Welcome to BASE21

By Andrew Garton (agarton@toysatellite.org)

___Preamble
Following directly after the Asia Internet Rights Conference, was the 3rd Seoul International Labor Media Conference. Coinciding with the thirty-one year memorial for Chun Tae-il, a 22-year-old sowing worker who had set himself on fire, the Conference was set to reflect the urgency and determination of the local Labor movement.

I was invited earlier this year to put a proposal to the conference towards a talk and presentation about the work of Toy Satellite, however the heady pace of recent months did not provide the time required to respond to this offer. However, the invitation to participate was extended via the Asia Internet Rights Conference, the organisers of which were also directly involved in this one.

It should be understood that to date C2O/Toy Satellite has not been involved in Labor issues nor networking in Australia, yet attempts were made to establish a LabourNet when I had been at Pegasus Networks. The early 90's was clearly too soon for many organizations, despite the fact that Labor movements elsewhere in
the world were moving rapidly online.

The Conference proved not only informative, it showed in many ways how advanced media activism is in South Korea. Video production and active use of streaming media, online strategies for building confidence in union member web sites, and seamless integration of Flash are some of the features of the movement that
others can learn by.

___Conference Information and Reporting
Rather than provide an overview of the conference, it is recommended that the following resources be reviewed. Here will be found reports and media materials provided by Conference organisers and some participants.

Note as of writing only the photo archive has post-Conference materials available.

Labor Media 2001
http://lmedia.nodong.net/2001/english/main.php

Base21
http://www.base21.org/show/show.php?p_docnbr=17894

Photo archive: Index of /labornetjp.org/lm2001/LM2001
http://www1.jca.apc.org/labornetjp.org/lm2001/LM2001/

As there were so many people documenting both conferences I suggested that a shared online resource be created. This would enable conference participants to place their photos, videos, papers, reports, etc. in a single place where others may have access to them. This material could be used for local newsletters and
reports.

It is likely that Jinbonet will establish something temporary, however it was recognized that a regional resource of this nature is urgently required.

___Highlights
The following is a personal selection of Conference highlights. They do not reflect the breadth of topics presented, discussed and work shopped.

Labor News Production

The web has truly become a public access media in Seoul. The labor movement, frustrated by the inability to have their issues aired via mainstream media, have committed themselves to a dynamic web cast strategy. It's not only reaching members it's irritating the authorities as well.

Labor News Production
http://www.lnp89.org/english/

On April 10 2001, a court-approved march by Daewoo workers was violently suppressed by the police. Captured on video, the full-scale brutality of the authorities was unleashed online and viewed by thousands the world over.

>From an article published by the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU): "The KCTU produced 1,000 copies of the video to distribute to the civil society organisations and member unions. The KCTU webpage where a digital video file of the carnage is can be seen was flood with concerned citizens. For three days, from April 11 to 13, the KCTU webpage recorded a total of some 3 million clicks, with the highest on April 13 with more than one and a half million visitors. This caused, at different times, technical difficulties in accessing the KCTU webpage."

Article detailing incident
http://www.kctu.org/action%20alert/daewoo-blood.htm

The police countered this use of the web by producing their own video, their own version of events and streaming it from their web site. Apparently, it looked like it had been shot outside a police station with plain-clothes officers smashing the windows of a parked car.

With so many horrific injuries sustained by Daewoo workers, the documentation proof, the police video recognised as a sham, in an unprecedented move the case brought against the protestors was quietly exited from court. However, as of the time of writing those responsible for the violence have yet to be brought to
justice. Forty injuries, twenty-one arrests and the Union lawyer, Pak Hun, hospitilised with a fractured pelvis.

Stills from video of violence against Daewoo workers
http://www.nodong.org/images/daewoo/thumbs/st010410.htm

You won't find men behind the cameras of Labor News Production. Established in 1989 with over 50 feature length videos on the labor movements of Korea, the production unit is now mostly comprised of women. They're able to get closer to the action than men, so much so that they are almost unseen - the camera moves in amidst the batons and fists, capturing drops of blood on the lens and the tenacity of protestors who protect them selves from shielded police with fierce determination alone. Many, of not all the male workers have done three years of military service, taught to deal with and survive intolerable conditions, their training now in full tilt to right the wrongs of their employers and the government that protects them.

