Internal Coordination

[Chris]

Ok, fair enough.

I understand that this is a very organic, constatnly changing group. But we need to set things up so newcomers can step right in and EASILY understand what is going on, and EASILY join in the process.

Steamlined, Simplified, and Transparent.

Right now people are communicating ideas through:

HQ
Twitter (with 2 different hashtags)
Facebook
This site
Some google group?

We are dividing information, participation, etc. Because of this lack of coordination.

[borderlesslove]

Ok, fair enough.

I understand that this is a very organic, constatnly changing group. But we need to set things up so newcomers can step right in and EASILY understand what is going on, and EASILY join in the process.

Steamlined, Simplified, and Transparent.

Right now people are communicating ideas through:

HQ
Twitter (with 2 different hashtags)
Facebook
This site
Some google group?

We are dividing information, participation, etc. Because of this lack of coordination.

Noted. At this point we can't have too much information in too many places because before people didn't know where to find anything or anyone. Once they grow accustomed to the system then we will consolidate information and make it more organized.

I just posted 8 introductions for the 8 tasks in IC which is to serve as introductions for anyone interested in IC or anyone new that joins that is assigned a task. They all give a run down of what each task is, who they work with, and other information

[phys431]

Don't worry everybody.... IC is on the job.

It's been pointed out that there are all sorts of groups on OC.org, Google Groups, and tons of spin-offs claiming to be a direct part of the movement.

While nobody here is telling people to "go home", that is unless you're part of the 1%. We are saying that everybody and anybody who comes in and says that they are intimately involved with the primary group cannot make a claim. Wanting to help out and be a part of the movement is one thing, saying that you are a part of us (and "us" does need to be properly clarified) when you are really banding together on your own is not the same thing. Unity is necessary and collaboration is key. That is the point of IC.

[Chris]

It's been pointed out that there are all sorts of groups on OC.org, Google Groups, and tons of spin-offs claiming to be a direct part of the movement.

While nobody here is telling people to "go home", that is unless you're part of the 1%. We are saying that everybody and anybody who comes in and says that they are intimately involved with the primary group cannot make a claim. Wanting to help out and be a part of the movement is one thing, saying that you are a part of us (and "us" does need to be properly clarified) when you are really banding together on your own is not the same thing. Unity is necessary and collaboration is key. That is the point of IC.

Whoever is running or organizing Occupychicago on the internet AND at LaSalle and Jackson is not making it easy for newcomers to join, and be part of the "process". In fact, I could EASILY argue that whoever is pulling the strings with occupychicago is deliberately making occupychicago fail.

Too many hoops to jump through, not a clear message, conflicting social network info...and on...and on...

Really. I want to help Occupychicago succeed.

[borderlesslove]

[quote="Chris"
Whoever is running or organizing Occupychicago on the internet AND at LaSalle and Jackson is not making it easy for newcomers to join, and be part of the "process". In fact, I could EASILY argue that whoever is pulling the strings with occupychicago is deliberately making occupychicago fail.

Too many hoops to jump through, not a clear message, conflicting social network info...and on...and on...

Really. I want to help Occupychicago succeed.[/quote]
It's not that whoever is organizing OC hasn't made it easy for new people to join, it more that all the committees are used to their routine, and therefore is making it harder on IC

The first week and a half to two weeks were spent mostly playing chess with CPD, and OC was set up in 3 days to begin with so we never had the infrastructure in place to absorb 20 committees.

Once we did develop all these committees they had no problem working autonomously from the GA, but the problem is that they also worked autonomously from all other committees. I decided to take on the impossible task of trying to organize them all, and even though I knew that we would continue to "bleed out" in organizational terms the longer it was set up the way it was I knew that if I tried to get it set up properly, that it was better to get is done right over more time, rather than just getting it done fast like everyone wanted.

Some but not all cmtes are getting with the program, although one of the biggest issues has been getting tech to go along with some of the things we have been doing. But what we've been doing with the small number of cmtes has been working and I think our good relationship with them will encourage others to work with us. The sooner that happens the smoother things will run

[Chris]

Well, from what I have seen the only place to get up-to-date info on OccupyChicago is on Twitter. (this is even better that going to HQ in person in my experiences).

But for someone like myself, who is involved with many occupy movements in various cities, it makes it much more difficult to be constantly checking 2 DIFFERENT hastags, or to be updating news and relevant information using 2 DIFFERENT hashtags.

