IN FORCE AS FROM 11 FEBRUARY 2012

#MEDIA2012 CHARTER

#media2012

www.media2012.org.uk

Published by #media2012 - February 2012

Creative Commons License. Attribution Share alike. For clarifications or correspondence, please contact the Chair of #media2012

Prof Andy Miah, at email@media2012.org.uk Printed in the UK

Introduction

The #media2012 Charter is the codification of the Fundamental Principles of #media2012, adopted by the #media2012 Family. It outlines the organisation, action and operation of the #media2012 Family and sets forth the aspirations for the reporting of the London Olympic & Paralympic Games by #media2012. #media2012 is an independent network claiming no official association with the International Olympic Committee, the International Paralympic Committee or their respective.

In essence, the #media2012 Charter serves three main purposes:

a) The #media2012 Charter, as a basic instrument of a constitutional nature, sets forth and recalls the Fundamental Principles and essential values of #media2012.

b) The #media2012 Charter also serves as statutes for the #media2012 Steering Committee.

c) In addition, the #media2012 Charter defines the main reciprocal rights and obligations of the main constituents of the #media2012 Family, namely the #media2012 Steering Committee, the Regional Hubs, International Partners and individual Reporters, all of which are required to kindly adopt the #media2012 Charter in their coverage of the London 2012 Games.

Note

In the #media2012 Charter, the female gender used in relation to any physical person shall, unless there is a specific provision to the contrary, be understood as including the masculine gender.

Unless expressly provided otherwise in writing, for the purpose of the #media2012 Charter, a year means a calendar year, beginning on 1 January and ending on 31 December.

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Preamble

#media2012 emerged from a grass roots movement, the members of which sought to reclaim ownership over the channels through which stories about the Olympic & Paralympic Games are told. Beginning at the Torino 2006 Olympic Winter Games, members of an international community held the first 'Olympics and Web 2.0' meeting at Canada Place. During the Beijing 2008 Games, presentations to the 9th Symposium of Olympic Research articulated the emerging role of citizen journalism at the Olympics.

In Vancouver 2010, a team of artists, curators and academics co-curated a programme of events, in conjunction with the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad North West and the Vancouver 2010 Cultural Olympiad project based at the W2 Community Media Centre, while also working with True North Media House to establish the first social media centres at the Games.

In 2010, this same collective assembled in Manchester for the Abandon Normal Devices festival, which co-produced the launch of #media2012 on 4 th October with support from the London 2012 Creative Programmers in the North West, South West and Scotland and Chaired by Andy Miah. The launch brought together key members from the national and international network including Ana Adi, John Coster, Scott Dougal, Emilio Fernandez Pena , Kiratiana Freelon, Beatriz Garcia, David Goldblatt, Gabrielle Jenks, Rasmus Johnsen, Jennifer Jones, Kris Krug, Debbi Lander, Andrew Lavaigne, David McGillivray, Dave Moutrey, Dave Olson, Kames O’Malley, Josi Paz, Gill Ridgely, Cathy Williams, and Alexander Zolotarev, among others.

The network's values and this Charter are based on the original position developed by Andy Miah titled the 'Media Blueprint for London 2012' (see Appendix). The proposal was presented to the IOC research committee in 2010 and received by LOCOG's Director of the Cultural Olympiad Ruth Mackenzie the same year. Beatriz Garcia also presented it to the International Olympic Committee the same year.

The vision behind each of these encounters was to champion citizen journalism at the Games, in order to create an alternative, transformative media channel.

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Fundamental Principles of #media2012

1. #media2012 is a philosophy of life, exalting and combining in holistic equilibrium the qualities of sharing media, supporting communities and fostering citizenship. Blending culture, politics and education, #media2012 seeks to create a way of life based on the joy of critique, the educational value of sharing media and respect for universal fundamental ethical principles.

2. Education, art and culture are the three pillars of #media2012 and all partnerships are formed on the basis of contributing to development in these areas.

3. The goal of #media2012 is to place citizen journalism and principles of open media at the service of the Olympic & Paralympic Movement, with a view to promoting an engaged and just society concerned with the promotion and preservation of inclusive, citizen-led Games.

