

The Open Media Network is a trust based, human moderated, #4opens project that builds a database shared across many peers. The project is more important for what it DOES NOT DO, than what it does do. It uses technology to build human networks.

There are ONLY 5 main functions:

* Publish (object to a stream of objects) – to publish a story.

* Subscribe (to stream of objects) – to a person or organization, a page, a group, a subject etc.

* Moderate (stream or object) – you can say I like/not like (push/pull or yes/no) this etc.

* Rollback (stream) – you can remove from your flow untrusted historical content by publishing flow/source.

* Edit (meta data of object/stream) – you can edit the metadata in any site/instance/app you have a login on.

– The folksonamy tag meta date creates the streams/feeds of objects

This is the back-end of the project to build a DIY trust based grassroots semantic web. The front-end can be anything you like, for example it can be regional/city/subject based indymedia sites.

The data cauldron and the golden ladle – Working docs https://github.com/Openmedianetwork/OMN/wiki

The #dotcons put shiny on there poison pill and we swallowed a heap

Q. but then facebook fucked it all up
http://members.aye.net/~hippie/hippie/special_.htm

A. Yes, well we kinda fucked it up before #failbook came along. The #ossification of #indymedia network from my memory comes to mind. Tecnolagy as individualism over tecnolagy as social, the blogging revolution and years of pointless #encryptionists projects are good examples. Then the #dotcons puts shiny on there poison pill and we all swallowed heaps of “socialmedia” and here we are deep in the #deathcult with a vernier of the #openweb on the edge #OMN

The #geekproblem pushing over #openweb agen

https://www.wired.com/story/how-blockchain-can-wrest-the-internet-from-corporations The #encryptionists are trying to pushing there flagging project over the healthy #openweb reboot.

Q. need a new hashtag? lovers of blockchain (bloccatenaphile?) are a breed unto themselves, and not likely to be as sensible as some those who are in to encryption.

how broad is your definition of #encryptionist?

A. #encryptionists my “fuckyou” thoughts started with the #indymedia network. The #geekproblem installed a self signed certificate on the domain to increase “privacy” alongside not logging ip addresses on the local server.

The “good affect” only securaty theater, the bad affect, every user received a browser pop up saying “do not trust this site” and the IP addresses could just be collected “upriver” at the ISP/switch level by the state actors who were monitoring the project

#openweb

The affect of not logging IP address locally was a rising deluge of spam and moderator burn out.

The was not democratic process on these changes, and no way to role them back or even address the issue. The project of over 100 globle news sites, with thousands of media creators and millions of users. Ossified and then died, the #dotcons soon replaced it.

#fashernistas moved on, the #openweb started to die.

The #geekproblem pushing #encryptionists agenders OVER #openweb projects.

The is a role for #encryptionists /closed but it’s on balance a smaller one than “open” is my core experience over the last 20 years.

All tech is “ideology” as code, we need to talk about this #4opens

A look at how technology shapes progressive/radical media-looking forward-looking back

3 events at newspeak house this winter:
Session 1) Looking back – how technology shaped the production and distribution of radical/progressive media like #Undercurrents, #Indymedia etc.

Session 2) The current day – failure of radical media technology. The rise of the #dotcons and the new alt-media projects.

Session 3) Looking forward – The #activetypub meetup. This is an update on the state of current #openweb projects. A continuation of the very successful #Mastodon meetups that I set up last year, opening up to the wider projects like #Peertube, #Pleroma, #Pixalfeed etc.

What kind of format do you imagine?

First two would be presentation, with long Q&A sessions and feedback from other participants that arrive on the day. Following the successful meetups last year, the last session is a user group go round with a few lightening talks and Q&A.

Session 1) I’m planning to invite one of the founders of both Undercurrents and #IMC to speak. I was also involved in both, so we would have 3 perspectives. I would have to cover the expenses of these speakers.

Session 2) I’m currently looking for speakers. I can talk/guide on this subject to shape the agenda to the subject.

Session 3) We have a list of people to invite from our meetup group from last year, so it will be a continuity user group meetup with fresh outreach.

And who do you imagine as your target audience?

