Anonymous Comrade submits:

Alternative Media-Tech Convergence, Cancun, September

"Tidal Wave Cancún"

After contacting representatives of groups such as AMARC, Global Indymedia, Greenpeace, Paper Tiger, Deep Dish, Prometheus Radio, Media Act, and people involved in the CRIS and WSIS campaigns during the "OurMedia" (Nuestros Medios) in Barranquilla, Colombia, compañer@s in Indymedia Chiapas have proposed creating an Alternative Media-Tech Convergence in Cancun.

The proposal begins like this:

1) Create a convergence of alternative media and tech people and organizations just prior to the WTO’s V Ministerial Conference in Cancún, September 10-14, which would include 2 or 3 phases:

a) Skills-sharing and knowledge-building thru an exchange of technology, ideas, and experiences between people already involved in alternative media and tech initiatives. These days can be the first three days of the convergence and consist of the following:

Tech to tech / geek to geek

Success stories and successful initiatives/technologies/practices
Pirate radio heads skills-share, designs on how to build transmitters
ComCenter -- preps

Streaming designs

Wireless strategies

Digital security and insecurity

Borderhack

Digital witnessing

Programming/linux/freeware, open source

b) 'Training and Networking with popular movements from civil society who are interested in learning about, strengthening and or developing their communication strategies for their own movements and activities with concrete skills and contacts. (i.e.; basic to advanced workshops on video edition, digital witnessing, how to do interviews, how to write press releases, how to publish on Indymedia)

These workshops would be designed to share concrete skills and knowledge with people who have not had the same opportunities to enter directly in the question of media and communications but have identified the need for their organizations and popular movements to develop a communications initiative.

The first step after the workshops would be to employ the skills that have been learned and place in praxis these new or refined abilities to cover the following days of mobilizations and forums from the unfiltered perspectives of the popular movements. The convergence will share many skills and contacts that will begin to bridge the gap between the information society and popular and grassroots movements from Mexico and Latin America by sharing and creating spaces for publishing, disseminating and archiving our information and productions.

c) Preparations for the Alternative Media space will be simultaneous to the workshops and skills-sharing activities. This space will be used as an open and democratic space to offer true and alternative coverage of the events during the following days during the WTO protests and alternative forums.

2) As part of the Alternative Media-Tech Convergence, a discussion has begun about the relevance and importance of the ministerial agreements that will be made under the Cultural Exception on "audiovisual" and communications leading up to Prep Com 3 for the WSIS (World Summit on the Information Society) that will be held in the days following the WTO.

In regards to this theme, people from alternative radio have begun to discuss the possibilities of making a general call to Reclaim the Spectrum, as a component of direct and educational actions that alternative media could do during the days of the WTO V Ministerial meetings in Cancún; this could consist of a call to independent and community radios from all parts to come to the beach and flood the meetings with transmissions and coverage of the events as well as productions and programming from each place of origin, using internet to stream coverage of the global days of action and daily events in Cancún to each respective participating country, community and organization coupled with Cancún transmissions. This could be called the Cancun Tidal Wave Initiative. Each area within Alternative and Independent Media could begin with a MediaBrainStrom about what actions could be done in Cancún.

A mailing list has been created in order to coordinate this.