NeuroArts

Taking place from 10-11 February, 2011 at University of Plymouth. I will be speaking on 'Neuroethics and the Posthuman Mind'

Wikileaks was a MMORG (2010)

RE:WIRED, Journalism conference, Microsoft, December, 2010.

A, B, C of Staging Your Event for YouTube

I've been to so many conferences where they've spent money on appointing someone to film the event, but where that person neither has the equipment nor knowledge to film it adequately for broadcast. Often, it is the person's first time. It's frustrating, as it means there are lots of films out there that could have been much more engaging and valuable as an archive, than they are.

So, here's a brief guide for a single camera shoot with no tech support.

A. Put your camera in the right place.

Usually, speakers are to the front and side of the screen. If you can move the podium to suit your purposes, then set it up this way - although you do get some nice still photography if the projector light shines on the speakers face.Your camera should be near to the speaker, pointing at an angle through them with the screen as the backdrop. Don't worry if you crop the edges of the screen, that's ok and better than taking such a wide angle that you can't see the speakers eyes. If you dont have an external mic, this is especially importance. If you have editing resources, shoot straight at the speaker, forget the screen and splice it in from the actual digital presentation file later. Let your speaker know that you are filming with a fixed camera and that it would be better if they didn't wander too far from the podium.

B. Get the lighting right

Lighting is often difficult, as many spaces are not build for amateur shoots of lectures. As well, lighting performs different functions, such as illuminating the audience so they can take notes, or the speaker so they can be seen. Some speakers  - like me - prefer the room to be darker, so the screen is well lit. This is particularly necessary in rooms with too much ambient lighting. In this case, a small spotlight - a table lamp even - can be located in front of the speaker to illuminate them for film. The light should point down andin the opposite direction to the screen and should be low wattage so as to not create too much ambient lighting. When you arrive at the venue, work out which light switches turn on/off which lights. sounds simple, but how often have i seen people fumbling at light switches when a speaker requests that they change the lighting. Also check your camera for different light qualities. Equally, if the room has too many windows, try to close blinds and curtains before delegates arrive.

C. Film quality

Film it in the highest definition you have and upload it in the highest version. Users can choose to view a lower quality file, if they wish. Make sure your memory and battery last long enough for the whole performance.

I'm sure there will be other tips, so please comment if I've missed something essential.

iPhotoD

This week, I created a space for my photographs. I will be doing more here, so tune in and I will try to make it worth your while.

Seeking Perfection

On Tuesday 26th, I gave an opening address to the Seeking Perfection event hosted by #msf2010 and co-funded by Wellcome and Nowgen. The evening was spent hearing from speakers about ways of altering humanity, along with a performance piece from young people, dramatizing the possible future where human enhancement is part of our culture in a more significant way. Here are some photographs from the event, along with my slides.

[slideshare id=5609909&doc=miah2010manscifest-101029104522-phpapp01 600 400]

Spaces for Consumption

Prof Steven Miles at the University of Brighton (formerly @ Liverpool) just published his excellent new book on cities. It has some particularly good photography in it from yours truly, notably what you see below. Go out and purchase:

Beijing Airport New Terminal by Normal Foster 2008

MTV European Music Awards Liverpool 2008

Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles 2008

Met Quarter, Liverpool, 2008

Coca Cola Sponsor Venue, Beijing 2008, Olympic Green, 2008

Paris in Las Vegas, 2006

The DREAM Gene

Miah, A. (2010) The DREAM Gene for the Posthuman Athlete: Reducing Exercise-Induced Pain Sensations Using Gene Transfer. In Sands, R.R. & Sands, L. The Anthropology of Sport and Human Movement: A Bicultural Perspective, Lexington Books, Lanham, Maryland, pp.327-341.

Here's the book's blurb:

The evolution of the human species has always been closely tied to the relationship between biology and culture, and the human condition is rooted in this fascinating intersection. Sport, games, and competition serve as a nexus for humanity's innate fixation on movement and social activity, and these activities have served throughout history to encourage the proliferation of human culture for any number of exclusive or inclusive motivations: money, fame, health, spirituality, or social and cultural solidarity. The study of anthropology, as presented in Anthropology of Sport and Human Movement, provides a scope that offers a critical and discerning perspective on the complex calculus involving human biological and cultural variation that produces human movement and performance. Each chapter of this compelling collection resonates with the theme of a tightly woven relationship of biology and culture, of evolutionary implications and contemporary biological and cultural expression.

and my abstract:

Downstream Regulatory Element Antagonistic Modulator, or DREAM for short, is a protein critical to pain sensations experienced by organisms. Recent research has suggested that this genetic origin to pain might be possible to exploit for the purpose of pain management (Cheng et al., 2002; Cheng and Penninger, 2003). This paper discusses the ethical implications of DREAM for sport to advance the debate on what constitutes a legitimate method of performance modification. Initially, it is argued that DREAM presents a more complex problem for anti-doping authorities than other methods of gene doping, since it cannot easily be characterized as enhancing or therapeutic. Indeed, the basis of this distinction is criticized by exploring a biocultural definition of health. On this model, which seems unlikely to be endorsed by anti-doping authorities, but, nevertheless, which is perpetuated by sport physicians, the use of DREAM would seem more difficult to prohibit on medical grounds. Its use is consistent with a medical desire to alleviate suffering, even where it is self-induced. A similar dichotomy exists when discussing the relevance of pain from a sporting perspective. While one might presume that the ethics of sport is such that any legal mechanism to improve performance is desirable for an athlete, pain tolerance appears to have a symbolic value that would undermine the usefulness of DREAM. This tension demonstrates greater complexity to the debate about the role of technology in sport and its ideological connotations about what it means to be an athlete.

Abandon Normal Devices 2010

From 1-7 October, I'll be working on the #ANDfest programme in Manchester, chairing a series of Salons, the #media2012. Take a peek at the AND festival programme here

Here's where you can definitely find me during the festival....

