The Role of New Web Media at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games
created on Tue, 2008-05-06 13:04 
I've mentioned some pre-Olympic and Olympic Games related activities coming up in passing. Now, as topics are piling up and the Beijing Summer Games are nearing (complete with controversy), henceforth begins a blog mini-series called, "China, The Olympics, Social Media, Symposiums, etc." - I think I'll need a better name for the series though. Suggestions are welcome.
Background
As you likely know, Raincity Studios actively conducts business in China with an office in Shanghai and the Raincity Studios site is published in English and Mandarin (French underway) and we collaborate with Chinese colleagues and some of us (not me) study Mandarin language and foodery. Just so ya know where we're coming from.
Social Media at Olympics
As for the Olympic games, RCS crew were at Torino 2006 - documenting the Olympic events as social media journalists using the Torino Piemonte Media Center and creating heaps for grassroots coverage (see Torino Flickr pool, DailyVancouver Torino, coverage) as well as participating in BC House activities on a professional basis.
Along with Scales, BMann and KK in Turin, Roland, Will Pate and I linked up for a cross-ocean symposium "Web 2.0 and the Future of Sport" about tech and athletics featuring gold medalist Ross Rebagliati (Flickr coffeewithross).
Among other topics, we discussed the restrictions (or lack thereof) put on self-expression by athletes as well as ways the participants can use technology to better communicate with friends and family back home. Really so many athletes will never make it to TV and their families seek the micro-coverage possible only by crowd sourcing e.g. the first ever Nepali winter Olympian (SLC 2002 Olympics collection).
Olympian Politics
With the 2010 Winter Games coming to our HQ city of Vancouver, and the resultant controversies (mostly concerning tax money spent on events rather than poverty and homelessness), we, like much of the world, are watching as the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing is becoming increasingly politicized and watching the reaction of the government and the citizens of the world.
The most visible conundrum is the torch relay which was used as a rallying point for anti-China protesters and widely reported about on Now Public among other citizen journalism and mainstream media sites.
Certainly political gamesmanship is a staple in the modern Olympic games and the heavy handed security surrounding the torch parade is only the beginning of a conversation about the perceived emphasis on tight security and enforcing the stringent policies of the Chinese government rather than using this global event as a springboard to openness.
Having met several Olympic athletes who are eager to chronicle their experience freely, I am curious if athletes will be allowed and encouraged to speak openly while at the Games? (Blogging, Athletes and web sites - ...). Can they report on their experiences in candid fashion? Can they explore the region and travel the country without hindrance? or will the world see just the parts of China which look good on TV?
Make Your Own Media
Beyond the political conversations, as social media content creators and advocates of journalistic access for indie producers, we are also watching carefully as the policies about social media coverage are created (by who?).
So far there are mixed signals about athletes not/allowed to blog, and how amateur created content can be used (is posting your personal Olympic photos Flickr OK?) How about creating podcast coverage of the games with reaction to in-person and/or televised coverage?
International Symposium
Well, we're not the only ones with these questions. Olympic scholar Dr. Andy Miah is organizing a panel at the 9th International Symposium on Olympic Studies, in Beijing, August 5-7, 2008.
Before we get too far along, what is the ICOS?
The International Centre for Olympic Studies, established at The University of Western Ontario in 1989, was the first of its kind in the world. It remains the only such Centre in the Americas. It has as its primary mission the generation and dissemination of academic scholarship focused specifically upon the socio-cultural study of the Olympic Games and the Olympic Movement.
And the event blurb:
The Symposium’s theme, “Deconstruction and Discourse: Odysseys in Olympic Socio-Cultural Matters,” focuses on research studies dealing with the history, sociology, anthropology, and philosophy of the modern Olympic Movement.
Emerging Journalism Panel
Dr. Miah (who is a Reader in New Media & Bioethics, School of Media, Language & Music, University of the West of Scotland)'s topic is "Emergent Journalistic Practice at the Olympics" will feature a panel of Ana Adi, Beatriz Garcia, Raincity Studios President Kris Krug, Raincity Studios CEO Robert Scales,Garry Whannel, and Tina Zhihui.
Here's the panel description from the abstract:
{Ed note: Paragraph breaks mine to make easier reading}
Research into the role of the media within the Olympic Movement has focused predominantly on representational questions. Far less research has investigated the journalistic culture of an Olympic Games or the Movement more generally, besides analyses of its contribution to sustaining the Olympic Movement.
Moreover, nearly no research has examined the work of those journalists who are peripheral to the organizational staging of the Games.
This category includes journalists who are associated with accredited media institutions, but whom might not have formal accreditation due to restrictions on numbers of passes. It also includes journalists who are from major media organizations, but whom have no intention of working from Olympic facilities. However, it also includes non-accredited journalists, which encompasses professional journalists from a range of organizations, along with freelance or citizen journalists, whose work is utilized by the mass media and is duplicated in independent domains.
