Pickard Victor, Meghan Dougherty, Maria Garrido

The Story of Indymedia: History, Rhetoric and Design of an Online Counter-institution

Abstract

Some scholars argue the Internet has opened diverse spaces where new voices can be heard and where collective action can take place, while others point to the rapid commercialization of the medium. Against a backdrop of these two opposing camps we will argue that there is evidence of interesting and progressive developments with respect to the Internet facilitating communication among activist organizations. These groups comprise an international network of social resistance that is heavily reliant on the effective use of communication networks. In these cases, the Internet has broadened the scale of action for social movements by empowering their struggle internationally and opening new spaces for collective mobilization. A marquee example of this phenomenon occurred during the November 1999 WTO protests in Seattle with the birth of a new Internet-based communications model, Indymedia. Indymedia is produced by a network of 70-plus Independent Media Centers (IMC) worldwide. The IMC network is designed to bypass traditional institutional hierarchies and democratize the flow of news and information. Indymedia volunteers have developed a participatory model that engenders a new form of civic journalism. This model facilitates information production­­not just consumption­­on a global scale. Grassroots activists have managed to create a global network of independent media centers that are highly coordinated to share information, mobilize community action and promote social and economic justice. This study explores the structure of the IMC drawing on a three-part model: 1) the historical development of the project, 2) the rhetorical presentation of the project, 3) and the actual interface design of the project. Through this model we hope to better understand the underlying foundation of an online social organization like the IMC. In the realm of Internet studies, the notion of globalization has been, for the most part, overly idealized. The Internet is often described in dual terms. One story is of the Internet fostering world democracy; the other sees the Internet as just another hegemonic force. The IMC is bridging those stories with its own narrative of counter-institution building. The structure of this counter-institution affects the social utility of its online space. Borrowing from concepts found in the fields of technology and cultural studies, we will examine the narrative shaping the structure of the IMC. With this three-part model of development history, rhetoric presentation, and interface design, we hope to show how the construction of the IMC participatory model drives the utility of that space. We hope to find that the IMC has matched their strong and sometimes lofty rhetoric with effective technological representations.