Oct 2 -The Science of Ambiguity Sat 02 Oct 12:00 – 14:00 (International Anthony Burgess Foundation) In recent years, trust in science has come under scrutiny through controversies surrounding climate change, stem cell research and environmental disasters. Is the loss of public trust in science symptomatic of a broader collapse in belief across society? As the long term implications of new technology become harder to fathom, trust becomes increasingly necessary. This Salon focuses on systems of ambiguous truths and strategies of resistance, where scepticism and cynicism become normal expectations and 24-hour news and political spin shape public opinion.

Oct 4 - #media2012 Cornerhouse, Mon 04 Oct 10:00 – 17:00 and screening This is first public presentation of the Media Blueprint for London 2012, an independent proposal, written by Professor Andy Miah, to create a UK wide Underground Media Zone during the London 2012 Games. Drawing citizen journalists and official Olympic media from the Olympic Games of Beijing, Vancouver, London, Sochi and Rio. Together with expertise in new and social media from around the UK, discussions will focus on opportunities, strategy and vision, to create a new media legacy for the Games and engage UK networks to discuss prospects within the context of an increasingly Digital Britain. This network will not focus on sport, instead, it will tell the cultural legacy of citizens engaged by London 2012, from the regions and the nations. Speakers will include London 2012 Creative Programmers, Debbi Lander and Richard Crowe, social media experts Kris Krug, Alexander Zolotarev, and Josi Paz, and London 2012 Cultural Olympiad Director Ruth Mackenzie. The event will focus attention on strategy and collaboration, building a mainline media network from North to South in the UK. This full day will include an unconference style presentation format for interested parties to present. To register, email hello@andfestival.org.uk

Oct 5 - Identity Shopping Tue 05 Oct 12:00 – 14:00 (International Anthony Burgess Foundation) Identity transplants and biometric chips are extending our identities beyond traditional forms of data surveillance. As they are gradually being woven into our biology how does this affect our behaviour in the real world? Has our obsession with human identity become more important, as we define our uniqueness via biological modifications and digital avatars? World leading bioethicist Professor John Harris debates how identity is mutating on an evolutionary scale and artist Heath Bunting introduces his ambitious project to create a new identity, lawfully creating ‘off-the-shelf’ persons for sale, building a bridge between the biological and the digital.

Oct 6 - It's Sapiens to Be Homo International Anthony Burgess Foundation, 3 Cambridge Street, Manchester, M1 5 B12:00 - 14:00 How are gender and sexuality inscribed by social and cultural norms? How has taboo changed for the booming net-porn generation and what role does digital fantasy now have in subcultures of role reversal and experimentation? From heady bloggers to drag queens, the fetishisation of code - be that digital or fashion - has entered the mainstream, or has it? Join us for a debate about how gender queerness has become a commercial device and how this may lead to its standardization and banalization.  In this salon we will be joined by Trixxie Carr, San Francisco's finest female faux-queen and outspoken voice for free speech, avant-art, drag theatre and human rights.

Oct 6 - Tactical Biodesign: Design for Debate Design For Debate CUBE, Wed 06 Oct 14:30 – 17:00 / FREE The devices and propositions in Designed Disorder aspire to create debate around scientific developments in nano and biotechnology. This debate will highlight speculative design processes whilst also challenging its role in an information society. Do art and design perform different functions in an economy of new ideas and does this line blur in the context of biological artifacts? With Professor Anthony Dunne, Head of Design Interactions Department at the RCA and designers James Gilpin, Nelly Ben Hayoun.

Oct 7 - Ideology Redux Thu 07 Oct 12:00 – 14:00 (International Anthony Burgess Foundation) From Slavoj Zizek to Michael Hardt, contemporary philosophers are calling for a renewed interest in the relevance of communism. We ask what it means to revisit socialism for a new generation who live in environmentally and economically unpredictable times. Have strong convictions been cast out of modern, democratic and political life? What are the new systems of thought for the digital generation? And how do we re-imagine art and politics against the fashionable communism of capital?

The Best Top 10 tips for using Twitter

Please retweet: I've been checking out a few websites which claim to offer advice about ways to improve your Twitter follower numbers. My adorable 772 (783, 2 days since I posted this) followers need company. I've at least gotta break the 1,000 mark soon. It's difficult to pick one's way through the best and the worst of Twitter advice lists - and I must admit, I got a bit bored with this half way through - but here are some of them, along with some gems of my own.

By far, the most re-posted seems to be Kevin Rose's tips, but I found them pretty underwhelming. In fact, as my list shows, most of the tips are pretty uninteresting and I expect most of us already do this, so they don't really explain how to grow to 1 million followers.  Like all such 'guru' advice, there's a massive gap between what you are advised to do and what actually happens. I suspect that understanding how new media culture and media culture more generally interfaces sill makes a difference.

The principles I employed to survey the 'top 10' lists of others the were the following:

1. Search Google for 'Top 10 ways to increase your followers on Twitter"
2. Take a peek at the first 10  websites that seem to be from credible sources (renowned digital environments or individuals) and which seem to be saying interesting things (but avoid repetition). This took me to about page 35 in the Google ranking.
3. Examine the 10 tips from each website and decide how many out of the 10 are worth doing. Each piece of good advice gets a point. I don't give a point to a piece of advice that I consider to be obvious or dull (eg. include your bio on your twitter page). Instead, points are awarded to ideas that I had not thought of before.

The rest of this post will layout first my tips, then the ranking for the best top 10 lists out there, followed by different categories of advice they give. You'll work it out.

My own top 10 tips to grow your followers in Twitter (and maintain credibility) (Twips?)