This panel engages some of these issues in the form of a round table debate about the future of journalism at the Olympic Games. It reviews some of the implications of emerging new media platforms, arguing that the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games can be characterized as the first Web 2.0 Summer Games. While some principles of Web 2.0 have been visible since the Internet’s inception, critical aspects of its current architecture began to flourish around 2005. Applications from this era, such as YouTube, MySpace and Facebook, more adequately enable users to report the Olympics as citizen journalists.
The implications of this within China and for the Olympics more broadly are considerable. As mass media organizations begin to strike partnerships with new media institutions – for instance, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) purchased a YouTube channel in March 2007 – questions remain over how the Olympic Movement will protect its intellectual property, as the base broadens over ownership claims and via distributed publishing syndication.
Next up, More Questions
Now that you are briefed with sufficient background, the next post will pose a variety of questions which the panel will discuss so you can share your opinions about "China, The Olympics, Social Media, Symposiums, etc."
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Cool New Type of Games
For all of you getting ready for the Beijing Olympics, here's some cool ideas for some new events.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_C7QmlthEBE
The Tickets Trade Website
The Tickets Trade Website of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games in drupal !
Ya Internets!
Great stuff and a pleasure to read. We should connect at Webvisions about more work in China. Just got back from Shanghai . . .
An Ethical Olympics
While it is novel and interesting to move beyond the confines of mainstream news media’s defunct “letters to the editor” tool, to simply discuss online the political machinations of the Olympics in China or elsewhere is not an efficient way to effect change.
You can talk about politics all you want, but talking has little impact on a global organization that moves forward at breakneck speed.
In fact, Olympic organizations love it when you discuss their politics, because when you talk about what woulda coulda shouda, they are forging ahead as planned, and doing. The more energy you expend talking about it, the less time you have to make an impact on the areas that will force them to readjust their business plan and operations.
I am not suggesting that talking is a waste of time, or especially that action through violent protest is a better option. On the contrary, historically, street protest does not work in the Olympics arena. The main reason it doesn’t work is because Olympics organizations have decades of experiencing managing protest. It is simply a cost of doing business for the IOC.
Talking about issues is good, but at a point, and that point has long past regarding the Olympics, talk does little to move one towards resolution of business model failings and human rights issues that have been prevalent in the Olympics industry for decades.
I attended an IOCC meeting a couple of years ago and during an intermission the following conversation ensued;
Excerpt from my book “LeverageOlympicMomentum.com”
While I was standing at the back of the room between sessions an IOCC member approached me and we started chatting about the morning session. She asked what I thought so far. I told her there was a lot of ideology tossed around, but that I preferred a more pragmatic approach and that I had a reputation for getting things done. I'm results-oriented. Without missing a beat she turned to me smiling and said in a humorous tone, "Oh, your not an academic are you?"
You can read more of this conversation on my blog
The reality is that the last three Olympic Host regions suffered substantial social and economic impact. For example;
Salt Lake City in 2002 realized a deficit of $1.2 billion that took five long years to identify. Their region of Park City (our Whistler) broke an all time record for not selling one single property over a three-month period surrounding the Games, plus SLC reeled under the heavy weight of IOC corruption and cheating judges. To date, tourism has not improved proportionate to the investment, while taxes skyrocketed and still remain high in an effort to pay off the debt.
In 2004, Athens accrued a deficit of over $12 billion that will take at least two generations to pay off [$75,000 per household]. The 2004 Games did little if anything to improve Greece’s social or economic stature. Some argued the Greeks were lazy and took too long to get their plans in gear. It’s an easy prejudicial statement to make, but unfounded when you consider that the last three Olympics events also tanked. Are the Italians and Americans also lazy, because they too suffered serious economic debt?
Here’s how the prime minister of Greece responded;
Excerpt from my book “LeverageOlympicMomentum.com”
“Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis revealed that the country's deficit jumped more rapidly and higher than all other European countries. It shot up 4 times its projected level and twice the legal limit allowed for European Union member countries.
As a result, bond-rating agency Standard & Poor's dropped the country's debt-rating outlook from "stable" to "negative" blaming "an accelerating loss of fiscal discipline" partly related to the Games. They also reported Greece's fiscal position is the weakest of any major European economy.
Karamanlis placed the blame squarely on the Olympics.”
You can read more details at this post on my blog
Excerpt from my book “LeverageOlympicMomentum.com”
As reported by the New Zealand Herald, "George Tsakiris, who owns three hotels in Athens, states that he and other hoteliers spent over $1.5 billion to renovate and supply rooms with new furniture, televisions, and internet connections hoping that the 2004 Games would increase tourism. The Greek Government spent $10 billion on a new airport, subway and rail system, and venues to prepare for the Games. A survey by consulting firm JBR Hellas found hotel occupancy plunged seven percent in the fourth quarter to fifty percent, the lowest among eleven of Europe's biggest cities. The Association of Greek Tourist Enterprises reported that the number of visitors to Greece fell three percent in 2004, a blow to a nation that relies on tourist's spending for about six percent of its gross domestic product."