4. The #media2012 Family is the concerted, organized, universal and permanent action, carried out under the supportive care of the #media2012 Steering Committee, of all individuals and entities who are inspired by #media2012. It aspires to engage all five continents. #media2012 reaches its peak with the bringing together of the world's citizen journalists at the great cultural festivals, the Olympic & Paralympic Games. Its symbol is an artwork titled the 'Underground Media Zone'.

5. The practice of social media is a human right, closely associated with freedom of speech. Every individual must have the possibility of practising social media, without discrimination of any kind and in the #media2012 spirit, which requires mutual understanding with a spirit of sharing, liking and attributing. The organisation, administration and management of social media content must not be controlled by private organisations.

6. Any form of discrimination with regard to a country or a person on grounds of race, religion, politics, gender or otherwise is incompatible with belonging to the #media2012 Family.

7. #media2012 is founded on the principles of trust and good faith. Belonging to the #media2012 Family requires observation of the #media2012 Charter values and recognition by the #media2012 Steering Committee.

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1 Composition and General Organisation of #media2012

1. Under the supportive guidance of the #media2012 Steering Committee, the #media2012 Family encompasses organisations, journalists and other persons who agree for their work to be informed by the #media2012 Charter. The goal of #media2012 is to contribute to building a better world by sharing media, practiced in accordance with #media2012 and its values.

2. The main constituents of the #media2012 Family are the #media2012 Steering Committee, the Regional Hubs, International Partners, and individual Reporters, all of which are required to kindly adopt the #media2012 Charter. Any person or organisation who associates themselves in any capacity whatsoever to the #media2012 Family is asked to uphold the provisions of the #media2012 Charter and to abide by the decisions of the #media2012 Steering Committee.

2 Mission and Role of the #media2012 Steering Committee.

The mission of the #media2012 Steering Committee is to promote citizen journalism at the Olympic & Paralympic Games and to lead the #media2012 Family. The Steering Committee's role is:

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1. to foster relations between citizen and professional journalists.

2. to encourage unaccredited reporters to consider which Olympic & Paralympic stories have yet to be told and which of them matter the most.

3. to encourage and support the promotion of ethics in citizen journalism as well as training in social media and to dedicate its efforts to ensuring that, in citizen journalism, concern for social justice and cultural identity prevails.

4. to encourage and support the organisation, development and coordination of #media2012 activities.

5. to work with subsequent host city communities to grow the participation of citizen journalists at the Olympic & Paralympic Games.

6. to cooperate with the competent public or private organisations and authorities in the endeavour to place citizen journalism at the service of the Olympic & Paralympic movements and thereby to promote citizenship and justice.

7. to take action in order to strengthen the unity and to protect the independence of the #media2012 Family.

8. to act against any form of discrimination affecting the #media2012 Family.

9. to encourage and support the promotion of gender equality in citizen journalism.

10. to lead the fight against unethical practice in social media.

11. to encourage and support measures protecting the virtual identities of citizen journalists.

12. to oppose any political or commercial abuse of citizen journalists.

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13. to encourage and support the efforts of #media2012 associates and organizations, to provide for the social and professional future of citizen journalists.

14. to encourage and support the development of Olympic & Paralympic citizen journalism in future Games sites.

3 Recognition by #media2012

At #media2012, we recognize that we do not own your content and can take neither responsibility nor credit for what you have produced. However, we want to share and promote your activity, in order to foster the values we hold. To assist us in doing so, we ask you to work with us in making the process a little easier.

1. The primary conditions for belonging to #media2012 are tagging your content with #media2012, identification within the #media2012 digital presence, and support for the #media2012 Charter.

2. Place a visual tag on your website to identify your support for and affiliation to #media2012. We have a number of graphics that you can use, all of which use the art work titled 'the Underground Media Zone' It is an image that draws on Olympic iconography, but which adapts in such a way as for it to become a work of art in its own right. In this respect, we assert that the #media2012 symbol is not a brand, nor a logo or emblem. It is an artwork that symbolizes the #media2012 values.

