Following the model of BCMC the village of Whistler, one of the main hosts of the Olympic outdoor competitions, has put together a similar centre catering for the media in town interested in following stories out the beaten Olympic track: the Whistler Media House. Located in the vicinity of the Whistler Medal Plaza and the shrine dedicated to the fallen Georgian athlete, Nodar Kumaritashvili, the house provides free wifi, production spaces, a media theatre as well a connection point with other Whistler organizations. In fact, sources indicate that VANOC accredited media usually located in the Press Centre just walking minutes away from the , make daily their way to the press conferences held at the here to meet athletes and their families. Unlike in Vancouver, where the operates independently from the other media houses such as or , in Whistler the media house brings all these stakeholders together. It is here where the Blackcomb Media Hub first communicates about its support to journalists with mountain access, rental equipment and mountain specific information. However, in order to get free or discounted access to the mountain journalists need to prove their interest in mountain related stories.

The Resort Municipality of Whistler is also present at the Whistler Media House their booth highlighting a wide range of activities in the area from tourism to culture. In fact, the Whistler Media House together with their partners offers a comprehensive list of online and digital resources, exceeding 1TB of data, for journalists ranging from photos to raw b-rolls and even story ideas. Similar information is provided by BCMC and can be accessed via the centre’s searchable archives as well as in its links and resources area of the website.

For those interested, here is a list of digital resources for the Winter Games. Part of the information comes from data compiled by the Resort Municipality of Whistler and part from our own research. Most sites require users to register.

• (data password protected)
• (request access privileges)
• (all media indexed and named for identification)

For BC, Vancouver, Canada related resources please check:

• (data password protected)
• (no registration required; FTP download)

City officials are using the Winter Olympics as a platform to show the world they are leading the way with green

energy. Throughout the city, pavilions have been set up to promote and educate people about environmental issues. Live City Vancouver in Yaletown is one example of this initiative. This is where the Vancouver House is located, showcasing ‘Vancouver Green Capital’, an economic development programme which highlights the work of local entrepreneurs and community leaders.

The Pavilion itself, supported by the Games’ official sponsors, is an example of the City’s commitment to sustainability. It is built from recycled material such as old wood beams from a North Vancouver high school and salvaged works of art from local designers. There is an interactive table where visitors can leave their eco messages for everyone to view.

Also in the Live City Vancouver, next to the Vancouver House, is the Panasonic Pavilion where people can submit their own ideas about how the company should tackle environmental issues.

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In the same space, Coca-Cola is also present. Claiming to be the Games’ greenest sponsor, their pavilion opens with a display of their drink bottles through the decades introducing their newest design which is made from 30% recycled material. Similarly, the Coca-Cola staff’s uniform is made entirely from recycled material, the jackets being made from 25 reconditioned cola bottles. There is also an interactive room, which includes a display explaining the recycling process and a polar bear mosaic made of pledges by Canadians on how they live sustainably.

To coincide with the Olympic Games, Coca-Cola also launched an aboriginal art bottle program designed to give First Nation communities in Canada the opportunity to showcase their artwork to the world. Six art-bottles are on display in the pavilion and a further nine are scattered throughout the city. After the Games the bottles will be auctioned online. “best online pharmacy for viagra” according to Mandy Denning, Coca-Cola’s spokesperson.

Vancouver officials hope that their Winter Olympics will be remembered not only for their sporting achievements but also for successfully promoting green initiatives.

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Citizen journalism is nothing new to our world of available technology. It has become second nature for people to capture their experience, events or news in their environments on their phones, cameras or computers. We live in a world were journalism is an action and all of citizens have stepped forth into that call to action.

However, this is the first Olympic Games of its kind were the real stories that are happening are not necessarily the ones that are showcased by the sponsor holding media companies. The internet with its free social platforms of , , ,  and  have cascaded into the landscape from which fans are acquiring their in-real-time coverage of culture, events and community of the Olympic Games.

has been out in Vancouver covering the very broad spectrum of events that are occurring in the city upon the official arrival of the . From the opening ceremony, to press conferences, to torch relays and event demonstrations,  has been covering these events and capturing fans and media covering these same events for themselves.

Photographic Recap of Citizen Journalism that is present at the Olympic Games:

Citizen journalists  and  hold up the media accreditation badge for the . TNMH is an independent media house for the Vancouver Winter Olympics and provides media accreditation to citizen journalists of all types.