Session 1) People who were involved (a lot) in the production and distribution of radical/progressive media. Historians (a few), and people interested in the 3 workshops and the subject of tech and politics in general.

Session 2) The same people from the first session will come to the second one, plus next generation who built good things inside the #doctons (for example UK uncut, student protests, current radical media projects and their ordinances).

Session 3) The same people from the first two sessions, plus the people running the Mastodon instances. Both developers and users, as well as the new alt media producers to connect with the developers/sysadmins

For outreach, there will be two bites of the cherry, the publicity for the event and the publicity for each of the sessions.

Open Media Network

The project

The Open Media Network is a project to play a small role in revitalising the open web. It uses the tried and tested technology of RSS, taking it out of a basic personalised mash-up of feeds into an open metadata social network. Its initial focus will be around alternative media, enabling projects to grow and cross-fertilise independently of the social media corporate giants.

Rationale

The #dotcom silos are completely dominant in terms of people’s identity, for publishing and for networking etc. At social events you once gave your phone number, then your email address, and now you friend on facebook.

By contrast, the open web has plateaued or is already in decline, depending on your point of view. To fix the issues of why the open web is failing we first need to look at why it succeeded:

The internet/web was a KISS trust-based network that took over the world we have been living in for the last 30 years, and it was no accident that identity checking and security were missing from the original internet/web.

To reboot the open web will take many overlapping streams of open projects. Here we are proposing a KISS project to that end.

Let’s look at a small, once healthy stream. Alt/grassroots media used to play a large role in the world. Now all that remains is a few sprigs of green in a polluted/dry river bed. In its heyday the global #indymedia (link broken) network rivalled the BBC and CNN in its scope and coverage on the big days of action and international summits. Now all that is left are some strongly branded small projects (http://novaramedia.com), that grew from #dotcom social media and are only networked within them, and a handful of big legacy projects (http://www.democracynow.org).

The problem we face is a pre-web problem, that of silos. That is each project is a small pool in a empty/dry river and there are very few links or shared data from one to the other (link to 3 projects). The currency of the web is the “valid link”to build networks. Alt-media’s growth is severely limited by this lack.

Open Media Network

The OMN is one project to fix this problem.

It is a project of the 4 opens. It is a human-based project at its core, as opposed to an algorithmic project.

Quite simply we want alt-media sites to link to each other and share content, to become a healthy network rather than isolated drying-out silos.

The outcomes needed for it to work are easy to achieve, and they have a large possibility to grow/empower projects as a network.

The project uses RSS as a data object exchange format, using a tagging folksonomy as a way of shifting the data flow between federated sites. It uses both native code plug-ins and javascript to “embed” links to this tagged data flow in open web sites and blogs (working example visionontv side bar on http://newint.org)

RSS aggregating news portals are not new, which is a major part of their strength for the realizing of the Open Medium Network. Taking this tried and tested tech into an open metadata social network is new. Another thing which will be new to some of the media side of the project is the 4 opens.

Each participant in the OMN will embed at least one news river in their sidebar.

The plan is to build synching aggregating portals / hubs (based on existing CMSs) that feed those sidebar rivers.

Human networking based on trust is key.

Aggregators choose to link RSS feeds into their hubs.
Users choose the tags for the link streams from the hubs into their side bars.
To facilitate trust, basic security is built in.

flows can be on auto or moderation
there would be a feed-based roll-back for when spam gets through the trust network.

User embeds, either native or JS, are boolean tag based and have metadata editing rights based on trust (hosting hub gives them this), with 3 levels: auto/moderation/rollback.

NOTES for Developers:

This project uses technology to build a human network. There’s a sense in which the simplicity is as important as the code. The project can grow to work in many different ways but the base has to be KISS.

NOTES for journalists and media makers:

You retain complete control of what appears on your site. As the trust network builds, it will become higher quality and faster to administer.

Outcomes

From simple springs big rivers grow to feed the sea.

In my 30-year experience, I have seen too many alt-media projects grow, flower and fade away, without aggregating or archiving themselves into a state of permanence.

This project can play a crucial role in solving this, as hubs will not only be able to moderate the flows of news, they could achieve it, with no extra work, in a massively redundant distributed way.

