Fresh Media Olympics

A hybrid conference about how Social Media has Transformed the Olympic Story

Join Fresh Media and W2 at the W2 Culture + Media House on Monday, Feb 22 starting at 2pm for an afternoon of intellectual dialogue on the impact social media has had on the stories surrounding the Olympic games. The Winter Olympics and Paralympics are expected to draw 3 billion television and 70 million website viewers worldwide and will generate more wireless and social media-based content than any previous Olympics.

With this explosion of citizen-generated media tools in the hands of Olympic fans and foes, as well as pervasive reporting by new media journalists and bloggers, will social media have its journalistic coming-out party this February?

The conference features a keynote from Andy Miah, author of ‘Genetically Modified Athletes’ (2004) and ‘A Digital Olympics: Digital Games, Ethics & Cultures’ (The MIT Press, 2010), and panels with senior journalists and industry watchers from the USA, UK, Canada, and elsewhere. An afternoon unconference program provides open space for participant led-workshops with an added emphasis on practice and a summary of the first Olympic week. The conference also brings people face-to-face for networking and sharing tips on theory, practice, legal and operations. W2 will webstream to reach viewers outside Vancouver. The day wraps with a Cinq à Sept reception and evening party with Vancouver artists and DJs.

Sure to sell-out, registration is free for Full Media Access passholders for the W2 Culture + Media House and involves a two-tiered paying system for others. This event is co-hosted by Fresh Media and W2.