WG/Media/Minutes/03242012

Occupy Boston Media WG Meeting Sat Mar 24 2012

Facilitator: Robin

AGENDA

- Designate a notetaker (Farhad) - Introductions - Agenda review and approval - Framing comments (Eli) - Long term planning, strategic discussion - Media strategy for Sunday April 1 - What media coverage do we need? - What is our press strategy? - How will we handle possible autonomous actions? - What do we put on the calendar and other official channels? - Media strategy for Wednesday April 4 - What coverage do we need? - How will we coordinate with other cities? - We do we put on the calendar? (Taken care of before meeting.) - Proposed meeting with the BPD - Broader media strategy for the spring - Determine a topic for next Sat's meeting - Designate a facilitator for next Sat's meeting (Farhad)

INTRODUCTIONS

Present: Robin, Farhad, Jay, Michael, Matt S, John, Nawanta, Josh, Stephen, Ariel, DSB, Rene, Dan, Eli, Rachel, Noah, Joshua E, Mike K, Liam

AGENDA REVIEW AND APPROVAL

Approved.

FRAMING COMMENTS

Eli: 2 weeks ago we talked a lot about A4. We also talked about the culture we need to promote in terms of Media within OB. Our Wed meetings are very reactive. That stuff needs to get done, but there's an opportunity to be proactive. We have all these tools and the opportunity to frame the debate before it's framed for us -- A1, A4, whatever. There's a lot of creativity and skills in the room, so we should be thinking proactively. What can we create instead of just responding to the web forms; it sells us short. I just wanted to say that to frame the discussion. Let's think creatively about how we might want to tap in to proactive stuff.

Matt: Does Occupy the Issues play into this? I'm very interested in writing on that stuff.

Eli: Yes.

LONG TERM PLANNING

MEDIA STRATEGY FOR SUNDAY APRIL 1

Rachel: What do we know that we're allowed to all be on the same page on regarding A1?

DSB: Many people in this room are already getting press inquiries.

Rachel: We can't actually respond until we know what we can all be on the same page about.

Jay: So you want to know what's going to happen?

Rachel: No, we need to know what we can talk about.

Jay: A1 is very loosely organized. It's going to be very fluid. My guess is that people are going to come with what they're going to do, and there's going to be a lot of autonomous action. Everybody's going to come with an idea of what they're going to bring for the day.

Rachel: Numbers?

Jay: No idea. I've spoken with a lot of folks both within and outside of OB. A lot of people might come out just to see what we're going to do.

Michael: I had a major discussion about this when I asked the simple question about this. Officially it's just a GA that's outside. I guessed that we'd [Facilitation] have to step in, and there's been a large conversation. Unofficially there's a proposal for reoccupation. I'm not even sure about the things outside of GA, because it's supposed to be a day long series of actions. I'd like some more information about what's going to happen -- at least the GA portion of it.

DSB: The best source of information I've had so far is Facebook. The number of people who've said that they're going to attend is 400. In terms of specific plans I'm not aware of any. The Food WG was a bit concerned. The flier changed to "bring some to share." There is a Facebook event page that's seen a lot of actions and views.

Jay: [Looking on Facebook] There are ~320 people who are going, 1800 who are invited.

DSB: I had hopes for what people would do. I am unaware of any structure, however.

Matt S: If anyone was to ask me, I'd just be pretty vague. I wouldn't want to set any expectation that couldn't follow through, because I don't know what's going to happen.

Robin: This is a John Murphy thing that we've tried to harness. We don't necessarily need to worry about what's going to happen. It's more symbolic than it is a literal take back Dewey Square.

Eli: That's very similar to the spirit of what I was going to say. There's an opportunity here. The press will be there, the police will be there, there's an opportunity for there to be stories. It's April Fool's day; there's an opportunity for humor. If people autonomously set up tents and refuse to leave, there's a high probability of arrest. People want to hold their ground and I understand that, and there's power behind that, but there's also an opportunity here. Maybe this isn't the moment to reoccupy. We shouldn't do that just because John Murphy created a Facebook page. Maybe we could create 1000 tiny tents? Something like that.

Farhad: I just wanted to point out that there's a tension here between designing actions that will take place on A1 versus talking about how we would respond as the Media WG. This is a great conversation, and I'm psyched that we're having it, but I just wanted to acknowledge that.

Dan: Agreement.

Eli: I don't think there's a difference. Actions are communications tools too. It's the action that's really getting the message across. If we can be proactive and initiate a communications action -- what can we fill this vacuum with?

John: One piece of our strategy should be a rapid response with whatever's coming in on the livestream. Having somebody back here who can rapidly edit that into a highlight video.

Dan: Maybe now would be a good time to do a quick report back from the livestream meeting. I'd be concerned about using livestream video for highlights because it's not high quality. It's not even medium quality.