The same basic project and tech will work fine for the blog-rolls of sites, creating more “static” dynamic linked side bars. This will reboot the idea of “webrings”.

It can also form the basis of identity. People are just a tagged data object that can be sorted into “flows”. This opens up social networking to creative thinking.

Sites link to each other both though trust, the human side, and through links, the machine side. Both are a good opportunity for the open web to compete with the closed silos.

The networks of hub sites become portals in their own right, driving traffic to the root news orgs/blogs that feed them.

300 words

The Open Media Network is a KISS hybrid client server/peer2peer project to play a small role in revitalising the open web. It uses the tried and tested technology of RSS. Its initial focus will be around alternative media, enabling projects to grow and cross-fertilise alongside the social media corporate giants.

For the full background to the project see this http://hamishcampbell.com/en/home/-/blogs/open-media-netwo-1?

Stage one (6-12 months) basic linking and embedding programming, basic beta roll-out – the outlandish funding.
Stage two (6-12 months) is synchronising and meta-data editing, then expanding roll-out.

When we have basic working code, set up a number of exemplar hubs to beta test the project in the real world and push out embeds to existing real world alt-media sites.

This project is largely social technology. The tech part is configuration and repurposing existing CMS’s and their plug-in architectures.

Pre-programming – there is a need to look at the existing code/plug-in base and spec out a number of roots to working aggregating CMS to seed development.

List the parts that need scripting/programming/configuring.

Work out the basic meta-data format (RSS/atom)

These no exclusivly act as “seeds” for the aggregating hubs. They already have some of the basic functionality needed. Take this list to open source programming projects such as LINK etc.

As an open project built peer2peer, the core is to get a lot of people at different levels of expertise working on each bit and run them all in parallel. There is no right answer and no signal point of use/failure.

visionOntv project can offer to match the funding coming from outlandish.

I take this comment from a famous programmer as a complement “feels dated in the language and tech” that’s the point 😉

————————–

Briefly describe what support in addition to funding you would require to make your project a reality. This could include people with other skills, or office or event space.

The funding is nice to keep focus, but the core help is the links and knowledge network that outlandish provides. The content and media side we can handel. The running of aggregation we have been doing for over 20 years, over many generations of failing alt-tech. At the moment we only have youtube play lists and embeds, this is a crap situation, not to say embarrassing state of alt-media.

Outline of 20 years ups and downs of grassroots activism in the UK

Published Date 11/30/15 3:38 PM

In my expirence the flowering of the #indymedia networks followed by the first years of #climatecamp were the high points of activist culture. The end of climate camp was the low point of activist culture, after this the drift to #NGO and #fashionista was wide and dissipating.

#Occupy was a break in activist culture, it was the first mass “internet first” on the ground manifestation that happened disconnected to the past of activism because of the use of #dotcons tools as prime organising space. The old culture has been discredited by the failings of climatecamp, the new dotcon tools had been celebrated and used well by Ukuncut etal. Where Ukuncut was a reboot of the old climate camp crew, occupy was a project of the #failbook generation in all its wide reflective madness.

Where are we now? The old left is rebooting with a broken mix of the Blairite right and the Stalinist/toxic left, both pulling at the radical liberal centre. Alt media content is being rebooted but the network it needs to build, to stop its drift to NGO burn out, is missing. The right is ideologically bankrupt and visibly grasping, but stronger than ever.

In activism currently we are full of the biter taste of occupy and NGO worshipping of dotcoms and careerism. The working of the 21st century is potentially different to the workings of the 20th century the are groups, networks and individuals that embody this and a larger group/individuals who fight for the past century working practices.

The “certainties of the 20th century” are grasped in our frail and trembling hands, the first stage of a “network” reboot is to let go of these “certainties” one constructive path to this is to fill in the gaping activist memory hole by looking at what works and what does not. The lost and flailing progressive alt needs foundations bridging this gap to build on.

The IS NO SHORT TERMISM HERE, but the is speed and nimbleness, plenty of fun, creative motivated building to be done. Many of the foundation problems can be built in parallel as a “network” so it can happen faster than most can imagine.

