[Lowdown] July 2010

[Mallory Knodel]

LOWDOWN JULY 2010

MEMBER NEWS: DMCA take-down: Tachanka collective | US Techie Congress
MF/PL EVENTS & NOTICES: Debconf10
US SOCIAL FORUM: Lowdown Special Edition | Final Press Release
NEW MEMBERS
MF/PL MEMBERS, DID YOU KNOW: xxx
SERVER NAMESAKES: viewsic

MEMBER NEWS

The political spoof site http://metr0.co.uk is still up and running. The 
site is a spoof of http://metro.co.uk, a tabloid specializing in 
celebrity gossip and distributed widely in England by the Associated 
Newspapers Ltd company. The spoof website, which is the online version 
of a printed spoof newspaper distributed in London, UK, is hosted on a 
server maintained by the plentyfact collective. The newspaper and site 
are responses to a call for two days of action against racist press 
called by the social action centre. The website is physically located in 
the United States on one of May First/People Link's servers managed by 
the Tachanka collective, an MF/PL member. The full press release is 
here: https://support.mayfirst.org/wiki/metrospoof

The first United States Techie Congress was a huge success! The 
convergence of 40 - 50 technologists was part of the People's Movement 
Assembly at the United States Social Forum. Sponsors of the event 
include Agaric Design, Open Flows, the Progressive Technology Project, 
and May First/People Link. The full results are here: 
http://ussf2010.meetings.mayfirst.org/board

EVENTS & NOTICES

New York City, USA, October 30, 2009 - The Debian Project, the team 
behind the free Debian GNU/Linux operating system, confirmed the dates 
and venue for its next annual conference, DebConf10. The conference will 
take place from August 1 to 7, 2010, at Columbia University, in New York 
City, USA, in cooperation with the Columbia Computer Science department. 
In DebConf's eleven-year history, this will be the first time it has 
been held in the United States of America. More information, and to 
register, is here: http://debconf.org/

US SOCIAL FORUM, DETROIT, JUNE 22-26Our organization was, as you all 
know, in the lead of the tech work at the United States Social Forum. 
Social Forum work worldwide is among priorities. But our work in Detroit 
last month was probably MF/PL's most distinguished and intense "outreach 
and support" work in our history.

Under the direction of MFPL Leadership Committee member and USSF 
National Technology Coordinator Mallory Knodel, we got ourselves a 
Techie House (a huge loft that could and would eventually house over 30 
people). For a couple of weeks, techies from all over the country stayed 
there: communing, collaborative on work, comparing solutions and just 
plain getting to know one and another.

Representatives on the tech team included half of MFPL's Leadership 
Committee; organizational members Openflows, Agaric Design, and Rad Ref 
(as well as several individual members); close allies Riseup and Radical 
Designs; and our international allies from the world and European social 
forums.

Among our tasks, we stored and upgraded to Linux about 30 to 40 borrowed 
and donated computers. Then we installed the computer system at the 
Registration areas in Cobo Hall as well as upstairs in the People's 
Media Center (where our techie team was stationed).

It wasn't all smooth. There were glitches, challenges and delays 
(particularly the first day) but, in the end, we registered about 15,000 
through our systems. We supported and assisted many organizations in the 
People's Media Center including our friends at Free Speech TV who 
broadcast the entire Social Forum.

We also streamed the entire Social Forum.using Free Speech's feed: 
another huge first for us.

There's lots was wanted to do and couldn't. We're evaluating that and 
will be for months to come. We already know that problems not under our 
control forced us to reorganize our resources and concentrate on the 
basics at the Forum and forego some planned expansions. There is no 
question, however, that we did our job, that we involved a greater 
number of techies than ever before, that we contributed more than ever 
before to a Social Forum that was a huge step forward from the one in 
2007 and that we were universally recognized for that work.

In addition, we did the Techie Congress and the first United States 
Techie Congress was a huge success! The convergence of 40 - 50 
technologists was part of the People's Movement Assembly at the Social 
Forum and the first time in history that such an activity takes place. 
The full results are here: http://ussf2010.meetings.mayfirst.org/board

The Techie Congress is part of our International efforts to organize 
progressive techies world-wide.

Finally, we released a printed, special edition of the Lowdown for the 
USSF last month. Excerpts from the publication include a statement from 
the Co-directors Alfredo Lopez and Jamie McClelland, Principles for 
Developing Technology, Technology Innovations at the USSF, and a 
complete list of 70+ member organization's workshops! The full version 
can be viewed and downloaded here:
https://support.mayfirst.org/wiki/USSF_newspaper


Official Press Release: 06.28.2010 (DETROIT) The United States Social 
Forum (USSF) closed Saturday with an inspirational national assembly and 
closing ceremony. Today, the Forum's National Planning Committee (NPC) 
declared the forum a great success with attendance of more than 15,000 
people from Detroit, from rural and urban areas across the nation, and 
from countries across the world including South Africa, Palestine, 
Honduras and Nepal. The full press release can be found here: 
http://www.pitchengine.com/second-us-social-forum-opens-new-chapter-in-us-movements-for-justice-equality-and-sustainability/72983/

WELCOME! NEW MF/PL MEMBERS

Fellowship of Reconciliation
Brooklyn Movement Center
Lannan Foundation

FYI: IF YOU'RE A MF/PL MEMBER, DO YOU KNOW...

... May First/People Link carries our struggle beyond our own borders.

We are a member of the Alliance for Progressive Communications 
(http://apc.org). Founded in 1990, APC is an international network of 
organizations fighting for a free and open internet to improve our lives 
and create a more just world.

SERVER NAMESAKES: REVOLUTIONARIES & ACTIVISTS

Server Name: viewsic

This server is the only production server at May First/People Link that 
does not have the name of a revolutionary or activist. It's also a very 
important part of MF/PL history.

Before the merger of People Link and the May First Technology Collective 
that produced this incarnation of our organization, Alfredo began 
thinking about how video and audio would be "massified and popularized" 
by the Internet. Even then, people who had enjoyed no access to these 
technologies up to then were starting to do audio and video and People 
Link figured that the distribution of that information would 
revolutionize life and the movement.

So People Link launched a server specifically dedicated to that kind of 
work and named it Viewsic (View for the video component and "sic" for 
the music and audio that was being stored there). In fact, today's 
Viewsic (MF/PL's oldest active server) is not the same computer that it 
was back then (almost ten years ago). The server hard ware has been 
replaced twice since then and it is today a general use production 
server not just dedicated to media. But, in its current incarnation, it 
proudly reflects the continuity of our organization and our commitment 
to identifying and facilitating new and more powerful uses of this 
technology.

Lowdown is published by May First/People Link. Have a notice or event?
Email mallory at mayfirst.org to be included in our monthly newsletter.

-- 
Mallory Knodel

May First/People Link Leadership
...Growing Networks to Build a Just World...

mayfirst.org
malloryknodel.net/blog