1. Show that you are listening. Use @ more than you use an original message, replying to people will encourages others to engage.
2. Twitter is as Twitter Does. A lot of the content in Twitter is about social media, so tweeting material about this can help draw people to you .Tweet items that will appeal to Twitter users (ie. about Twitter) or digital communities (eg. Android fans). My 'Top 50 Android apps' post has been one of the highest read I've published
3. Respect Institutions. Consider which institutions you care about and go follow them. Consider whether you receive digital communications material by other means (eg. email lists) and, if so,  seek out their Twitter account to follow as a priority. Chances are they'll follow you back, especially if they're new to Twitter, which many are.
4. Democratize Your Institutions Encourage the institutions you're a part of to share their Twitter login and password, allowing you to re-tweet your content to their/your broader community, but do so only occasionally and when it's appropriate. If you run an institution, sack your Website manager unless they make their primary task to empower your staff to take a greater role in spreading your love.
5. Money Can't Buy You Love Don't buy followers or use any kind of crap technique to gain auto-followers.
6. Join the Mobile Society. Twitter is a mobile app. While having Tweetdeck on your computer is a must and a valuable route towards dealing with backlogs, Twitter is used mostly on the go. You can buy smartphones pretty cheap these days, but one, you won't look back. Most are twitter enabled now. I have an HTC using Seesmic, get 145mb a month free, which is plenty for moderate day-to-day use and it gets the most use in my house on my broadband wifi.
7. Set your limits. How many twitter users do you actually want? Do you want to be an information service or part of a community? This decision will affect what goals you set and how you feel about the value of being on Twitter. Being a Twitter celebrity is not necessarily the most enriching path to take.
8. Rock the boat. They say that Web 2.0 is a friendly place, but we shouldn't always be congenial online. Take a stand, you'll lose some and gain some, perhaps building the right kind of follower community.
9. Share what you're browsing. If you're not sure what content to post to Twitter, focus first on sharing the websites that you think are cool. Like minded people will join in, but make sure you populate the link with title page and hashtags. You can automate this with platforms like Delicious - feed it through Twitterfeed.
10. Utilize old media. Either by having your tweet referenced by a newspaper or on a popular tv programme, but of course, the challenge with this one is knowing how to get into them. I suggest you follow journalists for a start.

and a few more that occurred to me after writing this post (Getting into twitter etiquette, rather than follower growth now):

• 11. Follow your re-tweeter. If somebody re-tweets you, follow them, it's only polite and they'll most likely follow you right back. It will also help you know more about your followers.
• 12. Auto-tweet Ethics. If you are going to use the auto-message / auto-return follower trick, then make it interesting, don't try to sell stuff and don't get your new follower into any dodgy business
• 13. Retweet who you follow. Rather than just follow someone, also re-tweet something of theirs. it helps them know why you followed, thus providing a starting point for your relationship.
• 14. The 100+ Rule. If you are quite new to Twitter, spend your first week or so getting over 100 tweets out in your account. People may be unlikely to follow you if you are someone who appears never to tweet.

My rank of the best 'top 10 tips for Twitter' websites out there. Just in case you're unclear, their figure out of 10 is how many of their tips I felt were good, so as you can see there i niot a lot of good, non-obvious advice for a seasoned Twitter User trying to grow their followers.Nobody has more than 3 good, insightful tips.

1. 3/10 Sam Murray, State of Search (2010 March)
2. 3/10 Kevin Rose, Techcrunch (2009)
3. 2/10 Charles Bryant, HowStuffworks (date unknown)
4. 2/10 Good Tweeple (2010, July)
5. 1/10 TwitterVirtue (2010 July)
6. 1/10 Technotip (they actually had 60, so I've normalize their rating :) )
7. 1/10 Elistmania (2010 March)
8. 0/10 Bloggers Desire (2010 May)
9. 0/10 Dotcominfoway (2009 aug)
10. 0/10 NiceBlogger (had 25, so normalized figure)

And here are their tips and how i categorize them. Citations follow the tip and can be Googled and are in order of frequency (first listed are those that most often appear in 'top 10' lists). The text written is pasted from the first user cited (ie. not my own words):

"Ok, I'll try that / Will do more"

• Start a contest. @jasoncalacanis offered a free macbook air if he reached the #1 most followed spot. That never happened, but Jason  added thousands of followers…brilliant. (Kevin Rose / Technotip / Good  Tweeple / NiceBlogger)
• Tweet During Rush Hour Ok, well not literally rush hour, but  throughout peak times. Studies  show that top Twitter activity usually  takes place between 10:00 and  16:00pm. Tweeting during those hours will  mean you greater visibility on  your feed. However, the most active  hour for people engaging in the  twittersphere is between 1pm and 2pm  every day, so put down your  sandwich and think of something interesting  to say…. and no not about  what sandwich filling you have gone for  today. (Sam Murray / Technotip / Charles Bryant)
• Reply to/get involved in #hash tag memes. search.twitter.com lists the hot ‘trending topics. Look for the #hash topics and jump in   on the conversation (see #4 for links to #hash instructions). (Kevin  Rose / Dotcominfoway)
• If you are crazy enough, you can put your twitter ID on your vehicle.   This will work because, people like to get connected with others who  are  in the same locality. And you can tweet and start conversation  about  some local events and start sharing your knowledge. Keep your  security  aspects in mind. Some people may use twitter to get lot of  your personal  info and may use it to harm you (Technotip /  TwitterVirtue).
• Use Industry Related Keywords. Use these in your "about  me" page and in your tweets and other social network posts. This will  help get your posts in the search engines. Every bit helps with this (Good Tweeple)
• Use Direct Messages I have thought that using direct messages is just a waste of time,  but not in all cases. If you’re very personal, or you’re always having  one-on-one conversations, you should consider using direct messages  more. This way it will be easier for people to follow your timeline and  see how much value your sharing (TwitterVirtue).
• Send "@Messages' top Top Users One good way to get noticed is to send something called an  "@message" to top Twitter users. Here's how it works. If you and your  friend both have Twitter accounts and you both follow each other, you  can send direct messages to each other that aren't for public  consumption. But you can also send "@messages" to anyone you want,  whether you follow them or not, or they follow you or not. Got that?  Here's where it gets good -- an "@message" is posted on your profile  page for all to see. So if you wanted to send an "@message" to top  Twitter user actor Ashton Kutcher, anybody visiting your profile would  see it. Good luck getting Mr. Kutcher to send a tweet back to you, but  that's not the point. But if he does feel the urge to re-tweet your  message -- or broadcast it to all his followers -- 2.9 million people  will see it (as of July 30, 2009). (Charles Bryant)
• Repeat Yourself. This one may surprise you. You'd think that posting something more  than once would only aggravate your followers. But if you're an avid  tweeter, then chances are, your followers may not be reading each and  every tweet you send out -- especially if you've disobeyed tip number  nine and posted outside of peak hours. Repeat your best and most  informative tweets several times during the day and see if you get an  increase in followers. Who is reading your posts at the time can make  all the difference in the world. Let's say you posted about a cool new  iPhone application, and nobody said much. Twitter it again eight hours  later and your luck may change. Don't overuse this method though. You  don't want to become known for posting nothing but repeat messages (Charles Bryant)
• If you have some 500+ followers, you can use some service to display it   on your blog, as a social proof. This will defiantly attract more  people  to follow you. Inturn increasing your followers number and  inturn  attracting even more people to follow you (Technotip)
• You can also use your twitter profile URL, while commenting on other blogs (Technotip)
• Get your twitter profile link featured on any famous website. If you are listed in the top 10 re-tweeters, then  you can get still more followers. As people will think that you will  re-tweet even their tweets! (Technotip)
• Treat your twitter profile as you would treat any other website. Send as much traffic as possible to your twitter profile (Technotip)
• Use different other services to know who is following you, and use the  suggestion tool to get the suggested twitter users to follow. By this  you can connect to relevant people around the world and they are most  likely to follow you back, if they find you as relevant (Technotip)
• Target Power Tweeters Begin to target well respected and widely known figures within your  industry through your tweets. Grabbing the attention of these figures  and developing relationships with them can dramatically effect how many  people become aware of your profile and if they like what you say (which  of course they will…) and see you talking to people they follow, they  will follow you. Tweet o Clock lets you know the best time to contact a particular Tweeter and displays their most active timeframes – http://tweetoclock.com (Sam Murray / Good Tweeple)
• Utilise Good Karma Create a list of power tweeters who you want to follow you. Select one a  week to monitor and listen to what they have to say, and then be as  helpful as you can. It is similar to whoring yourself but the rewards  can justify your self loathing and the dirty feeling you have  afterwards. (Sam Murray)
• Track your results. TwitterCounter will show you how many new users you’re adding per day and Qwitter will email you when someone unfollows you after a tweet.