Of the streaming media available, the most diverse comes from the pages of Jinbonet. On their webcast pages you'll find material cross-referenced from other content producers and categorised according to style and/or issue.

The first thing you'll notice is that ALL their material is produced for a broadband audience. There are no 28.8 or 56 Kbs options here. 50% of Koreans are online and the cost of broadband (either cable or DSL) is cheap. Hence, 320 x 240 video clips mostly streamed using a RealMedia G2 server. Curiously, multi-bandwidth (Surestream) features of the G2 server aren't being used. Either they are only targeting a
local, high bandwidth user base, or these features are not fully understood. Either way, the content is exceptional and varied.

An assessment of the web site and web cast usage assisted the producers in determining viewable durations of streaming media. Videos are generally edited down to five minute, high-energy clips. The same goes for streaming "slide-shows". An excellent series of workers profiles on cast.jinbonet are delivered using the latter format.

http://cast.jinbo.net/

The streaming servers in use by Labor Media Production and Jinbonet are funded
by the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions.

IndyMedia Centres

The session titled "International Media Network and the Neo-liberal Globalization: with focus on IndyMedia Centers (IMC)" was to be opened by IMC champion, Eric Galatas. Regrettably, US Immigration authorities withheld his visa and as such he was unable to attend. However, he had sent a pre-recorded video of his talk that provided insights to the establishment of an independent media outlet, both management and production models. Models are strongly founded on volunteer support, ensuring that everyone has access to as many opportunities as each other.

Eric's video via Quicktime, microphones and a data projector
http://www.toysatellite.org/album/seoul2001/lmc/JPG_P000095F.htm

Free Speech TV
http://www.freespeech.org

Representatives from the Chiapas, Mexico, were able to provide an in-depth account of their initiatives, their centre running on a participatory model grounded in extensive media making. Their focus is on news gathering and publishing with training as support to these activities.

Chiapas presentors
http://www.toysatellite.org/album/seoul2001/lmc/JPG_P000103F.htm

The centre has been running since January 2001 and within its short life span has already amassed a considerable volume of resources. Tapes are produced for radio public distribution, so too videos. The people from the Chiapas themselves produce all materials with training provided by experienced electronic media journalists.

http://chiapas.indymedia.org/

Web awards

On the final day of the conference awards were announced for several union sites. As of writing, up to 500 unions are using web technologies. Twenty sites were reviewed and seven were awarded a certificate for the "best planned site".

Award winning webmasters
http://www.toysatellite.org/album/seoul2001/lmc/JPG_P000119F.htm
http://www.toysatellite.org/album/seoul2001/lmc/JPG_P000121F.htm
http://www.toysatellite.org/album/seoul2001/lmc/JPG_P000122F.htm
http://www.toysatellite.org/album/seoul2001/lmc/JPG_P000123F.htm
http://www.toysatellite.org/album/seoul2001/lmc/JPG_P000125F.htm
http://www.toysatellite.org/album/seoul2001/lmc/JPG_P000124F.htm
http://www.toysatellite.org/album/seoul2001/lmc/JPG_P000126F.htm

Each site followed a similar structure:

HOME PAGE
- Headlines
- Banners (links to other union/labor sites)

- Events Calender

- Usage statistics (average daily impressions, today impressions, overall
hits).

Links from Home page
- Categorised news
- Chat/Web board
- Materials
- Video
- Audio
- Images

Chat/Web boards were heavily used and often provision is made for members to upload photos of their arts and crafts interests. Audio content is generally comprised of union songs and videos are produced by in-house contributors or links to any of the labor media sites.

Welcome pages are often filled will content, but not to the point where it is confusing. Content is carefully categorised enabling users to determine quickly what's available, whether to stay or move on.

One of the winning projects established chat and entertainment sites first. This helped to draw union members to their organisations site as well as acclimatise them to web use.

___Contributions to the Conference
As the conference drew to a close participants contributed a number of proposals and recommendations. I added the following to the pool of ideas:

- Recommended collaborative development of a regional multimedia database. The idea being that such a project provide for the needs of many other activist initiatives, not just Labor. The end result of this work would see not only LaborNets make use of this resource, other social interest groups could establish
their own uses for it.

- Suggested the creation of a shared Labor Media Conference database of reports, photos, videos, etc.

- Introduced participants to arts activist activities and organisations in Europe as models for alternative media strategies. Was asked to propose this to aAPC's broadband media mailing list.