Dear all,

Ideas are welcome, but we will proceed as we have done in the past, on the
basis of concrete proposals, not just about probable locations.  I encourage
all those that have a substantive proposal to submit the outline during the
OM7 conference in Accra.  The proposal should have an institutional support
and the names of those that will become part of the local organising
committee.

Alfonso

Estimados todos,

Todas las ideas son bienvenidas, pero vamos a proceder como en el pasado,
sobre la base de propuestas concretas, no solamente ideas sobre probables
ubicaciones. Invito a todos los que tienen propuestas sustantivas a
presentar un perfil durante la reunión de OM7 en Accra. La propuesta tiene
que tener apoyo institucional y los nombres de quienes serán parte del
comité de organización local.

Alfonso

2008/7/31 G <[log in to unmask]>

> Dear OURMedia/NUESTROSMedios friends,
> (apologies for English only. Could anyone give a rough summary in spanish?)
>
> I just returned from the IAMCR conference and wanted to raise the
> possibility of ourmedia/nuestrosmedios 2009 in mexico. Are there any
> ourmedia people in mexico who could organize it?
>
> I know we often have this discussion of whether to organize ourmedia close
> to an academic conference, and we have in the last 2 years decided against
> it. However, I think this coming year is a particularily good opportunity
> and we should reconsider the possibility:
>
> € IAMCR is currently very ourmedia-friendly
> IAMCR just elected a new board with people close to us: Annabelle Sreberny
> as president and John Downing and Ruth Teer-Tomaselli as vice-presidents.
> IAMCR is generally trying to become more open to grassroots networks, and
> re-orient itself back towards a more activist stance in general. The 2009
> conference theme is "Human Rights and communication" and there is talk
> about
> having at least one keynote speech and perhaps even a plenary session about
> alternative/community/citizens media. The community communication section
> co-vice chairs are myself and Ellie Rennie and the chair, Per Jauert is
> also
> very interested in working with ourmedia.
>
> There are a number of other benefits that should not be dismissed:
>
> € Cost solidarity
> Even if established academics only make up a small part of our consituency,
> it is good to have many attend. Every person that can pay a higher
> participation fee and their own travel expenses helps cover the cost of
> those who cannot. Also academics can often help with fundraising.
>
> € Promoting OURcause to the wider academic community
> Several people at the conference came up to me and asked about ourmedia,
> noting that they would love to attend it in the future. They had become
> interested in alternative, community and citizens media thanks to the
> Barcelona and Porto Alegre conferences (which were back to back with IAMCR
> and promoted through the IAMCR network.)
>
> € Enabling academics to keep their commitment to ourmedia
> For established academics, universities will only pay for academic
> conferences (for US scholars, even IAMCR is sometimes not prestigious
> enough), or they have a limited conference budget. The problem is even
> bigger for younger researcher-activists who need IAMCR for their resume,
> even if they feel closer to ourmedia. I talked to at least 8 people who
> said
> they could not come to Ghana for such reasons. Having ourmedia separately
> forces many people to choose, often against their own inclination.
>
> € grassroots-academic synergy
> IAMCR organizers may be open to helping ourmedia arrange for space and such
> (as I think happened in Porto Alegre,right?). If we have ourmedia before
> IAMCR and we come out with some sort of a declaration, we may be able to
> get
> IAMCR to endorse it. The community communication section is planning social
> events and field-trips, which would be perfect to co-organize with
> ourmedia,
> and help connect academic and grassroots activists, which is part of our
> mission after all.
>
> As I said, I am very sorry not to be able to attend this year for personal
> reasons but I am looking forward to updates from Ghana!
>
> All the best,
> G
>
> PS: IAMCR 2009 will be held july 21-24 at universidad nacional autonoma de
> mexico.
>