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3. Recognition by the #media2012 Steering Committee may be provisional or full on an individual, institution or project basis. Provisional recognition, or its withdrawal, is decided by the #media2012 Steering Committee for a specific or an indefinite period. The #media2012 Steering Committee may determine the conditions according to which provisional recognition may lapse. Full recognition, or its withdrawal, is decided in consultation with the #media2012 Steering Committee with final decision by the Chair of #media2012.

4 #media2012 Congress

1. The #media2012 Congress gathers representatives of the constituents of the #media2012 Family at intervals determined by the #media2012 Steering Committee; it is convened by the #media2012 Chair; its role is to share upcoming activity and foster best practice. Regional and International meetings and updates will support the work of the Congress a schedule of which is found on the website.

2. A full schedule of events and Games time activity will be posted on the #media2012 website and in the collaborative #media2012 Google Calendar. If you are running a programme of events linked to #media2012, then we will give you authorship rights.

5 #media2012 Solidarity

1. The aim of #media2012 Solidarity is to promote the sharing of resources and expertise across regional and international hubs, in particular towards those which have the greatest need of it. This assistance takes the form of sharing technology, design expertise, technical knowledge and methods of best practice elaborated jointly by leaders within the regional hub projects.

2. We encourage associates to connect with other hubs in order to work together.

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6 The Olympic & Paralympic Games

The Olympic & Paralympic Games are global media festivals comprising people from all walks of life. They bring together athletes, children, journalists, artists, activists, sports fans, dignitaries, politicians, educators, creative professionals, and more. During the London 2012 Games, the #media2012 Steering Committee invites Family members to work together by undertaking the following:

1. selectively tag your content with #media2012.

2. change your Twitter account icon and Facebook image to the #media2012 art work during the Games. Alternatively, include the #media2012 symbol as a Twibbon and include the hashtag #media2012 in your profile.

3. include the #media2012 symbol and website link on your website and other digital assets (http://www.media2012.org.uk).

4. appoint a #media2012 Sub-Editor who will work with our central identity to share content.

5. share content on our preferred platforms listed in Section 4.

6. endeavour to curate part of your programme in a way that involves another region.

7. attend a #media2012 gathering during Games time in London.

8. attach a creative commons license to their media content to promote sharing and free, non-commercial use.

We understand you have your brand to protect, but the collective identity during Games time may strengthen yours and help us collaborate. #media2012 is not a brand, but is a set of values we hope you can share. Changing your icon during the Games means substituting a brand for an art work

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7 Rights over the #media2012 properties

1. #media2012 asserts no rights to content produced by its Family. All rights and data relating thereto, in particular, and without limitation, all rights relating to their organisation, exploitation, broadcasting, recording, representation, reproduction, access and dissemination in any form and by any means or mechanism whatsoever, whether now existing or developed in the future shall be the privilege of the creators themselves.

2. The #media2012 Steering Committee shall work with partners to promote the sharing of access to and the conditions of any use of data relating to the Games.

3. The #media2012 symbol, designations, emblems, shall be collectively or individually referred to as “#media2012 properties”. All rights to any and all #media2012 properties, as well as all rights to the use thereof, are shared freely with the #media2012 Family.

4. The #media2012 Steering Committee has no intention of licensing or commercializing any part of this identity, though its environments will be subject to the commercializiation wrought by content hosts.

5. We believe that you should host your own content, but please ensure your content can be downloaded, so that we can create an archive of work.

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8 The #media2012 Symbol

1. The #media2012 symbol consists of five inter-connected semi-circles of equal dimensions creating one single whole (the #media2012 hub) all in black with 'underground' train lines emerging from each one, which are, from left to right, blue, yellow, black, green and red. The partial circles are interlaced from left to right; with three situated at the top and two at the bottom.

2. The #media2012 symbol expresses the activity of the #media2012 Family and represents the union of the UK regions, connecting out towards other nations and the meeting of citizen journalists from throughout the world at the Games.

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1 Composition of #media2012

1. The #media2012 Steering Committee is constituted by association. Nominations or self-nominations are received at any time and are accepted on the basis of contribution to a regional network, in discussion with the #media2012 Steering Committee.

2. The #media2012 Steering Committee operates on a volunteer basis, comprised principally of regional leads, #media2012 advocates and International members.

