3. Indymedia.org (IM) is a internet
based, grassroots participatory
media network in which the
audience is the producer.
Defined as;
“an interactive communication and
information process on the
World Wide Web, where every
reader can be a writer, where
the content production is public
and can be acted upon before
during and after publication”
(Platon, S., Deuze, M., 2003,
pp.337)
4. Origins
Indy media began as a means of connecting
grassroots activist globally. They hoped to be a
catalyst for social change.
There mission was to provide a news platform that
was outside of the traditional mainstream media
template. By utilizing web technologies available
to them they where able to successfully do this.
Indy Media are traditionally associated with the
“anti-globalisation” movement.
5. “BE THE MEDIA” (IM’s slogan)
Indy media’s participatory platform enables
readers to be producers. It provides an arena
in which activists can voice their opinions and
proliferate alternative information and also
gain a response
The slogan ‘be the media’, is used to empower
users so they may engage in the participatory
structure.
6. DEMOCRATICALLY SPEAKING…
Pickard, V. (2006) argues that IM is an example
of “radical democracy” due to their opposition
to “traditional hierarchies and participatory
politics”. He argues that radical democracy is
the most “salient” feature of IM.
IM is an example of the internet being used as a
democratic medium.
7. Offering a new media commons;
A key feature of Indy Media is that they lack the
editorial structure of traditional mainstream
media networks. This enables their
communications to be more accountable as
they have other priorities than profit.
Indy media goes beyond the restrictions of news
producer to news-user.
They are reliant on volunteer work.
8. Indy media vs. Globalisation
Although IM are fundamentally an anti-
globalization movement, they rely on the
processes of globalization to proliferate their
news.
10. The internet provides the medium through
which IM is able to communicate, connect and
produce material. The internet is essential to
the IM process.
11. Open Publishing
Indy media uses Open Publishing (OP). OP
means that the process of creating news is
transparent to the readers.
The role of the news reader in an OP process is
interactive. Platon, S. and Deuze, M. argue
that “in theory OP can be seen as an
innovative form of using and producing media
12. Technical Infrastructure
The technical infrastructure for IM depends on
volunteer work from programmers and system
administrators.
Hanke, B. argues that “technologies do not come
into creation simply to fill a pre existing role, they
have social context and are constructed
accordingly” (2005)
By utilizing web 2.0 technologies IM can use an
interactive interface to “amplify local protests to
a global level” (Hanke, B. 2005)