Stephen: In terms of media strategy, the line for A1 should be that the banks are playing us for fools. Nothing has changed here -- whether you look at the mortgage settlement, Obama's appointments to the Fed, etc. It would seem to make sense to me to set the agenda ourselves. Regardless of what happens on the 1st, nothing has changed. The issues are still what they were 6 months ago.

Ariel: One way to shape this narrative would be to move to the 4th, which will be a bigger action. Right away make the arc so that there's a connection there. We could play with that in the Media. We sort of have a victory in Dewey Square and then we take it to the State House.

Jay: [Reading the Facebook schedule]

12 pm - Lunch (bring some to share) 1 pm - April 1st march (sarcastically invoke the ideas and thoughts that Occupy Boston is fighting against) 4:30 pm - Open Mic/Stack 5:30 pm - Occupy Boston's General Assembly

I think a good strategy for that day would be create point people for specific things. There's probably going to be autonomous action more than likely after GA.

Dan: We kind of divided up for A4 -- and we can do this for A1 -- what we needed to do beforehand, what we need to do day of, and what we need to do afterward.

Jay: We can use A1 to introduce to the public and build to A4. That could be our narrative. That could be our narrative. We're back, and this is our next step.

Rachel: I don't want to loose what Stephen was talking about it. If we make A1 just about A4 then we loose that. The point of being in Dewey Square is to pound on our issues overall. I agree with Dan; I'd love for us to come up with a list of things that we need for these days. Talking about them in sequence and talking about what that week is going to look like will help us make those connections. That can only help develop a better media strategy.

[Notetaker's note: I'm slowing down because it stinks to type on this thing.]

DSB: It seems that this is a golden opportunity to set up an Info Tent. A lot of people will show up on A1 because it's getting press coverage. Be able to great them and give them information. It could have a mobile put up/take down presence.

Rachel: Info and Occupy the MBTA are already working on that.

Jay: The BPD gave OB Screenprint a hard time about setting up a canopy on the Commons. If any WG sets a tent up anywhere, they're going to give you a hard time. If you're giving something away, they're going to give you a hard time.

Farhad: Info has been talking about this -- and Rita's especially interested -- but we need help. So if you're excited about it, then please contact Info!

Matt S: We could start with what Stephen said and then tie it in to bringing it to the State House.

Stephen: The question of the relation to the police and how much of our discursive space we want to give to the police question. Unless we can tie that to something like Trayvon Martin, our messaging is a lot stronger if we can keep it focused on the banks in that kind of thing. A lot of people don't want to hear us talk about the police. Unless we can really nail them on it, I think we need to keep the message slightly broader. The reason they beat us up is so we'll talk about it. They'll lock us in a cycle of local trauma, and they'll consume us with hatred for them.

Noah: One really strong thing we can do that's Dewey specific is talk about the First Amendment. What we've learned, what the status is. It's April 1st. We could do a mock funeral. I think the 1st Amendment has a place in this, more so than the police.

Mike K: During the GA myself and other people who aren't quite legally allowed in Dewey Square to be across the street participating with mic checks back and forth. The theme is that we've been disenfranchised, and we can tie that into the A4. They've been having all these T meetings, and we haven't been part of them, so we're having our own.

Joshua: It's not clear to me what "not going to Dewey Square means."

Rachel: We have no idea what they have license to do on any given day. Given a hard time for being in Dewey due to OB stuff on backpack.

Eli: It's 4, and we have a lot to talk about, and the meeting ends at 5. The way that we did the A4 stuff was to outline before, during, and after Media stuff. Can we temp check about how feel about the model?

[Positive temp check]

BEFORE

Farhad: We need talking points for A1 for when we get internal press inquiries. So far, we've been talking about pivoting away from when or where we'd occupy to focus on why we'd occupy. What's important about the tactic, why we did it, and what it accomplished. This isn't to say that this is the only way to talk about it, but it's what we'd been talking about in previous Media meetings.

Eli: We need a press release that hits on the issues that Stephen outlined -- maybe with a sense of humor.

Rachel: We need a text to announce this. We should also be prepared to use the emergency text system.

Jay: Is that the same thing?

Rachel: Same service, two different lists.

Jay: But they come from the same number?

Eli: Yes.

Joshua: We need to do a little coordination on Tweets.

Farhad: We should prepared with additional livesteam and multimedia trainings.

Rene: That's a really good idea. I think we should do that and schedule it today. Is anybody interested in making a really short promo clip for the 1st? Does anybody have a camera who wants to make a 30 second promo clip?

Eli: Why don't we just do the livestream training on A1?

Mike K: Can somebody add that to the Facebook page?

[Notetaker's note: this was done, and it's scheduled for 3 pm.]

Ariel: We're also having the NLG training on the 2nd or the 3rd.