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”

UPDATE:

Am currently working on two projects to take steps to mediate the issues I outline here:

Open Media Network (OMN)

Where are we? An example of what works

Published Date 11/21/14 4:44 PM

An example of what works.

At #Balcome the anti-fracking camp last summer, we built a “visible affinity group” to do the power and tech for the camp. This was successful in providing working off grid energy for the camp of more than 200 people for 2 months.

However, it wasn’t without problems and did fail to build on this success when the time came to reproduce this open working model at the next camps over the winter.

How we made it work, a timeline:

* Clear the space of the dysfunction by imposing open working practice’s.

* This opens the space for functional working which has been excluded by the dysfunctional pushy minority.

* Open working practices nurtures talent and energy, the space growers and blossoms, good shit happens.

* A tiny minority of seriously dysfunctional individuals will actively try and destroy this flowering, some emotional violence will inshuew in the process of excluding them.

* The wider camp will become used to a working tech space and normality will settle back into place, at its best this is rinsed and repeated for each part of the camp.

* People will start to forget the open processes as artificial, constant vigilances is needed here to keep openness relevant and in place.

* As the camp is packed down, a open meeting will bring this amnesia to the surface as everyone has an equal voice and the focus (affinity) that created the flowering will be trampled under the widening of the group’s members.

In the horizontal alt there are only two successful working practices, most organising happens by “invisible affinity groups” #climatecamp and #RTS are examples of this. Rarely “open affinity groups” are also successful, examples would be early #Indymedia and this tech at Balcome.

I love affinity group organising

Published Date 12/19/13 2:50 PM

A ruff DRAFT

I love affinity group organising, its a very effective way of getting good stuff done. Lets look at the highs and lows of a few such inspiring groups.

First 2 years #climatecamp were affinity group organised (manifested), it worked very well, the was no “democracy”. Process grew and smoothed this in-till the project “ossified” into the naive mess that you see in the film “just do it”, it went down hill when #bureaucratic #consensuses process brought a highrahcky into existences run by people who had no idea how to do real/horizontal things.

The first few years of London #hackspace were afferently group organised (hacked), it was an exceptional friendly and open space, with few fundamental problems. Only later has it started to fall into the arms of “bureaucracy” which some naive people might call democracy. The common space, decision-making and creativity are now “ossified” and the trolls are breeding and dispoling the decision-making e-mail list.

In both cases the transition came about because of the limitations of affinity group organising – that small close nit groups, while nimble/very effective, move on. The resulting spaces are then filled with less imaginative/creative/lovely people, who leave the space open to trolls and blind ego wankers.

Affinity group organising is the best we have for anarchist/libertarian/horizontal ideas about life, but the is no working horizontal process for passing on responsibility to new affinity groups – thus they are annual flowers, they fade and die too soon to be a real alternative to traditional society. What can we do about this?

The same happened to UK #indymedia, though that was also different in some ways.

A brief history of activism

Published Date 3/28/13 1:18 PM

This is a DRAFT

#Occupy has become bureaucratised and continues as e-mail lists and side projects, not very active.

#ukuncut has become institutionalised. Still active – presser protests in conjunction with NGO’s

#climatecamp The anarcho’ s left and most of the rest got jobs in NGO’s a few continue in other campaigns. It has run its course, the influx of liberals had watered it down till its DNA failed. The healthy ones went onto Ukuncut. Fuckup, not conspiracy sadly. A spattering of global projects remain.

(google trends not accurate)

#submedia still banging the radical drum

#Indymedia failed from the opposite resion the activists excluded other groups in till the weren’t a healthy mix left. Then the group dwindled by exclusion and inbreeding till its DNA was two narrow to evolve when it needed to change with the growth of personal publishing. It was replaced by blogs then corporate social networks. Still exists.

The are still some active IMC’s would be intresting to look at why some are still working?

#undercurrents burned out of funding then failed to re-new with the fund-raising charity side not feeding into the active political production side. The charity/NGO side then shrank and dispersed. Still exists

(google trends not accurate)

#schnews had some lean times but seem to have survived in the radical project Though clearly fading on this graph of web searches