Social Media and the Future of Citizen Journalism

Here’s a great film about the Vancouver 2010 Social Media coverage. Highlights include recognition that citizen journalists gave the Paralympic Games a profile, when broadcasters fail. As well, recognition of the different roles of citizen and investigative journalists.

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 Whistler Media House, make daily their way to the press conferences held at the here to meet athletes and their families. Unlike in Vancouver, where the BCMC operates independently from the other media houses such as W2 or True North Media House, 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.

• Whistler Media House
• British Columbia International Media Centre
• 2010 Winter Games Secretariat Resort Municipality of Whistler (data password protected)
• Tourism Whistler (request access privileges)
• Whistler Blackcomb (all media indexed and named for identification)
• Olympic Torch Relay

For BC, Vancouver, Canada related resources please check:

• Tourism BC
• Canadian Tourism Commission (data password protected)
• City of Vancouver (no registration required; FTP download)
• Tourism Vancouver

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 Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, Wordpress and Tumblr have cascaded into the landscape from which fans are acquiring their in-real-time coverage of culture, events and community of the Olympic Games.

Static Photography has been out in Vancouver covering the very broad spectrum of events that are occurring in the city upon the official arrival of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. From the opening ceremony, to press conferences, to torch relays and event demonstrations, Kris Krüg 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 John Biehler and Dave Olson hold up the media accreditation badge for the True North Media House. 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 W2 Woodwards Media + Culture House. This independent media house, located in the DTES, is providing space for many Vancouver media outlets like the Tyee and CBC. It is also providing space to organizations, like the Legal Observers, that are providing community services during the month of February.

Rebecca Bollwitt, aka Miss604, 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. Robert Scales who runs the site VancouverAccess is holding up his British Columbia International Media Centre 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 2010 Cultural Olympiad media installation called ‘Fire with Fire’ by Isabelle Hoyeur. 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, Andrew Lavigne 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 Jon Ornoy and titled ‘With Glowing Hearts’, this documentary tells the digital evolution of many stories including W2 Woodward’s, True North Media House and Fearless City.

The gentlemen was a participant of an anti-olympic rally that convened at the Vancouver Art Gallery 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 Michael Tippet of NowPublic and our studio manager at Static Photography, Danielle Sipple, 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 Olympic Resistance Network held a press conference 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 Poverty Olympics 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.

Chris Wheeler is a great example of a citizen journalist making the most fun out if an experience. Geared up as the ‘2010 Torch Reporter‘, 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.

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.

You can listen to the show here.

Vancouver is filled with energy now that 2010 Winter Olympic Games 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 Podborski. Steve won a bronze medal in the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid. Currently he is part of the VANOC and works within International Relations.

Premier Gordon Campbell 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 Coast Salish territories and has a Four Host First Nation welcoming committee as part of the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games. Willie Lewis, dressed in a traditional Aborginal outfit, was part of the Whistler Torch Relay Celebration.

Static Photography had the chance to hang out in Whistler for the weekend with Chris Wheeler who had been following the torch relay through all of Canada. We had the chance to do some zip trekking 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 Vancouver city council accompanied by Mayor Gregor Robertson welcomed the torch when it came to City Hall.

Vancouver Olympiad Lori Fung, 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 Rhythmic Gymnastics during the 1984 Summer Olympics which were held in Los Angeles, CA.

Iain Black welcomed the public to the opening of the VX Forum in Vancouver, BC. Black is Minister of Small Business, Technology and Economic Development in Canada and is pictured here with Nadia Nascimento and Dave Olson of Invoke Media which is the parent company to twitter-based application Hootsuite.

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 DigiBC part of the BC Pavilion. 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 W2 Media and Culture House in the DTES. He was the speaker at the ribbon-cutting of this independent media house which opened to the public.

The beautiful Olympic Athlete Village sits on the waters’ edge of the False Creek. There was a bit of controversy when the athletes from Australia hung up their official Aussie flag, which is a copyrighted image. Despite some grievances with the IOC, Vancouver fought to keep the flag up!

Bombardier, the company who designed the Olympic Torch for the Vancouver Winter Olympics, also designed the Olympic Line, a train that runs from the Main Street Skytrain Station to Granville Island. Bombardier has given Vancouver two of their streetcars, on loan from Brussels, Belgium. 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 Ukrainian 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 German Saxony House. 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. Wayne Gretzky ended up carrying the torch from BC Place to the final outdoor giant torch at Waterfront station in a great fanfare. The night ended with a fireworks-filled sky.

Irwin Oostindie, welcoming the world to W2

This morning was the official opening and ribbon cutting ceremony for the W2 Culture and Media House; the first independent media centre of its kind, offering space and providing the infrastructure, resources and support for unaccredited media, independent journalists and bloggers from around the world and around the corner who are covering this story of Vancouver during the 2010 Winter Games.

The W2 has created a work and social environment in a 1903 heritage building at 112 West Hastings. 13,000 square feet featuring a mix of Vancouver artists, designers, quiet work space, daily media events for community organizations, a 24/7 webcast, and open to the public.

W2 welcomed Vancouver’s current Mayor Gregor Robertson (@mayorgregor), who captured his own image of gathering crowd on his iphone and shared via twitpic.com.

W2 will also play a part of the first-ever Cultural Olympiad partnership spanning two Olympic Games, as W2 partners with Abandon Normal Devices (UK) with the assistance of Vancouver 2010 and the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad programme in the Northwest of England.

The team at Culture @ the Olympics will be working close with W2 during Games time and are proud to be part of the unique experience which the space has to offer. We’re hoping that they’ll be more to follow in the coming days.