Joshua: We need to make sure in terms of battery packs and things that everything is there.

Rene: Coming back to the issue of the camera...

Farhad: I'm not sure if anybody with access to a camera is here right now. What we've done in the past is look for somebody to volunteer to bottom line tracking that person down after the meeting.

Stephen: I can ask Occupy Harvard's video person.

Dan: We still need to be talking about beforehand stuff.

Jay: Lefty dropped off three small little batteries for livestreaming this week. They only last about two hours.

Joshua: Eli has a google Doc which is an inventory of Media equipment and who has it. We should make sure it's updated.

Jay: I texted the livestream Cel.ly when I took them.

DSB: There a number of sometime videographers. Matt S, Bil Lewis... (missed the other folks she mentioned to to knocking something over and generally making a fool of myself).

Matt S: What would be the bullet points that we would go over as a group for the week?

Rachel: There are a couple of areas here where it would make sense to have a small group of people work on. Talking points and press release, text and tweets, livestream and video spot. Not to break into groups right now, but to have people meet in groups in the next day or so.

Noah: because it's April Fool's day, we should go ridiculous in some way. We're meeting at Dewey to formally dissolve Occupy Boston. Everything's been fixed, we all have jobs, and we've all taken showers. It could be a solemn procession, we put our buttons down in piles, and then transition into talking about what we're actually doing. We're meeting to commemorate what happened.

[Notetaker's note: everybody seems to love this idea.]

Stephen: I'm happy to work on talking points and press release.

Mike K: Point of information: there's actually going to be a bunch of us dressed up that day, so that'll fit in well.

Matt S: How would we lead this into the 4th? How would we lead this into the narrative for the week?

Farhad: We could make it part of the theater. We come in, we say we're done, we've all got jobs, we've all showered, and then maybe somebody reads a newspaper and is like Wait! This stuff is still happening! Nothing's changed!

Josh Golin: We need people to volunteer for these tasks.

Eli: I'll do text.

DSB: I'm willing to take point on still photography

Matt S: I can do video.

Rachel: Can somebody coordinate with Eli from social media?

Joshua: I will.

Rene: Can we get somebody to take point on editing day of?

Rachel: Can somebody call David Ludlow?

Eli: I'll do that right now.

Talking points: Farhad, Stephen, Dan, Rachel, John, Matt, Noah

[Notetaker's notes: Hands hurt. Stripping down again.]

DAY OF

Rene: We're going to have a streamer meeting. We need at home production too.

Rachel: We need people available to talk to press that day.

Dan: It might be worth it for those of us in the talking points group to report back to whoever is going to be talking to the press.

Rachel: I would love for Gunner to be able to do a media training when the livestream training.

DSB: I can do stills. Matt as well.

Noah: Can we get Jimi Two Feathers to do aerial footage?

Eli: David Ludlow is going to check his calendar.

Dan: I'll be able to do video as well.

Matt S: I can do some backup video -- I don't have much space on my camera.

Joshua: I'll take point for Twitter.

Robin: I'll be at work but can Tweet remotely.

Jay: You can tweet off of the livestream interface and it'll go to your feed with the link included.

Rachel: Stephen and I will be available for rapid response writing.

Jay: We should expect arrests at any OB action. They're going to be looking to arrest people.

Robin: If we could be more vigilant -- those of us who are documenting.

Dan: They're also looking to provoke us.

John: Were they trying to isolate people from the group?

Nowanta: Not on Tuesday.

Mike K: They're upping surveillance. Also, I'd recommend that everybody get the "I'm Getting Arrested" app for their smart phone.

Joshua: We should revitalize our offsite password holder. Theresa had been doing this in the past.

AFTER

Rachel: We need to think about collecting footage and documenting everything for the NLG. This is true for all of these events. We as Occupy Boston need to pool these things.

Eli: Media@occupyboston.org goes basically just to me now, but we've set up the list for people to check it.

Joshua: I'll take point on this. Send an email out to the external list.

Farhad: We should be prepared for additional media attention at the Open House on April 2. All we need to do for the event is be able to talk about what we do as a working group, but we should be prepared for further external press interest.

MEDIA STRATEGY FOR SUNDAY APRIL 4

Rene: Reads previous notes (http://notes.occupy.net/p/OBMediaTalkingPoints)

Noah: People will be meeting at Park Street Station at 11 am tomorrow morning to get some good footage for a 30 second A4 spot featuring the same mic check performed multiple times in multiple places.

Dan: There's going to be a press training for Occupy MBTA folks on either April 2 or April 3. Could maybe do April 1 as well. May be tough for Gunner to do on the 1st during the day.

Rachel: Before or after the NLG training? After seems better.

BEFORE

[Notetaker's notes: I hate this thing. Resorting to action items only.]

