Brainstorming

[jean-christophe.lurenbaum]

See the initial ideas in this discussion topic.

[jean-christophe.lurenbaum]

Statement :

• The nocirc cause needs to take more space in the media

• Radio (purely audio communication) is the most widely used medium in the world

• A profound revolution is to be expected in the years to come with mobile Internet, which will mean that "Internet radio" technology will carve out croupiers to the classic hertzian radios. Today, when you're in your car, especially in traffic jams, you listen to the radio, and tomorrow Internet network will become common enough for passengers' smartphones to replace radio hardware: all you have to do is insert your G5 smartphone into the car's radio box to broadcast Internet "radios" over the speakers and continue to listen to your favourite radio channels (or choose on YouTube, perhaps on the new “YouTube radio” dedicated to podcast with no video).

"This objective implies the production of content and its distribution, either in "proprietary" media or through third party media." I think that priority should be given to third party media, otherwise, instead of raising awareness outside the intactivist network, we run the risk of simply communicating to an audience of already convinced activists. 

[Jordan Arel]

Thank you for creating this Jean-Christophe. I assume that by proprietary you mean podcasts or shows that we are ourselves creating, and by third-party you mean other people's podcasts or shows. I believe there is a great benefit to both of these, but I am aiming to create our own content first partly because it is easier, and partly because I want to unify the existing intactivist organizations under one roof and encourage more cooperation and knowledge everyone toward a cohesive positive narrative. Here again are my current plans, I will be hosting a meeting to discuss this next week. If anyone would like to represent the bodyguards please let me know! Here is the outline:

Intact radio is a new intactivist media company consisting of in-house volunteer hosts,  affiliated intactivist podcasts reposted on our channel, and regular guest podcast appearances by each of the major intactivist organizations and leading intactivists.

 

Intact radio's goal is to achieve 1 million views per week across all content within six months of launch - and continue growing from there. Other strategic objectives include improving intactivist public image and molding a positive narrative, unifying the intactivist community, creating new intactivist media resources, and educating intactivists on how to improve their effectiveness.

 

We will use re-stream to livestream our content to up to 30 channels for each broadcast. This will include YouTube and Facebook channels of existing intactivist organizations, as well as whichever influencers have the largest audience and will allow us to use their channels.

 

Content will be focused on preventing & healing genital mutilation. In order to combat burnout which is debilitating the movement, we will bias our content and the attitude we bring toward non-traumatic, energizing, constructive, fun, loving, effective intactivism. This does not mean we won't be honest about the harm of circumcision, it just means we will always put a hopeful, constructive, solution-focused spin on it insofar as is possible. Topics may include educational content around circumcision and the intact body, movement and community building, foreskin/clitoris restoration and regeneration, movement strategy and tactics, intactivist news, live call-in discussions among intactivists, compassionate discussions with people unaware of the harms of circumcision, psychological healing, and any other intactivist topic hosts or organizations want to focus on.

 

At the beginning of each week in-house hosts will meet for 30 minutes and discuss progress, updates, questions, and ideas for new media, marketing, or process improvements. Affiliated members and organizations are also invited to join. There will also be a Discord open for discussions and questions.

 

New hosts can be added indefinitely as long as there are timeslots available.

 

All content will be promoted and/or reposted to the relevant Reddit channels, discord servers, and Facebook groups and pages to maximize viewership. This may be done by hosts or a volunteer promotional team. We will also consult with social media marketing professionals on other marketing tactics.

 

Eventually we may seek sponsors, create a premium subscription option, or another donor rewards program to achieve monetization and increase organizational capacity.

 

Finally, we may also create "heroic content," meaning extremely epic content that has the potential to go viral. For example, a foreskin regeneration version of this: Solar FREAKIN' Roadways! or an intactivist version of this: I Am NOT Black, You are NOT White

[jean-christophe.lurenbaum]

"I assume that by proprietary you mean podcasts or shows that we are ourselves creating, and by third-party you mean other people's podcasts or shows"

No, sorry if I was not clear! In fact I consider that all the contents are produced by intactivist organisations or individuals (as it's the case in your project), but it is the distribution channels that are an important issue: Either they are channels totally controlled by the Intactivists (YouTube channel or Intactivist website broadcasting radio programmes), in which case the audience is likely to be limited to the Intactivists (who are already convinced, therefore not very interesting except for healing and some coordination and learning), or they are third party channels, such as the BBC in the UK, or already existing radio channels in the USA (see Top Radio). For me, the main objective is to be able to export part of the intactivist content to third party channels, because our goal is to influence "outside" intactivist networks (it's not intactivist that we have to convinced much, but more people outside). I suppose it's what you said with "as well as whichever influencers have the largest audience and will allow us to use their channels".

[Jordan Arel]

Ah, I see! Getting onto channels such as the BBC or other mainstream channels seems quite ambitious, though I know 15 square has had some success in the past. I'd love to hear proposals on how we might achieve this. Perhaps once I have built up a channel of proprietary content it will be easier to get it onto third party platforms. When I mentioned influencers I meant that once we have our proprietary content we can get people with large audiences who support the cause such as Alan Cumming or Joe Rogan to allow us to broadcast some of our material on their channels. I think developing high-quality content will be the first step in achieving any of these goals.

[jean-christophe.lurenbaum]

Yes, exactly "Perhaps once I have built up a channel of proprietary content it will be easier to get it onto third party platforms"

I believe that we need to build up know-how gradually so that we can then be able to offer content to third party distribution chains (BBC...). I also believe that we must capitalise on such a rise in expertise and skills in a more ambitious perspective, because this need for media impact is not the only problem of intactivism, but progressive causes in general. I think we need to think about this from an AlgoMedia perspective, that is to say, from a network of progressive media capable of cross-distributing content, including intactivist content. What seems to me particularly interesting as an opportunity to be exploited is the transition from hertzian "radios" (by simple radio waves) to Internet radios, which must totally destabilise the current market for the allocation of hertzian frequencies to radio operators. The first to understand this may try a big score!

[Jordan Arel]

Having allyship with other causes is definitely an interesting idea. I have had other people recommend that I create multiple channels that cover men's issues, children's rights, and other related topics. I think this could definitely expand our reach and I would be open to proposals, but I'm not sure exactly how it would look yet. Right now I'm more focused on creating a proprietary media company and alliance with existing US organizations. But that should be relatively easy to build and I would like to start brainstorming now on how we might continue expanding after that or in conjunction with that. Let me know if you have further concrete ideas for how we might achieve such a progressive audio/visual media alliance.

[jean-christophe.lurenbaum]

Yes, I think this is the right approach, starting pragmatically with what can be done at the lowest cost, and then developing according to the opportunities, with a perspective of expansion on the one hand on the distribution channels, and on the other hand on the contents. The important thing is to have an ambitious target in mind, even if you don't reach it: this makes it possible to guide certain decisions as developments unfold. And I think that the AlgoMedia perspective is relevant, i.e. to place this project in the perspective of synergies with media networks that give priority to alleviating suffering in the world.