Social Media and the Olympic Games: Embedded in Vancouver

PhD Candidate: Jennifer Jones | Supervisor: Professor Andy Miah

School of Creative and Cultural Industries, University of the West of Scotland
email@jennifermjones.net | @caffeinebomb | http://www.jennifermjones.net

Introduction Media Centres in Action Methods for Analysis

This poster reflects the initial context and
the explorative findings collected during the
Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games
where the researcher was embedded as a
working journalist from the 1 st of February
to the 7 th of March, 2010.
Historically, the production and distribution
From the initial data collection through ethnography,
of Games related media content is
a mixed method approach will be used to assess the
restricted to those media organizations who
impact of the information created and distributed by
have paid the International Olympic
the known media groups. The networks emerged from
Committee (IOC) for the exclusive rights to
four key organisations:
broadcast and report Olympic Games content. This is referred
to as Accredited Media. •The Vancouver Organising Committee (VANOC) Accredited.

Internet/Media •The British Columbia Media Centre Non-Accredited.

Non-Accredited
Transformations •W2 Arts and Culture House Independent.

•True North Media House Self-accredited, Online-only.

There has been vast transformations
in both the way we consume media
and use communication technologies
such as the Internet and mobile phones.
These changes allow media audiences to become part of the
process of media production, giving rise to a new power
relationship between audiences, broadcasters and journalists.
The Olympic Context
Since the Sydney 2000 Games, there has
been an emergence of non-accredited
media centres. These are arranged by
the host city to cater for and provide
facilities international journalists who may
not have media rights to the Games. They also provide access
to information, which is not related to Olympic sport, but the
broader festival at large.
Independent
Vancouver 2010 was the first Olympiad to have
•Through the examination of archived media (articles, online
material, videos, photographs and other web content) produced
and shared through each network, and the use of innovative
network graphs to track public communication, the research will
conclude with semi-structured interviews with key group figures.
Towards 2012:
Vancouver 2010 was described to “The
Twitter Olympics” in reference to the influx of
content generated by those who use online
platforms to share immediate information.

- The Olympic Games are one of the a substantial and independent social media The IOC are keen to embrace the

most watched mega sporting event in presence. There was an increased focus on digital revolution and are looking at

the world. digital content generated and distributed by ways to harness content and platforms

- 4 year Olympiad provides the interface of informal networks of creative for accredited media.

grounding for assessing workers and activists from within the host city, some Furthermore, the London 2012 Games coincide with government
advancements in without a physical base and communications conducted proposals to support a digital economy in Great Britain. Both will
emerging technologies. via online platforms. have an influence in how citizen media is created and understood.
- Conflicting messages.