Essaouira projects documenting / independant radio initial steps (Feb 2018)

Campfire
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Hello everybody,

As I said in this other thread , @unknown_author gathered @SyMorin and I a few days ago to discuss a possible project based in Essaouira and related to the creation of an independant radio.
@unknown_author will be more efficient to describe you the technical aspects of such a project, but the idea behind it is to create a versatile platform of content(s) of any kind.

Such a project could perfectly served as test to the media platform creation we’ve been discussing since a few days here. And we could also test various options of documenting such a project while making it.

Here is the short notes we’ve been writing while discussing the project @SyMorin @unknown_author and I.
MAIN GOAL:
creation of a meshnet for the edgeryders community there. Such a network could also serve the making and creation of content / media / data network such as an independant radio, maps of any kind, graphs, etc.
MAIN IDEA:
improvement of the community ability to map / study / share openly / and work, on a local scale basis.
MAIN INSIGHT:
bringing an anthropographic vision and purpose to such a project, to be able to go beyond the simple journalism / story telling (without shutting it down though) aspect.
MAIN ROLES:
@unknown_author being the bridge between tech and content, managing the abilities of the firsts and the needs of the others, balancing both in order to improve the project the best way. Also, and of course, reporting, photo-anthrpographically, the work and results there.
@SyMorin could be a “reference” in terms of creating a radio medium: what’s needed technically, what could be the options in terms of formats, angles, startegies, …
@gregoiremarty aka me, could help Sy on the radio medium creation, and also drive the anthropographic insight behind such a project, and picture/imagine/look for the next steps to bring content / medias / datas for the platform. (for instance, checking how the local food cycle is working, since this is one of my favorite topic).

  • anybody who wants to join the team, of course, with the ability to second or help out on a specific aspect, or bring a fourth/fifth element to the combination.

My first reco now, is to avoid any “too much thinking + too much visions + too much ambitions” to such a project. I see it more efficient if it’s small and local, at the beginning. That’s the best way to avoid issues, but also to let the project itself and the (local) community in the best conditions to conduct it the best way for THEM (wich is more important than for anybody in particular).
It also appears to me that such a project needs to stay very practical, and connected to realities and concrete things (food cycle is quite a good example think) rather than ideas or ideologies, editorial content, etc etc. But do I need to say such a thing here anyways? :slight_smile:

let me know what you think,
cheers!

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Looks very interesting - and as there seems to be quite some interest in radio making, I used to work in a radio (pretty old school one at my university, but it did educate quite a few fames across Poland - I stayed short, impatient as always, but I do have a bit of know-how). I filled in my application, if there is space, I’m coming down (even if there isn’t I might come and rent my own space for a month to help and brainstorm)

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Hello everybody,

After lots of discussions on this project, on every aspect of it, it appears that for technological reasons, we might need to convert our perspective into something else.
As we were up to create a meshnet there, linked to the radio project, two things came on the table and showed us it might not be the perfect timing:

  • the local community wouldn’t beneficiate that much of such a thing, as smartphones are not legion in the area for now, as @hazem told us.
  • the only tech that could build such a network is @matthias, and he’s already pretty booked on other projects.

Those two points make clear to me (and @anique.yael @hazem , the rest of the team is still on hold) that we won’t be able to build our project with the meshnet as its center.
Though it makes also clear that we need to switch to another game plan, and here is my perspective on it:

We have the possibility, regarding how the team is built and who is composing it, to get there and make & map things. By that I include the already planned projects (around coffee, surf…). But could be included also quite everything linked to both the local community and ER commitment to the #commons.

It also is the opportunity to link a little more and further with Owen’s post about creating a content/media platform.
Because, and this was in the core of the initial project, we still intend to document as much as possible the project, anthropographically, in the most various ways we can.

For instance, I’d like to map the local fresh food cycle: resources, places, people, companies, prices, and perspectives.
For that I would have to check markets, talk to people, learn things, collect data on all that. And I want to document what I’m collecting.
That way it will be possible for anybody in the team/ER community/local community use that data (open data) or methodology for another project or to continue the current one. That, as some point by extension to all the projects of each members of the team, create a network of some sort (data + media content), the very old school way.

Which leads us to the final point: the creation of a meshnet and festival around that might be one of the key project in the future. As soon as we collected and worked on several projects with the ER and local communities, I’m pretty sure that such a network will appear as the main step forward to gather everything in a decentralized, collective and shared way. It’s just a question of time.

I also wanted to confirm that this project will be carried without any ideologies, meaning that we won’t use any terms and words that implies a political stand or another. Even if, of course, we stand and care about the values they might carry somehow. We need this neutral-as-possible stand in our terminology, and we need it in the way we document the project.
This is the best way to me, for the local community to get involved fully and to feel free to take the handle on the project and appropriate it for itself.
It is also needed to avoid as much as possible the interference/ingerence effect that we, as “exotes”, could have on the local community and ecology. It is important to get and keep in our minds, tools, terminologies and methodologies, that we’re here not to disturb but to enhance. (Sorry to sound like an moral preak… But nobody, including me, reminded this crucial aspect of any project since we started this one)

I’ll rename this thread and posy details about the liner, things to have to be done, schedule, and team organization later tonight.

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So, after taking a few days to think about it, this is how it’s gonna be:

from February 5th to 8th, a small team will join Essaouira and established a work camp there.
MAIN GOAL:
to collect informations, datas, ideas, in order to put or enhance several small projects on track.
MAIN IDEA:
improvement of the community ability to map / study / share openly / and work, on a local scale basis.
MAIN INSIGHT:
an anthropographic mindset to build small, connected, local, open-sources ventures.
MAIN ROLES:
@gregoiremarty aka me: I’ll investigate fresh food cycles and hypothetical milk cycles in the area. My main goal is to map points, people, markets, and see how everything works. We need that knowledge and datas if we look forward to create small food ventures/projects as I do.
@SyMorin : he’s the media/content/radio guy. Still to confirm with him but the role here is to try to figure out what are the radios and medias of the area. We need to dig this direction to enhance @owen 's content platform project (in order to have local content makers for instance). We also need it to connect the dots with the meshnet mission carried by…
@unknown_author: besides following uo with the surf boards project, he will be collecting informations about networks and technologies used by the locals, to see what kind of meshnet could fit perfectily there, with the help of Matt. This is the prequel of the meshnet project to come.

DOCUMENTING EACH PROJECTS:
all the team carries the very important necessity that we all have to DOCUMENT our process, our project, our travels, our “making the shit happen”. Every formats can be produced, every angles can be taken as long as there is no political ideologies expressed, and more than everything: AS LONG AS IT’S DONE. :slight_smile:
WHY? Because the more we document our projects, the more we will be able to draw and write the storytelling of each of these projects, but also connect the dots of the whole net they made together.
This story-telling is the best way to build open-sourcely our projects (share everything, by all the way), and is a leverage to possibly raise funds later on the road, when we’ll need some to keep those babies on tracks.
It matters also because we all might have an idea of the future of our projects behind our heads, but we need to build one connected, decentralized, unegotic, and respectful of the locals and local scale kind of future. Documenting our doing there, will be the best way to share our perspectives with one another, and see how we can do better than even expected.

WHAT’S NEXT:

  • We go there at the same time
  • We (each of us) do our things, pushing them further as much as possible
  • We help each other when needed, focus on documenting and collecting our targets
  • We get back home, build the story telling of what’s been made
  • We share, discuss, and step up for the next round

If you’re there at the same time, and wants to build a related project, hit me here before January 20th, and we’ll talk about it to see how it can fit the plan :slight_smile:

let’s make this happening.

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