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"Beyond the corporate finance of the City, the anodyne bars of the West End and the affluent riches out west, there is another London. Head out at sunset to the edges and just watch. Listen. As the sun drops, soon a different city emerges, a mesh of disparate groups and communities, visible but unseen, vocal – in countless vibrant accents, languages and dialects, but unheard, vital but unrecognised by the centre.

This is London: “If we have our hoods up, maybe we’re cold?”

dusk+blackdown
Margins Music
LND, Spring 2008

Ok, so you’ve just been to a demonstration or an action then? Good on you. We hope you had a great time! And now you feel like telling everyone about it, even better! You’ve come to the right place.

Or maybe you’ve just been to a great benefit party, or gig, or workshop, or talk, or film screening, or exhibition, or… whatever else you think you should let everyone know about it. This is the place too! 

You can write your first hand report, and you can add to it any photos you may have taken, video or audio files. But remember, a report can take many shapes and forms. It can be written, yes, but it can also be drawn, or spoken, or made of photographs, or turned into a music track, or all of these at the same time. In the spirit of Open Publishing, you can easily do any of this by clicking at the links below, as long as you are happy to release your material in a non-copyright manner, and as long as you are not trying to report on any corporate and commercial activity, nor engage in some personal or party political promotion.

In fact, you can even check out the site and contribute to it whilst you are on the move. With people using their phones more and more to access the internet, we have spent a bit of time to make a version of Imc London that is mobile friendly. To check out the site from your mobile phone go here, and to publish to it using SMS or your mobile phone camera you only need to use this simple form, and your mobile report will appear straight into the Tumblewire, which is linked form the website’s front page.

The medium you use to tell your stondymedia.org.uk/page/Mission%20Statementry it is up to you, but remember, even though Indymedia London is an open and collaborative project, committed to using media production and distribution as a tool promoting social, environmental and economic justice, we have a Mission Statement where we sum up the principles we aim to live up to, and clear Editorial Guidelines which form the basis of our editorial practices.

So, if this is the first time you want to publish, welcome! – it’s about time you did though! But please make sure you take a look at these before publishing, and please also note that any contributions that may contravene either our Mission Statement or Editorial Guidelines, will be hidden by IMC-London admins and users.

So now, a few basics we think can help you using this site:

• Remember that other people might not know about the issue you’re writing on, so don’t forget to include the who, where and when, but also, importantly the why it did happen. If you start your report with a short summary stating these facts, you are much more likely to catch the reader’s attention.
• Links to websites and other articles that provide background information to your story are very helpful. They help putting your report in context. 
• Also spellchecks can make all the difference. It is a good idea to type first your texts into a word processor so they can be spell checked before publishing. Don’t forget to check the spelling of your titles and media captions. Using a word processor instead of directly the publish form, also secures your text against being lost in case of any problems with the publishing system. 
• It is also a very good idea to keep revisiting your own article after publishing it, so you have the chance of answering any questions your article may arise, or respond any comments other users may post to your article. 
• Click here for a much more detailed ‘How to Publish Guide’. It contains lots of tips and help about how to write a good article.

If you are ready to contribute now, go on to the Publish Page

The shiny new site also makes it possible to make your own account . If you become a registered user you will be able to edit your article after having published it.

If you are part of a campaign or a group, you will probably be interested in the groups function of our site. This will enable your group or campaign to have your very own section on Indymedia London, including a presentation about your group, a collection of your articles, and an archive of any other articles or media you are interested in, or relate to your group or campaign. Think of it like a blog, but better!

The lenght and depth of your contributions is entirely up to you. Your group’s section can be as much a resource and outreach as you make it. You don’t need to be a writer with a capital W, nor a journalist with a J or a photographer with a P to contribute to London Indymedia. This is a DIY project, where everyone contributes skills, interests and knowledge, whatever these may be. It is the diversity of approaches of your contributions, and the quality of material you publish what will make Indymedia London a vibrant and useful resource relevant for this city, hopefully reflecting the collective creativity and intelligence of this town. That’s why it is important that you write your reports first hand, and that the media you publish is material you’ve put together yourself instead of doing a lazy copy and paste from somewhere else.

It is time to take back our lives and our city! … Get publishing! :-)