"Suspect this will work, but powerless to achieve?"

• Verify your account as being genuine and original The fastest and the easiest method to increase follower on twitter is  to get your verified as being your original account so that any fake  accounts may not get your share of followers. If you are a popular  personality in your niche market; you will easy have fan following all  along the twitter (BloggersDesire).
• Get in the user suggested list Once you get in the user suggested list of twitter, you will not have  to follow anyone to increase your followers. This will make all those  people follow you by themselves. And you really can witness an increment  in your followers at an impeccable rate per day (BloggersDesire)

"I Already did that"

• Put links to your Twitter profile everywhere. Link  it on  your Digg, LinkedIn, Facebook, blog, email signature, and  everywhere  else you live online. Also, check out the great feedburner-like badges from TwitterCounter for your blog. (Kevin Rose / Technotip / Charles Bryant / Good Tweeple / Niceblogger).
• Start a conversation. One  of the best ways to get noticed is  asking question or starting a  conversation thread. The topic should be  chosen keeping the interest of  your followers. Sometimes it’s easy to  get noticed by talking on  controversial topics. While you are at it  don’t forget to check the  replies you receive. (Elistmania / Technotip /  Charles Bryant / Niceblogger)
• Follow Other People Yes you did read that right, following other  people can lead to you  gaining more followers. Following other people  within your industry lets  them know you exist and gives you a platform  for them to hear your  voice. It increases your exposure and if people  like what you say then  will follow. Similar to the Hollywood  catchphrase “if you build it they  will come”, “if you say it right they  will follow.” (Sam Murray /  Elistmania, TwitterVirtue / NiceBlogger)
• Use a custom background for your twitter profile. This will show that   you are a professional and chances are there, a visitor to your profile   may turn into your follower (Technotip / GoodTweeple / Niceblogger)
• Participate in certain groups. Groups can be created using hashtags.   And some times if the group message is a hot topic, then your tweets   will be listed in “hot trending topics” in search or other famous   twitter services. Ex:- #followfriday (Techhnotip / Niceblogger)
• Invite all your friends in your Gmail, Yahoo mail etc, and they are the most potential followers you can ever get (Technotip / NiceBlogger)
• Focus on your niche and start tweeting. –  You maybe a  blogger,  entrepreneur, service provider or a developer. Be focused.  Choose your  niche and start tweeting about it. You can earn a lot of  followers with  similar interests (dotcominfoway / Charles Bryant)
• Use a relevant Twitter ID. It’s very important to use your real name because you can get more credibility (NiceBlogger).
• Don’t Self-Pamper. Be Neutral. – Don’t keep on  tweeting about your blog or your own stuff. Be neutral and share new  ideas in your niche. You can be a perfect blend of personal and  professional tweets. But do not forget to tweet the breaking news and  the latest happening in your industry to gain more followers. (Dotcominfoway)
• Be more professional than personal. – Twitter was once a  space to express what you were doing. Now, being a powerful social  medium, Twitter is known for knowledge-sharing, connecting to people of  similar interest and a lot more. To increase your followers be  informative and professional (dotcominfoway)
• Write some interesting articles about Twitter on your blog, so that,  people searching for Twitter related things find it useful and start  following you, expecting more such valuable contents and tweets from  you (Technotip)
• When you tweet something worth Re-tweeting, then use less than 140  Characters. Because, if your twitter ID has 5 characters, then a  re-tweet will add a @ symbol and “RT:”   thus making a total of 140+1+3+5=149 characters. So use 125 or 130  characters. Tweets which involve breaking news or some offers/discount  coupons or anything that you think might go viral in twitter.
• Print the twitter profile URL on your business card (technotip).
• Use twitter ID in your email signature, so that your business partners  or others will get to know that you are also using twitter (Technotip / NiceBlogger)
• If you have a website or a blog, display the follow me button at the top or any other highly visible regions (Technotip / Nice blogger)
• Use a “tweet this” button below all your articles or below the articles which you think can go viral in twitter world (Technotip).
• Utilise the Hash Tag Utilise the #hash tag. Some people search twitter through categories, so  if you tweet about  ‘fashion advice’ use the hashtag #fashionadvice.   If others enjoy similar content in which you have posted on they might  follow you for more updates or even a conversation (Sam Murray / Elistmania)
• Be a Resource If you really want people to follow and continue following you, make it  impossible for them to leave by providing them with high quality and  interesting updates. This can be via linking out to an informative  article or by giving a thoughtful opinion in a wider discussion. (Sam Murray)
• Bring your twitter account into the physical world. Every time I give a  talk, speak on a panel, shoot a podcast, present slides, or hand out  business cards, I figure out a way to broadcast or display my twitter  account. (Kevin Rose)
• Write A Good "About Me" Page. Describe who you are,  what you do, and what you offer. Watch your spelling. Be grammatically  correct. Be specific. Get ideas about what goes into a well written  "about me" page, from indust
• Use a good twitter ID. Many people suggest to use their real name and    most of the others suggest to use the business name. In case of    bloggers, people mostly use their blog name inorder to build their brand    recognition. If the twitter ID is somethink special or attractive,   many  people will endup following you without any reason! (technotip)ry leaders (Good Tweeple)