3. Regional and International hubs are designed to marry educational and cultural institutions, drawing heavily on expertise within media production to achieve a synergy between learning and cultural exchange.

4. Each regional hub has a designated lead, the name of which is indicated on the #media2012 website. For participation within a specific hub, please contact the person directly.

5. #media2012 will also receive submissions from independent individuals who seek to contribute content to the #media2012 presence.

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2 Accreditation with #media2012

1. Prior to the Olympic & Paralympic Games, blank template accreditations will be located on the #media2012 website for you to download, print and laminate. Please follow the precise instructions to ensure continuity of design.

2. You are requested to hang the accreditation around your neck when acting in an official capacity and to identify yourself as a #media2012 reporter when asked.

3 Collaboration with Future Games

1. #media2012 recognizes that social media must have a physical as well as a virtual dimension to flourish and, in so doing, works with local citizen journalism leaders within future Games destinations to build the network and share experiences and expertise.

2. Regional and International hubs are asked to consider strategic partnerships within the direction of future Games hosts, with a view to building shared opportunities across the network.

3. The #media2012 Steering Committee will operate from one Games to the next constituting a foundational international network working under the auspices of the #media2012 Charter.

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1. KNOW THE LAW. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has legal right over commercializing Olympic property, as does the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) for Paralympic content. Make sure you know the law in your country and the country where you are uploading the content.

2. ASSUME RESPONSIBILITY. As producers of your own content, it is crucial that you adhere to the same kind of standards of truth and honesty of any professional journalist. Ensure first hand knowledge or attribute your source when relying on second hand insights and correct errors promptly.

3. RESPECT the people within the stories you produce, giving them fair chance to explain their point of view and opportunity to feedback.

4. BE CONSIDERATE. When using the #media2012 tag, please ensure that the content is likely to be relevant to the community.

5. REMAIN OPEN AND FREE. Please do not create gated communities to your content by asking others to register with your site. We suggest subscription instead.

6. SHARE AND SHARE ALIKE We want you to take ownership for your work and assert your rights, but please do so in a way that allows others to share it on your behalf to promote your work. This should include permitting downloads.

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7. PLAY NICE. Keep your content free from aggressive or hateful remarks.

8. PROTECT YOUR MEMBERS. If you are in a leadership role, try to ensure your community reporters are ready for the environments where they are sent.

9. ATTRIBUTE CONTENT. If you utilize the content of others, do so in a way that does not infringe their rights by respecting their license and conveying the attribution as requested by the originator.

10. USE A CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSE, but ensure you select the level of license you prefer. If you want to avoid any commercial use of your work, then say so by choosing the relevant CC license.

11. BE CRITICAL. As a #media2012 reporter, you have the opportunity to shine a light on alternative issues surrounding the Olympics & Paralympics, which the accredited media will not cover. Consider this unique position when selecting stories to cover and issues to highlight. Being critical is not synonymous with being negative.

12. BE ACCESSIBLE. We understand that it is not always possible to ensure accessibility across everything we do, but try to promote accessibility by upholding W3C principles in your digital content.

Note

The IOC relies on protecting the rights to the moving image of Olympic competitions within Olympic venues. This means that #media2012 Family cannot publish any moving image of Olympic competitions on the internet or any other medium (but you can photograph for non-commercial use). In previous Games, the IOC has employed organizations to track content on major platforms and initiate legal proceedings if any breech is deemed to be significant. However, still photography of sports is permitted, providing it is not commercialized.

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1 Principal #media2012 environments

1. Website: http://www.media2012.org.uk

2. Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/media_2012

3. Facebook: http://facebook.com/hashmedia2012

4. Flickr pool (photos): http://www.flickr.com/groups/media2012

5. YouTube (video): http://www.youtube.com/media2012x

6. Bambuser (livestream): http://www.bambuser.com/channel/media2012

7. Email List: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/media2012

2 General Recommendations

Where possible, #media2012 prefers to embed your content, rather than re-post it. This is better for you, #media2012, and the Internet. To help this process, please adhere to the following guidelines. We understand it is not always possible to do this.