You can learn more in this post at OlyBLOG.com
Excerpt from OlyBLOG.com
“The debt in Turin in 2006 is so high that over one year later they still do not know or will admit what it really cost, although we do know that they [TOROC] threatened bankruptcy and to cancel the 2006 Games unless taxpayers paid the ransom and bailed them out at the eleventh hour - literally two months before their big event.
The IOC claims each region is at fault [SLC, Athens & Turin], and basically [infers] that the people in these regions are lazy and stupid.
What do you think the IOC will say about Vancouver considering that in 2007 our costs [according to BC's auditor general] have already tripled and we are still three years away from 2010?”
You can read more details at OlyBLOG.com
China does not have to deal with issues of cost because it is the will of the government to invest whatever it takes to make the 2008 Beijing Games look good in the eyes of the world and especially Chinese residents.
Excerpt from www.OlyBLOG.com
“The greatest value to Chinese leaders for hosting the 2008 Olympics is to convince their citizens that they are a fair and stand up nation.
Contrary to what most people think, China is not hosting the Olympics to convince the rest of the world how civil they are, because most Westerners already know their communist regime is barbaric [by 2008 standards].
If you have the stomach for it read organ harvesting or Epoch Times, and if want a Canadian perspective of China’s barbaric actions read the following from “Allison Hanes, National Post Published: Friday, May 18, 2007
TORONTO - Foreign patients who travel to China for transplants are likely receiving organs culled from political prisoners who are alive when their corneas, kidneys and livers are harvested, then left to die, an international group of doctors armed with a chilling Canadian report is warning.
In a new twist on an old practice of using organs from executed criminals, China has since 2000 turned to living donors and outlawed Falun Gong members to supply a growing trade in medical transplants, Doctors Against Organ Harvesting said yesterday during a public forum held at the University of Toronto.”
For more information read Organ Harvesting Ottawa Citizen
Excerpt from www.OlyBLOG.com
Chinese civic leaders want to use the Olympics to convince their own citizens that they are changing, and that they take human rights seriously. The truth unfortunately is that China has refused to follow through with the promises they made to the IOC regarding human rights issues, while the IOC and their partners like VANOC and The [Vancouver] Sun all choose to look the other way. The 2008 Olympics haven't even begun and already China is cheating, and the IOC is allowing them this license.
Chinese leaders oppress Tibetans, they poison our pets, poison our children, cause overwhelming pollution and global warming, execute tens of thousands of their citizens every year, and muzzle news media, but still VANOC and their partners like The Vancouver Sun feel it is OK to look the other way. Not only do they feel this way, they endeavor to convince the rest of the sane planet to think in terms of greed like they think.
The solution is quit merely talking about it.
The solution is to quit looking the other way and follow the money.
Stephen Spielberg took the high road and he seems to be doing fine.
Think local. Act global.
Consider this from a recent posting on my blog;
“You [Olympic organizations and partners] want us to look the other way.
I'm betting that athletes and corporate Olympics sponsors like RBC, HBC, and Visa will eventually change their tune when the world revolts against them through social networking sites like Facebook and independent blogs like this or through publications like The Tyee and Epoch Times.
Is it any wonder that the IOC wants to keep athletes from blogging?
Boycotting the 2008 Beijing Olympics will be the least of an athlete's worries after they realize that consumers will refuse to buy products endorsed by Olympics gold medallists and all the other products sold by multinationals who choose to look the other way. You can pay us now or you can pay us later, but you will pay.
I'm not sure who coined this phrase, but I have a message for Olympics athletes and sponsors;
Never let your short term greed get in the way of your long term greed.
I'm disappointed that Olympics athletes have not spoken out more strenuously in support of human rights issues in Beijing and also in Vancouver regarding the homeless situation in our Downtown Eastside.
What are you thinking? Does the IOC have you so intimidated you've lost your moral compass, or is it just plain greed that causes you to look the other way? Please tell me it isn't greed.”
. . . end of excerpt
The solution is not to talk about it, or to protest, or to boycott Beijing or Vancouver.
The solution is to lobby Olympic athletes and corporate sponsors to make an ethical choice.
Ask them through their websites, and blogs like this, exactly where they stand regarding human rights issues respective of Olympic events, and if their answers do not reflect an ethical position, tell them you will quit buying their products – and do so. Plus, recommend to your family and friends around the world to do the same. Think local. Act global.
Would it be so hard to use MasterCard instead of Visa, or buy Pepsi instead of Coke, or drive a Ford instead of a GM product? Follow the money.
How valuable is an Olympic gold medal endorsement for an athlete when it is won on the back of an organ transplant victim or a mentally ill person living on the street in Vancouver?
All it will take is one Olympic athlete to take an ethical stand and the rest will follow.
All it will take is for one corporate Olympic sponsor to say enough is enough.
Who’s going to be the first hero?
Rona? Ross?
Time for talk is over. It’s time to do.
Quit looking the other way . . .