"Not Convinced This will Work"

• Take pictures. Pictures are heavily retweeted/spread around. This one from US Airways Flight 1549 has been viewed 350,000+ times. For mobile pics use iPhone apps such as Tweetie or Twitterific, both which support on the go uploading. (Kevin Rose / Good Tweeple)
• Use your twitter URL at the end of each SMS (Short Messaging Service) from your phone (technotip / Charles Bryant)

"Stating the obvious"

• Tweet about your passions in life and #hash tag them.  Quality content   coupled with an easy way to find it never fails. If others enjoy your   content, they’ll add you.  Learn more about #hash tagging here. (Kevin Rose / Elistmania / Technotip / NiceBlogger)

• Follow other People with the same Interest By following other  people it lets them know you are online and it can  initiate  conversations. If you can begin to communicate with users who  have a  large following it will build up brand or (personal awareness)  and  their followers will start to follow you. (Sam Murray / Elistmania /  BloggersDesire)
• Retweet Such was the popularity of ‘Retweet’ that Twitter  incorporated it in its  service. Retweet is one of the best ways to get  noticed. When you  Retweet someone’s post, you get noticed by the user  immediately.  Everyone likes their tweets to be retweeted and most of  the times this  favor is returned in retweet of your tweet. (Elistmania / Technotip / TwiterVirtue)
• Interact with your Followers, Twitter is a social tool so you  need to be social. Status updates are  good but interaction between  people will have a greater effect. (Sam Murray / TwitterVirtue /  Niceblogger)
• Fill out your bio. Your latest tweets and @replies don’t mean much to  someone that doesn’t know you.  Your bio is the only place you have to  tell people who you are.    Also, your bio is displayed on Twitter’s Suggested Users page. Leaving it blank or non-descriptive doesn’t encourage people to add you. (Kevin Rose / Elistmania / Charles Bryant)
• Be Active And Manage Your Account Well As  your follower number  increases, it becomes more and more difficult to  keep track of your  account. It is very important to use one of the  various tools to  effectively manage your account. When you are one among  hundreds and  thousands, getting noticed is very difficult. The only way  you can be  noticed is by being active. (Elistmania / Technotip)
• Make people Aware Put links to your Twitter profile everywhere. Link it on your blog,  Facebook Fan Page, email signature, and everywhere else you have a  presence online. (Sam Murray)
• Keep your account clean. One of the best things about Twitter was the ease with which you could  follow anyone. The same ease has given rise to high number of spammers  and bots. No one would like to be followed by spammers and in case your  account in inflicted by a lot of spammers, people will want to keep a  distance from your account as well. Make sure to clean your account on a  periodic basis and keep spammers out (Elistmania)
• Use some twitter client or twitter apps or twitter messengers! (rather than from the webpage) (Technotip)

"You've gotta be kidding!"

• Do not use annoying profile picture. Using your real photo or  your blog  logo/banner is recommended. Many people use the animated  images, this is  ok as long as its not annoying (Technotip / Charles  Bryant / TwitterVirtue / Niceblogger)
• Follow the top twitter users and watch what they tweet. Pay attention to the type of content they  sent out and how they address their audiences. (Kevin Rose / Technotip)
• Ask People to follow u (TwitterVirtue / NiceBlogger)
• Add an emotional element- become charitableYou can increase your followers, particularly if you are a part of a  big organization which has its credibility and integrity proven; by  announcing that some amount of money will be donated as charity for  every increase in the followers. This will encourage people to become  your follower because they giving charity out, appeals a lot of people  emotionally. And in turn, you will have increased number of followers.  However, this option is not very feasible for individuals because nobody  would believe it (BloggersDesire).
• Explain to your followers what retweeting is and encourage them to retweet your links Retweeting pushes your  @username into foreign social graphs, resulting in clicks back to your  profile. Track your retweets using retweetist. (Kevin Rose)
• You can ask other twitterers to recommend you to their followers and you can recommend them to your followers (technotip)
• Block spammers and other useless automated boots by using the blocking  feature in twitter. By this you will be able to give your attention to  only genuine users and will not get distracted and your twitter  experience will be good. By this you can give more to twitter and get  more followers (Technotip)]

#media2012 : Blueprint for #london2012

2010.10 - Update: follow @media_2012 and browse http://www.media2012.org.uk for further updates to the project This page articulates a proposal for the London 2012 Games, to assemble the social media people of the world and to create an open media environment, where culture, sport and local stories can be told across international zones. The proposal aspires to create an Underground Media Zone, which will link the United Kingdom in physical and virtual space. For more details, please read on....

