Location
The Olympic games is one of the largest media events in the world, attracting journalists and broadcasters from around the globe. This year, Vancouver is at the heart of this attention, and Fresh Media along with W2 Culture and Media House are taking a look at how today's social media platforms are transforming the Olympic story as an alternative to commercial media. What are the differences between how citizen journalists utilize social media to cover the games and the way corporate media broadcast the stories? What opportunities do social media formats open up for representing the diversity and complexity of the games? What challenges to unaccredited and citizen journalists still face when covering the Olympics? How do we write personal stories into a huge global event where the individual voice can easily get lost in the crowd?
The conference features a keynote from Andy Miah, author of ‘Genetically Modified Athletes' (2004) and ‘A Digital Olympics: Digital Games, Ethics & Cultures' (The MIT Press, 2010), and panels with senior journalists and industry watchers from the USA, UK, Canada and elsewhere. An afternoon unconference program provides open space for participant led-workshops with an added emphasis on practice and a summary of the first Olympic week. The conference also brings people face-to-face for networking and sharing tips on theory, practice, legal and operations. W2 will webstream to reach viewers outside Vancouver. The day wraps with a Cinq à Sept reception and evening party with Vancouver artists and DJs.