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1. If you are running a #media2012 event, please ensure somebody is there to document it using photo, video and text.

2. Please ensure you are running your activity from a platform that has an RSS feed and tell us what it is.

3. To share your content with the wider #media2012 network, you can post directly to the #media2012 website. Simply email your content to the following address: blog@media2012.org.uk Include all text and images within the message body our post will be verified by a Sub-Editor and published as soon as possible.

4. We will also republish multimedia sent through Twitter within our multiple environments.

3 Specific Recommendations

1. Video. Preferred platform: YouTube, Preferred format: HD 720, max 10min clips

2. Photography: Preferred Platform: Flickr – please add your photographs to the #media2012 pool Preferred Format: jpg.

3. Text: Preferred Platforms: Any format, Twitter, Facebook

4. LiveBroadcast: There is no single platform we prefer to use for this, but try to make sure whether you use audio or video livestreaming that you can record it for later sharing.

4 Content Workflow

Video

1. If you are able to edit your video, please, include a #media2012 still frame within the

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front end of the video, along with the #media2012. Remember, you can undertake editing of your video within YouTube, which allows you to change lighting, stabilize picture and so on. This may help you produce a more professional piece of work.

2. There are two ways to associate video with #media2012, both are reliant on YouTube, our preferred location. If you have appointed a sub-editor, he/she can give you the secret email address, which will allow you to email videos direct to our Channel. Otherwise, please upload your videos to your own YouTube channel tagging content with #media2012. Afterwards, you can post the video direct to the #media2012 website by emailing to blog@media2012.org.uk with the URL of your video in the subject body, or editors will add your video to the #media2012 official playlist. Please do not prevent your video from being downloaded, in order to promote sharing.

Photography

1. Our preferred photo environment is Flickr, a social media platform, which allows people to collaboratively share images. To do so, simply upload your photographs to your Flickr account tagging content with #media2012 – then you can add your photographs to the #media2012 pool (url above).

2. For photographs from mobile devices, we recommend using a Flickr app, but we will try to capture content from other devices if you tag it correctly.

Text

1. To post entries to the #media2012 central website, there are two methods. If you are part of a project, we recommend you appoint an Editor for your project whom will be given authorship rights within the #media2012 website.

2. Otherwise, if you are an individual, simply send the content of your post in an email to blog@media2012.org.uk include your region as a tag in the subject eg. #northwest – This will auto post it to our #media2012 holding space. Editors will then verify the content and will publish it direct to the central #media2012 website using any images you have associated with your post.

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3. For Twitter, include #media2012 in your tweet and we will re-tweet. When tagging work, please also use your regional tag eg. #northwest to help demarcate content. If you are working as a sub-editor for your organization, please also use the Categories and Tags field within Wordpress.

5 Artwork and Templates

1. #media2012 art work – Various versions of the #media2012 symbol will be located on the primary website for your download and can be cropped for your needs. Please maintain the same aspect ratio when cropping.

6 Tagging Content

1. #media2012 is an attempt to create a collaborative, curated archive of what takes place around Games time. To help us organize content, please consider how you tag your work. Find below a list of suggested tags in addition to #media2012:

a. cultural olympiad

b. torch relay

c. region eg. London, NorthWest

d. sport

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1 Context

1.1 In 2009, the IOC indicated its intention to develop a new strategy for its role in a time of radical media change. London 2012 will be the first Summer Games to be informed by this new approach to promoting the value of social media

1.2 London 2012 coincides with the scheduled targets set by the Digital Britain report & Race Online 2012, indicating a new era of potential media engagement and the end to the digital divide. This provides an opportunity to re-think the new media infrastructure within the United Kingdom.

1.3 The Games are the largest media event in the world, with broadcasters covering over 200 countries happens. These broadcasters now include YouTube.

1.4 The Games should be thought of as media festivals rather than media events, where the media are enabled to report much more than just the sports competition. The Cultural Olympiad should be at the heart of this festival of ideas.

1.5 Olympic & Paralympic media centres must shift from being spaces of information and mediation, to become factories for creativity, collaboration, and engagement, which can amplify the Olympic mission.