The "official" Twitter hashtag should be #occupychicago not #occupychi for OBVIOUS reasons.

What needs to be done to get this corrected, so we can become more efficient in our communication, and so we can move onto other issues facing occupychicago?

Who runs this site? Who runs the facebook page? Who runs the twitter feed? Maybe they can tell me why they have not fixed this OBVIOUSLY detrimental issue with occupychicago's social media organization?

Someone took the initiative at the beginning to try to make it "occupychi", and despite that, people will always use "occupyCHICAGO", since it is the name of the movement, and it is the name of the city. Not some slang word that only a small portion of the population of Illinois and the world uses.

Even with the promotion of "occupychi" both on this site, and by whoever is running OccupyChicago on Twitter, the hashtag "occupychicago" still is the most used of the 2!

Whoever it is running the internet side of things, should be able to answer why this issue has yet to be corrected! Is it ego? Is someone hurting the movement on purpose? Laziness? Ignorance? Resources? Communication?

[Bearhair]

It's not that whoever is organizing OC hasn't made it easy for new people to join, it more that all the committees are used to their routine, and therefore is making it harder on IC

I understand that the initial autonomy of the committees have made it hard for IC to get their arms around them all, but I agree with Chris that it is difficult for new people to join as well.

There's been invitations to join by members of some committees at the GAs, but there seems to be little transparency, even to the simple mission of each committee. Without that, I'm unable to determine which committee(s) might best take advantage of my knowledge and skills. I have yet to meet a single person at HQ that can tell me upon what each committee focuses.

I'll continue to root around the website and forums to learn more about each committee, but it would be great if each would provide a simple statement of their focus on the Committee page.

[borderlesslove]

It's not that whoever is organizing OC hasn't made it easy for new people to join, it more that all the committees are used to their routine, and therefore is making it harder on IC

I understand that the initial autonomy of the committees have made it hard for IC to get their arms around them all, but I agree with Chris that it is difficult for new people to join as well.

There's been invitations to join by members of some committees at the GAs, but there seems to be little transparency, even to the simple mission of each committee. Without that, I'm unable to determine which committee(s) might best take advantage of my knowledge and skills. I have yet to meet a single person at HQ that can tell me upon what each committee focuses.

I'll continue to root around the website and forums to learn more about each committee, but it would be great if each would provide a simple statement of their focus on the Committee page.

IC has been working on making that basic information available. We are working on updating the info box with that info (mission statement, contact info) but it is up to the committee members to update their page because only they have access to it.

[borderlesslove]

Well, from what I have seen the only place to get up-to-date info on OccupyChicago is on Twitter. (this is even better that going to HQ in person in my experiences).

But for someone like myself, who is involved with many occupy movements in various cities, it makes it much more difficult to be constantly checking 2 DIFFERENT hastags, or to be updating news and relevant information using 2 DIFFERENT hashtags.

The "official" Twitter hashtag should be #occupychicago not #occupychi for OBVIOUS reasons.

What needs to be done to get this corrected, so we can become more efficient in our communication, and so we can move onto other issues facing occupychicago?

Who runs this site? Who runs the facebook page? Who runs the twitter feed? Maybe they can tell me why they have not fixed this OBVIOUSLY detrimental issue with occupychicago's social media organization?

Someone took the initiative at the beginning to try to make it "occupychi", and despite that, people will always use "occupyCHICAGO", since it is the name of the movement, and it is the name of the city. Not some slang word that only a small portion of the population of Illinois and the world uses.

Even with the promotion of "occupychi" both on this site, and by whoever is running OccupyChicago on Twitter, the hashtag "occupychicago" still is the most used of the 2!

Whoever it is running the internet side of things, should be able to answer why this issue has yet to be corrected! Is it ego? Is someone hurting the movement on purpose? Laziness? Ignorance? Resources? Communication?

tbh I don't know either. Way back in the beginning we only had a twitter account which was @OccupyChicago

There was someone who tried to make a fake Occupy Chicago website to get people's donations where the url was occupychicago.org, so I odn't know if he got the url before we did but everyone was confused as to why our twitter and url didn't match, but it is what it is at this point

[Bearhair]

We are working on updating the info box with that info (mission statement, contact info)

Great! I heard of the info box two nights ago . . . is it ready for primetime? Am I correct that it'll be based at HQ & transported to the GA each night?

Thanks for your time in responding.