Points for Participation?

Into the thick of the Olympic sporting competition, Canada is rolling in a litany of 5th, 6th, 7th places ... but with track and field, rowing finals and trampolining yet to come, the Canucks still have a chance to visit the podium.

As Tod Maffin twitter'ed: "Maybe Beijing will at least give us a courtesy Participaction pin?(Dont understand this? Ask a Canadian over 30.)" (ed note: or view this Participaction toque).

In the social media production department, Scales continues to create video at an epic pace despite losing his co-hort Kris who was repatriated to Vancouver in time for a glorious summer weekend. Scales is staying busy by picking up more tickets for varied events at the incredible new venues including the whitewater kayak run (plus visits to the Danish hospitality house).

I'm heading to the hills with tent and beverages so here's a few highlights to enjoy with your weekend viewing:

Meet the Candidates!

Rolling along with the SXSW Get the Vote Out campaign, heeerrrre's Robert Scales.

Robert Scales is the CEO and Founder of Raincity Studios, a consummate biz-ness-man and an international man of "open everything" evangelism.

A multi-year veteran of SXSW, he is pitching two panels for Interactive 2009 covering some of his dearest subjects: Drupal, Social Media, China and the Olympics.

For your Consideration:

1) Using Drupal to Manage, Publish, and Promote Your Content - Robert Scales + a collection of Drupalista panelists

Drupal is a fast-growing content management system built by a loose knit community committed to making a highly usable and infinitely extendable publishing platform ideal for individuals to enterprises. Learn how to use Drupal to organize content, publicize your message, and activate your audience.

2) Social Media and the Olympics - Robert Scales + panelists

Coverage of the Olympic Games is dominated by IOC's contracted rights-holder and accredited major media conglomerates however some feel there is a role for grassroots documentation of both sporting events and the cultural context. The related conundrums are discussed by social media makers who covered several Olympics Games.

In this installment of the Beijing Summer Olympics social media report, we join Robert Scales and Kris Krug as they spread their on-the-ground reportage around the world. Indeed, their barrage of videos, photographs and words are deepening the coverage for fans, pundits and athletes' families as their coverage is picked up by social and mainstream media outlets.

Coverage Highlights

BBC's Canadien Correspondent

Robert Scales' second entry from his Olympic diary is up on BBC - this time he talks about the opening ceremonies (video) and their venue reconnaissance (video) with visits to the Birds Nest' national stadium, the 'Water Cube' aquatic centre, the fencing hall and the Yukeson basketball stadium while fortified by snake, silk worms, scorpian and salamanders (videos).

Beijing's Faces in LA Times

Krug's Olympic photos are in the LATimes blog with a photo essay called the Faces of Beijing - the candid photos show KK's skill of relaxing the subject to be themselves - you can almost feel the humidity in the photos.

Time for Voting!

The crowd-sourcing portion of the panel-selection for SXSW Interactive 2009 (scheduled March 13-17, 2009 in Austin, Texas) is underway.

The SXSW online panel picker is open for voting and commenting and you are invited (indeed encouraged) to sign-up (you know the drill) and vote for your the panels you think are most useful.

You don't have to be an attendee or planning to attend to vote - just be someone who's you know, interested. Questions about all this SXSW panel stuff? Check the SXSW Panel FAQ.

Stepping up

As the risk of shameless promotion, the topics listed here all seek to deliver solid practical skills along with discourse on the fundamental issues and the details.

If you have questions/comments/curiosities about the pitches, please consider leaving a comment on the SXSW panel picker - sure it takes an extra few moments but will help the selected panelists hone their messages if they are indeed picked. Also offering props publicly helps spread the voting goodness.

Do you have an awesome panel in the mix? Drop a comment and let's get the vote out!

Cross-posted from: BBC Sport | Olympics | Beijing Diaries

Background: Raincity Studios CEO/Founder Robert Scales and Pres/Ambassador Kris Krug are on the ground in Beijing to document and study the 2008 edition of the Olympic Games. They are publishing dispatches to a variety of news outlets including the venerable BBC. Here's Scales' first installment of his Olympic diary.

ROBERT SCALES, MONTREAL, CANADA

Robert runs a web development company based in Canada