IanFantom
Validated Poster
Joined: 31 Jan 2007
Posts: 296
Location: Halifax, West Yorkshire
|
 Posted: Fri Mar 21, 2008 6:42 pm Post subject: Turning a crisis into an opportunity |
 |
|
I prepared this document before Saturday's meeting after the anti-war demonstration, but held it back because I wasn't at that stage too sure on interpersonal relationships - I wanted to meet with people first.
I agreed to distribute it after the meeting, then Tony suggested that I post it here. So here it is!
| Quote: | London 9/11 Truth Group
Turning a crisis into an opportunity
Ian Fantom, 2008-03-13
Following the decision by leading organisers of the group to move on, and the subsequent uncertainty on the direction and the future of the group, it seems to me that the whole enterprise needs a radical rethink. Such a rethink should start with an attempt to define the fundamental problem before trying to solve it.
The fundamental problem
The 9/11 Truth Movement was set up and expanded by people with initiative and flare, as well as concern and courage. They were very much in a minority, attempting to draw the public’s attention to an issue which, to most people would have seemed absurd. I know what that’s like; I’ve been through it in another activity!
This would have been a period of innovation and development, of collecting evidence and learning how to present it to a sceptical public – to people like me!
Now, however, the need has changed. Most of the new information is information about the Truth Movement itself, about its successes in reaching politicians, encouraging whistleblowers, gathering support from specialists and public figures, or on reactions from the opposition, such as hit articles in the press, or statements by politicians. Occasionally there is something new on the technical front, but by-and-large the technical stuff is all out there, and packaged in various ways for the public. The job now is to persuade the public to notice it.
This requires more of a maintenance approach than an innovative approach, and so it is quite natural that the innovators will want to move on, and that we should now feel a need to bring in fresh blood. How do we bring this change about?
There is also a growing problem of how to focus on the issue itself, whilst at the same time putting the issue into a much wider context. The significance of 9/11 is that it is the tip of a mighty iceberg, and it is the iceberg that we are primarily trying to warn the public of. The current website has been great in developing the issues on all fronts, and in encouraging active discussion, and in drumming up a sizeable clientelle, or ‘membership’, if that is how we wish to describe those who have registered on the site. However, on the presentational side, much of the discussion muddies the waters. It is a great site for the initiated, but I think we now need to target the people we meet in the pub or in the street – people who judge issues primarily by common sense, rather than by evidence.
Possible solutions
We should encourage the old team to retain active links during a transition period, perhaps as advisors, or perhaps as an ‘advisory council’. Recruitment of new people will be easier when we have specific ideas, and are looking for specific skills.
We should split the current website into two: one specifically on the issue of 9/11, and one on the wider issues.
The specifically 9/11 website should have a public and a private part. The public part should be highly managed, and targeted to presenting the information to uninitiated members of the public, with the objective of getting them to think about the issue. The private part should consist of forums on 9/11 and offerings of news and articles for publication in the public part. In other words, the public part will be managed, but the private part will be democratic.
The ‘wider issues’ site may or may not follow a similar pattern. The public part would consist mainly of summaries and links. The purpose would be to present to the public something that all the issues have in common. This should be minimal, something that most people would agree with to some extent. A catch phrase to encapsulate this could possibly be: “We were lied to” (or, on specific issues: “Were we lied to?”). Most people would accept that we were lied to over Iraq and the EU Constitution. When they see Afghanistan, Kosovo, 9/11 etc in that context, they are likely to start to think for themselves. They may follow the links to the relevant sites, or they may register for forum discussions in which the main issue would be the interconnections between the specific issues.
In practical terms, I would suggest that we keep the present site until it has been superseded, whilst we design the new 9/11 site. The ‘wider issues’ site could become a can of worms if it is open for discussion at too early a stage; we should initially focus on the specifically 9/11 site. From a specifically 9/11 site design, it should become clear what sort of jobs are available, that various individuals may feel they can slot into.
Site design for specifically 9/11 site
The front page should contain a brief mission statement, together with a summary of the concern, perhaps by video, and an indication of the growing public concern as evidenced by mass movements, again, perhaps by video.
There should be a news section (on 9/11 news), with links. This may be written or edited by the website editor, often taking offerings from the private area. He would, however, not change the originals as they appear in the private forums. There may be a link to acknowledge the source.
There should be a comprehensive calendar of events. The present system needs replacing by something much simpler in presentation: a list! We need an input form for members to announce events, so that the precise data can go into a searchable database. From this database we can produce lists by area, or by topic (eg all showings of Loose Change Final Cut).
The present links to other 9/11 sites should be maintained, though perhaps the presentation could be rethought.
Visitors should be invited to register if they wish to receive email updates of news or events, or to take part in discussions and activities.
The private area would contain options for email alerts, and forums, as well as the usual plea for donations.
People
I can’t offer much time myself, unfortunately, but I think my strengths lie in information design and management – ie doing what I’m doing now! If I were to do the technical stuff it would take a year and a day, since I’m used to hand-crafting things at low level; we need a webmaster who can set up a website from specifications, and maintain it technically. (I’ve just got Drupal, if anyone’s interested!).
Then we need a site editor. Can anyone think of a suitable editor, preferably a journalist, possibly with the name of Tony? The editor would be free to do a good job on the public area, whilst leaving the private areas with warts and all.
The news editor could be the site editor, but we could also have input forms for trusted colleagues, who could input public stuff directly.
An events editor would be needed, not only to compile all the known future events, but also to set up trusted people to input their events, in their own areas. I can see this eventually being coordinated with the wider issues website; we really do need a comprehensive database of wider issues events, which can then feed into the specific-issue websites.
This document does not cover non-internet issues, such as organisation of meetings in London, or other offline tasks. However, these should be helped by some sort of coordination area, with, for instance, blueprints for those wanting to set up meetings in their own areas.
Conclusion
I think the present crisis can be turned into an opportunity. The website has to be at the heart of this opportunity. Firstly, are the ideas sensible? Secondly, do we have the people to carry them out? Thirdly, can we make a smooth transition?
Ian Fantom, 92 Enborne Road, Newbury, Berkshire, RG14 6AN
Tel: 01635 38592, email: ian@fantom.org.uk
|
|
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Chat
Usergroups
Calendar
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