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1.6 The London 2012 Media Landscape will include 13,000 broadcast journalists, 7,000 print journalists, who will cover sport. There will be an additional 12,000+ non-accredited professional journalists who will want cover all non-sport content. However, the largest population of reporters will be citizens, not just 60,000,000 people wanting to shoot footage, report and upload content to the web, but organized communities of self-designated citizen reporters who want to organize their Olympic & Paralympic content.

1.7 If the IOC can expand media participation without jeopardizing its financial base, then it can more adequately fulfil its role as a progressive social movement.

1.8 Olympic cybercitizens are already taking ownership of reporting the Games and they will create a structure for their participation in 2012.

1.9 In this context, the London 2012 Games can be a moment for realizing a new media legacy for the United Kingdom, built on the idea of citizen media reporting and the recognition that the Games are more than just sports competitions. They are social movements with high humanitarian and cultural aspirations.

1.10 To achieve a broader media participatory culture, it is necessary to develop an extended media network for Games time reporting, which builds on the strategic development of non-accredited media centres at previous Games, linking them to citizen media projects.

1.11 Such a network would be founded on principles of ‘open media’ to facilitate community legacies and build stories about London, the Nations and the Regions that reach an international audience. It will focus on reporting all non-sporting legacy stories, locating culture and art at the heart of its practice. Its work will transcend national boundaries in ways that no other Games has achieved before, by promoting peer-to-peer conversations.

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2 A Nationwide Independent Media Backbone

2.1 Reaching out to all regions in the UK and internationally - starting with hubs in Scotland, the North West and the South West of England, #media2012 will work for the critical mass of citizen journalists around the country.

2.2 This apolitical dream space will bring into force the full commitment of Olympic aspirations, to promote social change for the good of humanity. These values accord with the philosophy of Olympism.

2.3 Funding is in place to develop the initial scoping for these infrastructures, by identifying partners and commitments from institutions who would host and stage reporters. Principally, this will involve staging an event for potential partners and contributors at the Abandon Normal Devices digital media Festival on October 4, 2010.

2.4 We will focus discussions on operational challenges, collaboration logistics and infrastructure aiming to bring representation from the IOC and LOCOG and the potential UK partners.

2.5 The journalists who work in #media2012 centres should have a local commitment, but global aspirations. Transcending national boundaries is the biggest task. We’re not yet global, despite our achievements in digital culture.

3 Goals

3.1 Augment the Olympic media narrative towards portraying broader dimensions of the philosophy of Olympism.

3.2 Create public engagement around Games time.

3.3 Promote community legacy for the nations and regions.

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3.4 Develop an ‘open media’ policy to the Games.

4 Discovery Led

4.1 The centres will function as real-time experiments, providing focal points for understanding the social media community and its interface with mass media.

4.2 Coming to terms with the politics of the citizen journalist will greatly assist future event hosts, like Glasgow 2014, Sochi 2014, Rio 2016 and World Cup 2018.

4.3 The International Olympic Committee can focus its conversation with citizen media around these hubs.

5 Values

5.1 Through the Olympic & Paralympic Games, we want to create space for intercultural dialogue and collaboration.

5.2 We value the Olympiad as a time to address issues of critical social importance for Britain.

5.3 We will support communities to tell their Olympic & Paralympic stories and work with professional journalists to meet their needs.

5.4 We want to expand media privileges to concerned citizens.

5.5 We promote responsible and fair journalism in an open media culture, where content is shared and power distributed.

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5.6 We will respect the right of groups to express their political views and support different voices in being heard

6 Need

6.1 The Olympic & Paralympic media are focused on sports almost exclusively during Games time, but this can and should encompass broader legacy stories.

6.2 Digital media has given rise to a proliferation of citizen journalists who want to report the Games.

6.3 Legacies for the Nations and Regions, along with London’s story need other media centres to have space to explain what the Games have meant to them.

6.4 These centres raise a number of questions. Who should fund them? How should they relate to the Olympic & Paralympic infrastructure more broadly? Can they even exist given their desire to build into the intellectual property of the Olympic & Paralympic Games?”

7 How this fits with the nations’ aspirations for London 2012

7.1 The bid promise from London 2012 was to create a national Games, but we would be the only media centres to tell those stories.