Another independent media house that has arisen during the Vancouver Winter Olympic Games if the . This independent media house, located in the DTES, is providing space for many Vancouver media outlets like the  and . It is also providing space to organizations, like the , that are providing community services during the month of February.

, aka , is a podcaster, blogger and all around social media maven. She has been actively covering the Vancouver Winter Olympics for her ver popular Vancouver community site.

There is only one official media accreditation for the Vancouver Winter Olympics, but since there are many more media organizations that are covering the games that just the official one, other forms of accreditation have formed.  who runs the site  is holding up his  media accreditation badge.

Often times as citizen journalists, our main vantage point is through the lens or view finder of our camera. We see the world as it is captured in documentation. Here is an HDR shot of the a  media installation called . This installation is live at the w2 Woodwards Media + Culture House for the entire duration of the games.

There are many people who actively involved in citizen journalism and can recognize their actions as such. The real revolution is happening within the everyday community members, fans, and general public who are recording their lives in digital documentation and then sharing it on the internet for their friends, family or the world to see.

For the past year and half,  has been documenting the story of social media as it plays into the preparation of the Vancouver Winter Olympics and the city of Vancouver as whole. Produced by  and titled , this documentary tells the digital evolution of many stories including ,  and .

The gentlemen was a participant of an anti-olympic rally that convened at the  on the same day as the Opening Ceremony of the Vancouver Winter Olympics. There were many cameras at the rally, with everyone wanting to document their direct experience with the massive gathering.

In the same light that a protestor might want to capture their experience in a retrospective format, the opposite side, the police department, utilizes the same tactic to work against the protestors. Whether it is for visual documentation for a later catalogue or a later examination, the police department are acting in part of citizen journalists and creating media for their own community.

Often times like a silent third party, the citizen journalist can be caught in the line of cross-fire in such events as demonstrations and protests. The symbiotic relationship of the police, protestors, and photographers can be a dance of fierce neutrality. Here  of  and our , , are seen in the middle of a large demonstration.

Our first response, during any kind of tragedy, is to immediately share this knowledge with the ones we know. Our instant accessibility to sharing via our cell phones is a valuable resource. Here the public is shown immediately sharing the news of the anti-Olympic demonstrations that caused property damage in downtown Vancouver.

The  held a  a mere days before the beginning of the Vancouver Winter Olympics. Geared towards making a massive statement to the press about their actions during the games, both traditional and citizen journalists were there to cover this monumental event.

The 3rd Annual  took place in Vancouver, to bring light to the many social and economic travesties that are present in Vancouver, even as a present-day host city. Here is a community member filming the satirical event as a testament to the needed voice that this events provide.

The Legal Observers are a group of citizen witnesses to act as public eyes to the ongoings of the street-level events during the Olympic Games, mostly when police presence is involved. There are two groups of Legal Observers present at the Vancouver Winter Olympic Games: Legal Observers from the Lawyers Guild and Legal Observers from the Vancouver community. The main priorities of these observers are to record data during events, badge numbers, arrests, violence and anything else that could need a witness testimony.

is a great example of a citizen journalist making the most fun out if an experience. Geared up as the ‘‘, Wheeler followed the Olympic Torch around its journey throughout Canada, documenting his whole  experience on video. Not only did he follow the Torch along its vast Canadian route, Wheeler also coupled the documentation with a travel-style viewpoint of the many facets of Canada and the adventures to be had.

Everyone has the ability to capture their own experience through film or photos, even when there is a strife tension between the two subjects. Here is a protestor making a visual testament to the police visibility that was seen during the Olympic demonstrations. Citizen journalism has a presence everywhere in Vancouver.

Citizen journalism is an action. By the simple means of documenting our world around, whether with our fancy cameras or our always handy cell phones, we are actively participating in sharing our experience with the world. It is not really how is happening but that it is happening all the time. We are journalists and the world is full of our news.

Web editor of Culture @ the Olympics (blogger and PhD student) was featured in a short video by which was captured during the opening celebrations of . The series documents stories from Vancouver – from the people who live and visit the city. For more information (and more stories), visit on youtube.

Our Editorial Assistants, Ana ADI and Jennifer Jones, were live on CKNW on Tuesday, February 16, talking about their coverage of the Olympics so far. They joined Jill Bennett’s International Media Panel with, her other guests, John Crumpacker of San Francisco Chronicle and Florian Zut of Swiss National Television. During the one-hour show the four journalists discussed their coverage of the Games, culture at the Olympics and the relation and differences between traditional media and citizen journalists.

