SF Bay Area Independent Media Center (http://bayarea.indymedia.org or
http://www.indybay.org) is an open publishing website, which means that
YOU are encouraged to post your news, comments, event announcements, etc
to the site! Posts to the newswire automatically go to the
"breaking/other" section on the front page. Editors categorize them
according to whether or not they are news and have local or global import.

These steps might seem like a pain in the butt at first, but once you get
used to them you can almost do them with your eyes closed. We want to
have more people posting their news to the site- from event announcements
to reports on what happened at the police commission hearing or whatever,
we want people to tell their stories.

How to post an event to the calendar: At the top of the page, there is a
bar that has links to several parts of the site or to affiliated groups--
click on Calendar. Then click add an event. You don't have to enter
something for every sngle line, but it is helpful to have as much info as
possible. Make sure to do the date and location, and to have a title that
tells a bit about what kind of event it is. Choose a topic! Police
brutality stuff goes in the police category, etc.

How to publish to the newswire (the newswire is the list of articles that
can be found on the right side of the page): At the top of the page,
there is a bar that has links to several parts of the site or to
affiliated groups-- click on Publish. Do you have photos, files such as
pdf's (a lot of flyers are saved in a format called pdf), or audio or
video files? If so, go down to the bottom and you will see that it says
"STEP 3: ATTACH A FILE How many files to upload?" Go to the dropdown menu
there and select the number of files. Then click enter. The page will
reload with extra fields where you browse on your computer to find each
file's location. Technically speaking, you have to give each item a
title-- but you can use the same title for each one.

You also have to go to the top of the page and give your post a title, say
who posted it, give a summary (this can be the first paragraph of the main
text, or the location and date info of your event, for example) and a main
text (that one is Step 2). You also should choose a topic and a location.

MAKE SURE TO USE A TITLE THAT REFLECTS WHAT THE CONTENT IS. That way
people will be more likely to click on the article and read it. For
example: Don't make it just "police brutality." Instead, make it
something like "6/23: Protest John Kerry in SF!" or, "6/23, SF: Memorial for 2 People Killed by SFPD" or whatever.

We would appreciate it if you would also tell your family, friends, and
coworkers about the site- it is a great place to read or publish your
news! Point out the list of feature pages that is on the left side of the
page- we cover issues ranging from police and prisons to the environment
to lesbian, gay, etc issues, to womyn's concerns to the government and
elections. We are not just a website- there are groups that produce an
online radio station, video, and a newspaper who are affiliated with SF
Bay Area IMC. We also have a computer lab in the Redstone Building at
16th and Capp (in the suite where Oct. 22nd used to have its office) and
we helped to set up a computer lab at 6th St. Books in SF in June of 2004. If folks are
interested in getting more involved or have questions, they are invited to
check out the about us and contact us sections which are linked to up at
the top of the front page.

Thanks!