7.2 We celebrate Olympic & Paralympic values by promoting the broad ideology of the Olympic & Paralympic Games as a social movement.

7.3 We are a not-for-profit infrastructure, fostering educational practice and public engagement with the Games.

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7.4 Through our network, we will constitute the largest network of social media producers throughout the UK and reinvigorate the core media partners of the Games.

7.5 Our content will reach international networks that other media will not reach.

7.6 Our journalists will produce the largest volume of Olympic content and influence trending topics on social media platform, crating the largest Olympic and Paralympic archive of any Games.

8 Why accredited Olympic media will need us

8.1 Media organizations in the UK will traverse the country around Games time, requiring facilities and stories we can provide, particularly around the torch relay.

8.2 To fully report on the London 2012 Games, it will be necessary to see what is happening in the Nations and Regions.

8.3 The Olympic Games is a social movement, not a sporting event. What happens in the country will become its central legacy

8.3.1 CASE STUDY: For example, NBC is setting up a media space around Birmingham City University, as the USA team will be based here. The local community media can interface with this. As well, the CitizensEye in Leicester will create a community media centre that will operate around Games time. Team GB will be in Loughborough. Creating an infrastructure to bring about media change could markedly change how the Olympics works

8.4 While the proposal should aspire to build a network that includes all nations and regions, it will be useful to begin with a hub of centres based on known interests.

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8.5 These centres will draw stories from each other to communicate what has been happening and what is happening during Games time. However, events should also build on global networks, particularly previous Games experience to develop the idea of a cultural legacy that extends beyond London. Satellite centres will provide programmatic content during the Games.

9 What was achieved at previous Games: Vancouver 2010

9.1 True North Media house accredits a 5 yr old as a journalist and an Olympic mascot.

9.2 W2 is the first independent media centre to work with an Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games.

9.3 VANOC appoints a number of young people to be its official citizen journalism team during the Games

10 What will these media hubs look like?

10.1 The influence of any specific media centre will be restricted by its funding, its technology and its community, but primarily the latter. Hub centres can be high-tech facilities with large venue space, but all should aspire to similar networked facilities to maximize participation. We all should be able to plug into each others’ space at any time to deliver audio, visual and interaction.

10.2 Imagine High technology facilities Networked Infrastructure Community Generated Content International Media Attention Lasting Media Legacy

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11 Opportunity

11.1 As part of the initial scoping, we will identify primary partner vehicles, which may be digital media centres around the UK that could have the capacity to deliver a media centre during Games time. However, communities should also be evaluated on their networked potential ie. How prolific are they online. Amplifying their content will be our biggest asset to achieve our goals.

11.2 With 2 years before the Games, this is the time to establish permissions and funding. However, this is still a relatively short amount of time to build partnerships with larger organizations, those who may decide to allocate their programme budget to such a project. This may be the primary route towards ensuring the proposal is realized.

In closing, this proposal brings together the primary instigators of independent Olympic & Paralympic media centres and creative, artistic practice from the last 10 years of the Olympic & Paralympic Games. With the right support, it has the potential to tell the full story of the London 2012 Games

Note

The Media Blueprint was written by Professor Andy Miah, Chair of #media2012 and Director of the Creative Futures Research Centre and Chair of Ethics and Emerging Technologies at the University of the West of Scotland. Professor Miah is author of 'the Olympics: the basics' (2012, Routledge), an Olympic scholar and writer, having undertaken research into Olympic media at every summer and winter Olympic Games since Sydney 2000, at which he has also worked as a journalist. He has been a visiting Professor at the International Olympic Academy, a Visiting Scholar at the International Olympic Committee museum in Lausanne and teaches Olympic Studies at the University of the West of Scotland, supervising PhD students whose work focuses on Olympic media.

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#media2012the Olympic & Paralympic citizen newswire

“Curating a social media legacy for the London 2012 Olympic & Paralympic Games”

YOUR #MEDIA2012 ACCREDITATION IS PRINTED ON THE BACK COVER OF THE CHARTER.

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ALTERNATIVELY, YOU CAN FIND THE GRAPHICS ONLINE AT

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