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Vancouver is filled with energy now that has officially started. The last week has been filled with the excited fervor of the last month and anticipation of the upcoming weeks. Here is a photographic look into the last week of adventure and celebrations, before the officially opening of the Games in Vancouver.

The Olympic torch was carried downhill on the Blackcomb mountain by world champion and olympiad . Steve won a bronze medal in the in Lake Placid. Currently he is part of the and works within International Relations.

seemingly is Canada’s number one fan. Campbell has travelled around Canada for the entire length of the torch relay. Here he is handing out coveted British Columbia Olympic pins to fans at the Whistler Torch Celebration.

Vancouver is part of the and has a welcoming committee as part of the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games. , dressed in a traditional Aborginal outfit, was part of the Whistler Torch Relay Celebration.

had the chance to hang out in Whistler for the weekend with who had been following the torch relay through all of Canada. We had the chance to do some with him! Our longest run was 2200 m.

The Olympic Torch had an extended route through all of Vancouver with the relay going through all of the neighborhoods in Vancouver. The accompanied by welcomed the torch when it came to .

Vancouver Olympiad , with her gold medal, was present when the Olympic Torch came to the Vancouver City Hall. Fung was the first gold medalist awarded in the sport of during the which were held in .

welcomed the public to the opening of the in Vancouver, BC. Black is in Canada and is pictured here with and of which is the parent company to twitter-based application .

This is the first Olympic Games where people are full-on involved with technology and the internet. Many fans often have out their own cameras to capture their memories themselves. With this sort of documentation present for the Vancouver Winter Olympics, some of the best Olympic news coverage will be coming from the internet!

There are many different pavilions popping up all over Vancouver with all sorts of awesome installations and displays. This is a touch screen graffitti media installation in the part of the . Here one of the creators is having fun creating some interactive art.

Mayor Gregor Robertson has been a very busy man during the preparations for the Winter Olympics in Vancouver. Here he is outside of the in the DTES. He was the speaker at the ribbon-cutting of this independent media house which opened to the public.

The beautiful sits on the waters’ edge of the . There was a bit of g, which is a copyrighted image. Despite some grievances with the IOC, Vancouver fought to keep the flag up!

, the company who designed the Olympic Torch for the Vancouver Winter Olympics, also designed the , a train that runs from the Main Street Skytrain Station to Granville Island. Bombardier has given Vancouver two of their streetcars, on loan from . The Olympic Line is a 60 day demonstration project so get a ride while you can!

Visitors have been packing into Vancouver from all over the world for the 2010 Winter Olympics. This group of women associated with team were photographed on their way into the Opening Ceremony on February 12th.

Another type of visitor that has been sighted in Vancouver is the increase in public security, with the influx of police from other provinces. These police officers are in fact from four different Canadian provinces!

It was very exciting to watch the crowd gather for the Opening Ceremony at the . The place was packed with locals and visitors for the three hour televised event. Of course, everyone went nuts when the Canadian team was ushered into BC Place.

The biggest secret of the 2010 Winter Olympics was the identity of the person who was to light the final torch in Vancouver during the official welcoming of the Games. ended up carrying the torch from to the final outdoor giant torch at Waterfront station in a great fanfare. The night ended with a fireworks-filled sky.

All content which is generated, every image, every news story, every phone call, all official VANOC websites (including ) and every score will be broadcast to the world using a highly connected infrastructure and reinforced network designed to withstand the demands of the mega- event and its international audience.

Bell have provided a dedicated Olympic fibre network, wireless voice and data services, broadcast support support and internet portals to make sure that the content of the self-described “flawless” Games can be delivered successfully using a fully online system.

In terms of future Games, and with in mind, I will be watching carefully to see how LOCOG’s Olympic network compares to the provisions of Bell. In turn, whilst new media interaction appears to be rife across the Vancouver Games spectrum, how will those who are not accredited and/or connected to the Olympic network fair during the Games time in terms of connectivity, data tariffs and broadband access on the move.

Free Tibet Campaign urging public figures to stay away

Owen Bowcott
Monday January 28, 2008

Prince Charles won’t be going to Beijing in August. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA

The Prince of Wales’ decision not to attend the Beijing Olympics is being used as the launchpad for an international campaign to persuade public figures to boycott the games..