The first public launch of the proposal will take place on October 4 at  the Abandon Normal Devices (http://www.andfestival.org.uk) festival of digital culture in Manchester, an 'inspired by 2012' event, based in the Northwest of England. To book your place, please click here

The event will be streamed here...

This event is co-sponsored by the AND festival,  the London 2012 Creative Programmers network and the University of the West of Scotland. It forms part of the research and development activity for the WE PLAY 2012 EXPO in the North West, supported by funding from Legacy Trust UK.

If you are interested, please Join the mailing list and read this primer at the Huffington Post

Here's the final programme for the day:

SCHEDULE

10:15 - Opening Session Introduction - Dave Moutrey, CEO - Cornerhouse Ruth Mackenzie, Director, Cultural Olympiad Prof. Andy Miah: Media Blueprint for London 2012 Q&A

11:20 - Panel Debate: Past, Present & Future Games Join this exciting debate about Olympic and Paralympic Games, past and present, to find out what has been possible to achieve with independent media platforms and what other countries envisage to be possible.

Vancouver 2010: Kris Krug Sochi 2014: Alexander Zolotarev Rio 2016: Josi Paz Q&A: Focus on London 2012

13:30 Panel Debate: Journalism, Sport & Culture: Integrated visions? What do the 2012 Games cultures of sport, cultural expression and media have in common? Is there scope to develop a common vision that promotes a wider contribution to the civic society? This panel will bring together perspectives in sport, art and journalism to discuss what aspirations could surround the reporting of London 2012.

Paul Newman, director of communications, Peel Media Scott Dougal, Olympics Editor, the Press Association Dr Beatriz Garcia, University of Liverpool, author of The Olympic Games and Cultural Policy (2011).

14:45 Breakout Sessions Group 1 Ana Adi - New Media. New Games. Lessons from the Beijing Olympics Jennifer Jones - Social Media and Mega-events: Archiving Vancouver's Alternative Voices Dave McGillivray - Social Media and the 2010 World Cup John Coster, CitizensEye - Organising 2012 Community Media Reporters

Group 2 James O'Malley - Citizen broadcasting for London 2012 David Goldblatt - Sports reporting without a press pass - blogging from the 2010 World Cup Gill Ridgley - Archiving the Olympics Kiratiana Freelon - Chicago 2016: The Olympic Bid and Social Media

15:50 Plenary session

The day will close with a work-in-progress screening of With Glowing Hearts, a feature film about the social media scene around the Vancouver 2010 Games, and its impact on social justice and the traditional media (and we will talk to the film's director in Vancouver via Skype).

Speaker Biographies (incomplete)

SPEAKERS BIOGRAPHIES

• Ana Adi

Ana Adi is a doctoral researcher in the Faculty of Business and Creative Industries at the University of the West of Scotland where she investigates the framing of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games as done by public relations practitioners, online non-accredited media outlets and online readers. She is also an alumna of the International Olympic Academy and a post-graduate grantee of the Olympic Studies Centre of the International Olympic Committee. Prior to her doctorate, Ana completed a Fulbright scholarship at the University of Missouri-Columbia, USA.

Ana is also an independent Public Relations Consultant specialised in new media and online communication strategies. Previous clients include the pan-European social network Netlog; Sport in Society (Northeastern University, US); Hewlett-Packard and Deloitte (Hill & Knowlton, Washington); and Coca-Cola Romania (McCann Erickson). Ana is also a regular contributor to the online magazine, Culture @ the Olympics.

• John Coster

John Coster is the editor of the Citizens Eye Community News Agency covering Leicester & Leicestershire. Founder of the Community Media Hub project recruiting 2,012 Community Reporters to provide coverage of communities during the London 2012 Games and editor of Soar Magazines 'Community' section.

• John Duffy.

John Duffy is the Marketing Director of Nemisys, ipadio paretn company. John has been enthusiastic about what the web can do for organisations and for individuals since 1997, when he promoted an online environmental conference with over 12,000 registered delegates from all over the World. His work with Nemisys involves over 80 amateur sports organisations, many of whom are national governing bodies for Olympics sports, including Paralympics GB, BADMINTON England, England Hockey and England Athletics. Projects vary from full scale web sites to participation projects encouraging people to try sports. John also work with several of these sports bodies to see how ipadio can best be used to cover their events

• Scott Dougal

Scott Dougal is Olympics Editor at the Press Association. He I joined the Press Association in 2000 and has spent the last 10 years covering UK and international sport. The 2012 Olympics will be his sixth multi-sport event.

@scottdougal

• Kiratiana Freelon

Kiratiana Freelon is a Harvard Graduate who has traveled to more than 25 countries and appeared on the Travel Channel as an expert on Paris. The Chicago native's, sport and culture led her to work on Chicago's bid for the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Since the bid ended she has dedicated herself to utilizing social media to promoting social causes and travel, which included social reporting for the Vancouver Olympic Games. She recently published the book, Kiratiana's Travel Guide to Black Paris and blogs at Kiratianatravels.com. Her goal is to help more people become social reporters for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.  She can be reached at Kiratianatravels@gmail.com and @kiratiana.

• Dr Beatriz García

Beatriz is currently a member of the Culture and Education Advisory Committee of the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games and adviser to the London Development Agency Olympic Research Programme. She is also member of the IOC Olympic Studies Centre postgraduate grant selection committee and the London 2012 meta-evaluation peer review team. She is the author of The Olympic Games and Cultural Policy (2011).

• David Goldblatt

David Goldblatt is a sportswriter, broadcaster and teacher.   He is the author of the World Football Yearbook (DK, 2002, 2003,2004), The Ball is Round: a Global History of Football (Viking, 2006) (‘A tour de force of brilliant writing, historical colour and sporting vignette’ – Observer) and, most recently, co-author with Johnny Acton of The Football Book (DK, 2009). He has also worked on a variety of illustrated books, including  DK’s E-Encyclopaedia. He writes the Sporting Life column in Prospect magazine, covering a wide variety of sporting issues, and wrote Prospect’s own guide to the 2008 Beijing Games (attached). He teaches a course in the sociology of sport at the University of Bristol and has recently reported for BBC Radio 4 and BBC World Service on the economics of baseball in the Dominican Republic, the politics of football in Israel and Kenya, and the rise of Indian cricket.  He won the Sports Story of the Year at the Foreign Media Association Press Awards 2009 for a BBC World Service documentary on Mathare United, the first team from Africa’s urban slums to win a national title.

