Introduction

This is Phase Two of the Consulta on the UK front page. Phase One looked at feedback needed to implement a aggregated front pages based on the following design.

docs.indymedia.org/Local/ImcUkStartpage...

Phase Two moves beyond just a front pages and embraces possibilities for a more in depth aggregation site.
This addresses issues of not wanting to lose features that Mir offers like Static pages, and Topic newswires and features pages, whilst adding possibilities for aggregating the output of the media publishing and flexible tagging of newer publishing systems like Hyperactive.

Please give your feedback from the following sections.

Newswire

design

How should posts appear when linked to from the aggregated newswire of the UK Imc frontpage?

links to original posts
(title only – link to screenshot)
link with abstract and link to original post
(title and abstract only – link to screenshot)
link to page on the uk syndicated site with full content (as much as technically possible) and link to original post

Other suggestion for how posts should appear on the syndicated-page newswire:

Open Text Box

organising / contributing / moderation

How should the aggregated newswire of the UK Imc frontpage be moderated?
This is a bit of an open question as there are many different combinations of way in which the front page newswire could be moderated. There are some options below, you can tick more than one. And links to more information about how it could work. There is also an text box for you to enter your thoughts on how you see it working best in practice.

Only feeds of promoted wires are pulled in from local and mir newswires (link to explain how this would work)
Unmoderated newsfeeds is pulled in, and articles are hidden by pulling an hidden article feed
(link to explain how this would work)
Unmoderated newsfeeds is pulled in, and articles are hidden by both decision on imc-uk-moderation (if post clearly spam / bonkers)(or if collective has no hidden feed)

How do we deal with duplicate posts that have been posted to several Imc sites?

delete the duplicates and keep the first posted
delete the duplicates and link to the one on UK newswire
delete the duplicates and link to the one posted on the most relevant newswire (moderation guideline needed)

How do you want to deal with newswires and different media types?

only one wire that includes all articles, photo reports, videos, radio shows and events
one wire that includes all content types, but a separate UK calendar for events
one wire that includes all content types, but also the option to see posts by content type (images, video, audio…) and separate UK calendar for events

Newswire content from other cool feeds: there’s lots of other cool media projects, would they be pulled in as well if they agreed to the Indymedia POU and a proposed and agreed as part of an IMC uk process? (e.g. Schnews…)

no, we should only include Indymedia sites
yes, we should have a separate wire for other cool media groups
yes, we should pull in everyone who wants to be part of the syndicated page and meets POU link

If you said yes to the above question, how should the other media be displayed?

only see Indymedia news as default with option to see others
see other media wire, but give the option to only see Indymedia articles as default

Other comments on an aggregated UK newswire. Please add any feature requests, issues or comments here.
Open Text Box

Middle Column

design

How should the middle column look?

A features middle column which is a list of features from local collectives and the uk site including media
– link to screenshot – like current uk front page
The features middle columns are divided in two to fit in lots of links to regional newswires and media features and local / national features
link to screenshot – like redesign page
Other (please use box below)

Please add more details or links to how the middle column, should look and what features should be available.
Open Text Box

organising / contributing / moderation

How should the middle column be organised?

the features middle column is a syndicated pulling in all features from local collectives and the uk site including media
the features middle column only has features manually created on the syndication page

Please tell us of other solutions / features requests / comments / issues for organising the middle column. Link to previously discussed issues.
Open Text Box

Features content from other sites: Many media and news projects create features that it might be good to include – for example Mule in Manchester – We could aggregate and display these features too.

pull in features of proposed and agreed collectives
pull in features of Indymedia sites only

pull in features of other collectives but only see Indymedia’s default with option to see others
pull in features of other collectives but give the option to only see Indymedia articles as default

Other ideas / feature requests for including content other cool sites:

Open Text Box

Publish Page

What features should an indymedia.org.uk publish page have?

Open Text Box

Navigation & Region and Topic continuity

Topics, Categories, Tags…

Also when it comes to topic based features for say a topic like Migration. There is a topic features list and newswire on Migration here – www.indymedia.org.uk/en/topics/migration
and also a list of migration newswire on London here – london.indymedia.org.uk/search/by_tag/m...

The different CMS’s used by Indymedia collectives, as well as whatever sites other media groups are suing will have different categories and navigational aides. How can we bring all this together to create a meaningful navigation for people looking for specific content?

What can we do to make this situation better for people who want to find a more comprehensive list of features and newswire articles in one place? (which presumably is indymedia.org.uk)

Regions, Geotagging, Location tags…

On the Mir site regions are ticked when publishing, hyperactive asks people to include location tags, how do we bring these different systems together to allow people to find content for specific regions?

Navigational options: tick what you want to have on indymedia.org.uk site

free tags
(regional, topic, anything)
separate topic and location tags
free tags
static categories
(regional and topic created by process)
major mobilisations
(fixed created by process)
archives by date
keyword search
advanced search

Continuity – including content of archived sites

There is a huge amount of archived material in Mir. However it is a system that is no longer under active development. This brings up issues when regions decide to use a newer system like Hyperactive.
Using London as an example of a site that now publishes using hyperactive since 2008. Currently navigating to indymedia.org.uk and selecting it from a list of collectives at the side gives you a link to the new site and the work since 2008 – but it doesn’t give you access to all the archives of the features they did before 2008 which are here – www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/london

Some of these options are

Don’t change anything on indymedia.org.uk . Just link to different regional sites in sidebar.
Change Mir so that it can aggregate features, media and newswires from regional collectives and arrange them in to topics and regions
Start a new system and import Mir’s archives and then aggregate features, media and newswires from regional collectives and arrange them to recreate the topics and regional pages of the current site.
Keep Mir topic pages pretty much as they but try to have an aggregated newswire for topic feeds from regional collectives not on Mir. Local topic features can be reposted on indymedia.org.uk if needed. Hide previous regional pages for collectives that have left Mir (like London)
Don’t import Mir’s archives and start a new system which aggregates aggregate features, media and newswires from regional collectives and arrange them in to topics and regions – and links to Mir’s archives.

Some of these options present large technical challenges. Also the option of extensive work on Mir is difficult as it is no longer in active development. However, please put try to put down what what be ideal in your opinion for indymedia.org.uk

Other ideas for navigation:

What other features do you want the syndicated UK site to have in terms of navigation?

Everything Else

Other ideas along these lines in general:

What other features do you want the syndicated UK site to have?
What other issues do you want to raise?