DSB: Coordinate David and Jess to get the existing spot on TV Eli: Text & robo call, test livestream reception Rachel: Coordinated letters to the editors Multimedia Bubble: Further promo videos Josh: Ask Gunner about press trainings Joshua: Encourage folks to update the Media contact list, notification of actions items Dan: Assess who can be there day of

DAY OF

Eli: livestream People who can write very quickly: Stephen, Rachel, DSB

AFTER

Possibility of needing ongoing resources: Ariel Nearby warm center to do media coverage, charge things, etc: Rachel, Josh

Jay: There were a few reps who were at the 3 Strikes Rally who are sympathetic -- Ayanna Pressley, Felix Arroyo, etc. They may at least be willing to help us with electricity.

JUMPING STACK: PROPOSAL FOR A FOOTAGE/PHOTO SUBMISSION SYSTEM

Eli: A Dropbox Pro account is $20 bucks a month. It needs a service so that people can send files to us without our giving them Dropbox. AirDropper will do that for $9 a month. Sort of like FTP stuff only more secure. Cloud based depository where we could grab stuff and put it on our HDs. Seems like it fits into our Media budget. I'd take point on setting this up.

Liam: Is this for an iPhone app?

Eli: It's so we can Tweet out a link that allows everybody to submit whatever they've got.

Liam: We should look into setting up an ftp server on the Media WG iMac

Eli: Agreed.

Dan: I'd be concerned with Tweeting out the link that it might get overloaded.

Eli: There's an upload limit.

Dan: We could also ask them to email us and then give them the link once we feel comfortable.

Joshua: Can we take consensus that if the FTP isn't possible, we'll move forward with Dropbox & AirDropper?

[We have consensus!]

Eli: I'll check with OBIT.

PROPOSED MEETING WITH THE BPD

Rachel: proposal to table the BPD conversation.

Jay: What's the background?

Rachel: Gunner works with the BPD for his job, and they brought the idea of meeting with some of us up to him.

Robin: However we approach this, we need to be respectful of the position that Gunner is in.

Matt: If we had an elected official who was behind us on this then it might be a good idea. Also: having the NLG present.

Rachel: The NLG has been a major thread in the online discussion.

Ariel: I have strong concerns, want to make sure that this doesn't happen without at least further conversation.

DSB: I propose that we roll this over until Gunner can explain.

Jay: I'm strongly opposed to speaking to the police. I also strongly sympathize with Gunner's situation. The police are not our friends, they're going to tell us what to do. If somebody's going to go, please tell me, and I'll be there. This should be transparent, and there should be a lawyer there. I will livestream.

Mike K: Just remember, if you do to talk to the police, you are putting yourself at risk, they will hold you accountable.

Stephen: I want to put out a possibility of handling this where we treat it like we're organizing them. We ask them a bunch of questions about their working conditions, trying to see how we can help them. Film the whole thing. They're just going to get mad and look ridiculous.

[Notetaker's note: everybody was at least really entertained by this idea.]

BROADER MEDIA STRATEGY FOR THE SPRING

Tabled.

DETERMINE A TOPIC FOR NEXT SAT'S MEETING

Dan: Next weekend should be split 50/50 between A1 and A4. Split perfectly and held accountable.

[All agree.]

DESIGNATE A FACILITATOR FOR NEXT SAT'S MEETING

Farhad.

MEETING ADJOURNED

ACTION ITEMS

A1 ACTION ITEMS - BEFOREHAND - Talking points/press release: Stephen, Rachel, Dan, John, Farhad, Noah, Matt S - Media Trainings: Gunner? - Text and tweets: Eli, Joshua E - Livestream trainings: ??? - Livestream equipment assessment: ??? - 30 Second Video Spot: Stephen will Contact Occupy Harvard's video person - DURING - Livestream: ??? - Still photography: DSB, Matt - On site video: Matt - Rapid video editing capacity: David Ludlow? - People available to talk to the press that day: ??? - Aerial photo/footage: Jimi Two Feathers? - Rapid response writing: Rachel, Stephen - Offsite password holder: Theresa? - AFTER - Footage/photo submission system: Eli, Joshua

A4 ACTION ITEMS - BEFOREHAND - Mic Check 30 Second Video Spot: Noah - What does public transit mean to the 99% Video Spot: DSB to coordinate David & Jess - Media Training: Gunner? Josh will ask. - Text & Robo Call: Eli - Coordinated letters to the editors: Rachel - Contact list and action item consolidation: Joshua - Assess who can be there the day of: Dan? - DURING - Livestream: Eli - Photo: ??? - Video: ??? - Rapid video editing capacity: ??? - People available to talk to the press that day: ??? - Rapid response writing: ??? - Offsite password holder: ??? - ONGOING - Ongoing resource coordination: Ariel - Nearby warm center: Rachel, Josh