• Jennifer Jones

Jennifer Jones is a PhD researcher within the School of Creative and Cultural Industries at the University of the West of Scotland and a Visiting Lecturer within the Media School at Birmingham City University and DeMontfort University. She is working on projects closely tied to the Vancouver 2010 and London 2012 Olympic Games, in the context of emerging media landscapes and changing labour practices within the creative industries. She specializes in new media methods for data capture, collection and archiving, in particular around social media and mega-events, whilst focusing on the continuous link between digital practice and theory.

www.jennifermjones.net @jennifermjones

• Kris Krug

Kris Krüg is an international photographer who is a fervent evangelist for open culture and empowerment through technology. Constantly challenging himself by shooting diverse subjects from emerging rock bands to Olympic athletes, Kris uses his engaging personality to break down the barriers between lens and subject. Because of his unorthodox approach to his art, Kris' has had his photos featured in the Wired, National Geographic and the LA Times. Time after time his lens perfectly mimics his eye's approach to catching the serendipitous moments in life.

• Andrew Lavigne

Andrew Lavigne’s career began 20 years ago as a Community TV Producer In Ottawa. In that time he has worked in various capacities of the business including Directing, Editing and Producing. From 1996-2007 Andrew worked in Vancouver on set as camera assistant (IA669). Standing next to some of this generations best filmmakers and observing how they told stories inspired Andrew to begin telling his own.

Since then andrewlavigne.com was created to showcase his various projects. Shooting his own material on film, video or digital technology Andrew always meets evolution head on, pushing boundaries, building new roads and defining this unknown landscape. Interested in honesty and the power of the human spirit. Telling compelling stories by transforming ideas into visions. Sharing pieces that are insightful with cinematic style describes Andrew’s directing

• Ruth Mackenzie

Ruth Mackenzie OBE is director of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad. Formerly an expert adviser on broadcasting and cultural policy for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, her previous roles include General Director of the Manchester International Festival and of Scottish Opera, Chief Executive of Chichester Festival Theatre and Nottingham Playhouse.

She has also worked as consultant for the BBC, Tate, Barbican Centre, London Symphony Orchestra and Arts Council of England amongst others. She is a Visiting Professor of City University, London, and has sat as a non-executive director on many cultural boards.

• Dr Dave McGillivray

Dr David McGillivray is a Senior Lecturer in Events Policy at Glasgow Caledonian University. He is currently writing a book titled Events Policy: From Theory to Strategy for Routledge (publication date in early 2011) and his other research interests lie in the field of event experiences and sports event tourism. David has undertaken a number of evaluation studies of events and festivals for public and private agencies in Scotland and takes a keen interest in bridging the gap between academia and industry.

• Prof. Andy Miah

Professor Miah is Chair of Ethics and Emerging Technologies at the University of the West of Scotland, a Fellow at the Foundation for Art and Creative Technology and part of the Programming Committee for the Abandon Normal Devices Festival, an ‘inspired by 2012’ event, funded by the Legacy Trust.

Professor Miah is 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. While at the Vancouver 2010 Games, he wrote for The Huffington Post, facilitated cultural collaborations between London 2012 and Vancouver 2010 and was on the steering committee for the creation of two independent media centres. He also writes for the Guardian. He is currently completing a book called A Digital Olympics for The MIT Press.

@andymiah / email@andymiah.net / +44 (0) 757 898 4147

• Dave Moutrey

Dave Moutrey has been Director and Chief Executive of Cornerhouse since April 1998. Cornerhouse is Manchester’s international centre for cinema and contemporary visual art and in one of the leading multi-disciplinary arts organisations in the UK.

He joined Cornerhouse after eight years as Chief Executive of Arts About Manchester (now All About Artists) the regional arts marketing and audience development agency. Dave had previously managed the Abraham Moss Centre Theatre in North Manchester. He is a qualified drama teacher and an artist and theatre producer who has worked on over 30 community productions with Greater Manchester based groups.  Recently Dave has played a leading role in developing a network of Cross Art Form venues in England and chaired three successive Shift Happens conferences focusing on digital innovation in the arts.  He has presented recently arts industry leaders for the Mission Models and Money programme, Tate Connects, Arts Marketing Association and City University London on new business models for the arts.

Dave is a Fellow of the RSA and a member of the Chartered Management Institute, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, the Association of British Theatre Technicians and the Arts Marketing Association. He is a Trustee of Urbis, Manchester (Manchester Millennium Quarter Development Trust), and Company Secretary to the Association of Independent Cinema Exhibitors, Cross Artform Venues and exposures Film Festival. He is a Board Member of AND Festival, Pilot Theatre Company (currently Chair) and The Corridor Partnership.

In 1994 he won the Manchester Evening News Theatre Award for services to Theatre.

• Paul Newman

Paul Newman is director of communications at Peel Media, the developers of MediaCityUK at Salford Quays.  Paul joined Peel from the Liverpool Culture Company, where he was communications and public affairs director for European Capital of Culture 2008.  Paul also had a three-year stint as director of communications at The Football Association. Prior to The FA, Paul spent 20 years as a television news correspondent for the BBC, ITV and Sky News, including three years as sports correspondent for the BBC’s Six O’clock News.

• James O'Malley

James O’Malley joined ipadio in August 2009 after receiving an MA in International Relations from King's College, London. As web editor, James is the first point of contact for customers and clients contacting ipadio, and he has worked with all their many sporting and National Governing Body clients to assist them in using ipadio as a tool to broadcast their news and updates to fans

• Dave Olson

Dave Olson is a mixed media storymaker and chronic documentarian from his earliest days. Published on topics from Hemp culture in Japan to Telco de-regulation, Dave also makes handmade literary chapbooks, static montage art and renegade documentary podcasts. After covering Olympic games in-person from SLC, and afar for Turin and Beijing, Dave co-founded a ground-breaking project for social media coverage during the Vancouver Olympics called the True North Media House.

