Media Co-op Hack day - late may / early June
agreed date for this as 22nd May. aim is for it to be in the cafe garden, early afternoon, have food from the cafe. have a speaker from a media co-op. advertise via normal channels. have an eventbrite as restrictions will mean max 30 people. can also have a planning sessions or founding session to go along with the media co-ops speaking. here are some suggested outcomes for the afternoon:
- a day to start thinking about the operating process of the co-op business plan, features of the project
- thinking about a role outline for a project coordinator/editor
- potential article in the pipeline and who could write them
- what would be need to launch the co-op and a timeline creation session
- features of the project (calendar, articles (subjects our USP?), community journalism training sessions
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Calling all budding journalists 
, editors 
, content creators 
, illustrators 
, investigators 
and researchers 
to join Co-operation Birmingham for a hack day. The day will include participatory sessions and learning from the experts how we can create a community media co-operative for our city 
. Cooperation Birmingham has delivered 16,000 meals since the pandemic begun and will now be opening a pay as you feel cafe. Alongside this the media co-operative will act as a cultural and news hub for a city which desperately needs good news 
. The goal is community powered, credible and exciting content developed by members for the community and wider public as an antidote to the current sea of clickbait articles and social media echo chambers we are forced to inhabit .
The hack day will be on the 22nd May and will happen outside 
in Digbeth Community Garden. There will be three sessions with ample time to get familiar with each other and the project.
- 2-3pm - Citizen journalism and media co-operatives: An Introduction
- 3.15-4.30pm - Dreaming and Scheming: A participatory session where we will collectively think of articles, content categories, events and contacts which will be useful to the future of the co-op. This will be a freeform session so get your thinking hats on and be ready to roll your sleeves up!
- 5-6.30pm - Independent media in an age of Murdoch
Afterwards, for those who are able there will be time to eat collectively, we’ll order food from nearby or share a collectively made dish 
Due to Covid restrictions 
there will be a limit of 30 partcipants. You can register by sending an email to podcast@cooperationbirmingham.org.uk If you can only make one session that’s fine but all three will be glorious!
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We are excited for tomorrow! Despite the stormy weather the forecast is saying the rain is going to hold off tomorrow which is good news. In terms of the running order for the day we have taken the decision to shorten the first two sessions a little so the day will start at 3pm instead, as Bristol Cable aren’t able to make the first session but have indicated they can do something with us in the future. I’ll still be there at 2pm getting things ready and in case anyone misses this message.
A few people who had signed up can’t make it now so we thought shorter sessions would be better for the number of participants. I hope it doesn’t have any knock on effects, the sessions should still be fun though!
Here is the revised running order for tomorrow:
- 3pm-3.45pm - Citizen journalism and media co-operatives: An Introduction (hosted by Sean)
- 4-4.45pm - Dreaming and Scheming: A participatory session where we will collectively think of articles, content categories, events and contacts which will be useful to the future of the co-op. This will be a freeform session so get your thinking hats on and be ready to roll your sleeves up! (hosted by Leo)
- 5-6.30pm - Independent media in an age of Murdoch (hosted by Tom Barlow)
To do:
- Mission statement
- Identify target audience
- Map our structure
- Decision making process
- Name
- Website
- Forum (subsection, public, category)
- Timeline ( we talked about proper launch being august / sept)
The name: we talked about how we didn’t want it to be too stuffy or ‘paper of record’, how it could draw the attention and could related to brum. We also talked more generally about identity of the newspaper. Points were raised that it shouldn’t be so niche that it excludes certain sections of the populations, it should try to have a broader appeal but also write about things that currently don’t have a platform in birmingham.
thoughts
- can the media project be part of building the confidence of the left and co-ops in the city which are currently marginalised in mainstream media and busienss models/charities.
Section ideas - these were just ideas we talked about how there was room for a lot more.
Migrant solidarity, events calender, housing, gig economy, classified section and quirky things about the city which you wouldn’t find elsewhere, deep dive history pieces, disability and mental health,