"DaveO" graduated in Inter-disciplinary Studies from Evergreen College and works as an community director for a noted social web tool. He frequently presents at events including SXSW and Northern Voice, and appears in the media discussing technology, hockey and culture. Now spends his time telling stories and listening to vinyl on the back porch whille gazing at mountains and trees.

True North Media House http://truenorthmediahouse.com

Dave Olson: http://uncleweed.net

• Josi Paz

Josi Paz is a visiting student from University of Brasília at Nottingham Trent University -  sponsored by Capes Brazilian Foundation (Ministry of Education). Josi has a background in advertising and has worked as Communication Advisor for the Brazilian governement from 2001 to 2010, when she moved to England to complete her PhD in Sociology, following on from a  Master in Social Communications.

• Gill Ridgley

Gill Ridgley is a curator in the social sciences section of the British Library and is the subject specialist for sport. She edits the British Library’s Sport & Society website.

• Alexander Zolotarev

Alexander Zolotarev is SochiReporter.ru Founder and CEO, and an Associate Professor in multimedia journalism at the Faculty of Journalism, Moscow State University. He is teaching to the Russian and international students, and is a regular attendee of the world’s leading conferences on new media, such as Interactive Editor & Publisher conference in the USA, the Next Web in Amsterdam, the Russian Internet Forum in Moscow, Future of News and Civic Media conference at MIT Stata Center, organized by the MIT Media Lab and the Knight Foundation.

Alexander is 2008 Knight News Challenge winner. His project, SochiReporter.ru, received a $ 600, 000 grant from the Knight Foundation.

In 2007-2008 Alexander spent 11 months in New York as a Fulbright Scholar, working on his PhD dissertation on Journalism 2.0, convergence culture and virtual communities at the City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism. He is now continuing his research in Sochi and Moscow focusing on the interaction of the Olympics and the new media. Alexander blogs about the development of his project, SochiReporter.ru, at the PBS Media Shift/ Idea Lab.

Alexander graduated from the Russian-Norwegian High School in Moscow. He wrote the first ever in Russian 224-page guidebook to Norway, worked as staff editor in the Russian edition of the Esquire magazine, where he also covered techno gadgets and hi-tech innovation. He was special projects editor in 9 magazines including Harvard Business Review (Russia), National Geographic (Russia), National Geographic Traveler (Russia) and was also staff correspondent in the entertainment and pop-culture program ‘All at once!’ at NTV Channel (one of the leading channels in Russia).

a.b.zolotarev@gmail.com / az@sochireporter.ru

About SochiReporter

SochiReporter is one of the winners of the 2008 Knight News Challenge contest, an initiative taken by the Knight Foundation to shape the future of news. SochiReporter was launched on October 27, 2009 enabling the people of Sochi, the Russian resort city hosting the 2014 Winter Olympics, to use the latest online tools to both discuss and influence the impact of the Games. A website and database allow the community to track and debate how the plans are changing life there over a five-year period. The idea is to help residents better prepare for the Olympics, to inform the media about the city’s issues and to use discussions about the games as a way to improve life in Sochi. SochiReporter is the first ever initiative to build a unified multimedia archive about the preparation of a host city for the Olympics.

___

If you like the plan, please tweet: Follow @andymiah Media Blueprint for London 2012 http://bit.ly/media2012 #media2012

Thanks for the #media2012 tweets, view archive here

and please consider coming to Manchester on 4th October, 2010, the event will be free, we'll unconference part of it, giving everyone a chance to pitch, have a photo/blog walk, see some great art work, meet amazing people and generally have a good time while making something new happen. To register for the event, please contact hello@andfestival.org.uk If you wish also to propose a presentation for the unconference, please also convey this in your mail.

[slideshare id=4776486&doc=2010-07-15-2012mediablueprint-online-100717040839-phpapp01]

...and here's a pdf of the proposal (v.1.1)

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...and a list of the public meetings where the proposal will be discussed:

• 2010.11.09 Olympic Conference, HLST Annual Conference, Oxford Brookes University
• 2010.10.04: Abandon Normal Devices festival @ Cornerhouse Manchester (proposal launch)

#Media2012: Blueprint for #London2012

A proposal by Professor Andy Miah, PhD

University of the West of Scotland

[v1.1, 2010.09.06]

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

1.3 The Games represent the largest media event in the world, with broadcasters from over 200 countries covering what happens.

1.4 I envisage the Games as a media festival rather than a media event, 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 have the opportunity to shift from being spaces of information and mediation, to becoming factories for creativity, collaboration, and engagement, which can amplify the Olympic mission.

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 content.

1.7 If the Olympic movement 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 their Games and they will need 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’ and will 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.

2. A Nationwide Independent Media Backbone

Reaching out to all regions, starting with hubs in Scotland, the North West and the South West of England, a network emerging from a Vancouver 2010 collaboration with these regions.

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

2.1 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.

2.2 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.

2.3 The media who work in such centres should have a local interest but an aspiration that is based on global values or the desire to build opportunities to share globally. Transcending national boundaries is the biggest task. We’re not yet global, despite 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

4. Research 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.

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.

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. 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.

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

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.

11.3 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

Stay in touch, join:

http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/media2012

About the Author

Professor Miah is Chair of Ethics and Emerging Technologies at the University of the West of Scotland, a Fellow at the Foundation for Art and Creative Technology and part of the Programming Committee for the Abandon Normal Devices Festival, an ‘inspired by 2012’ event, funded by the Legacy Trust.

Professor Miah is 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.  While at the Vancouver 2010 Games, he wrote for The Huffington Post, facilitated cultural collaborations between London 2012 and Vancouver 2010 and was on the steering committee for the creation of two independent media centres. He also writes for the Guardian.  He is currently completing a book called ‘A Digital Olympics’ for The MIT Press.

@andymiah

email@andymiah.net

+44 (0) 757 898 4147