EUROPEAN ACADEMIC CONFERENCE ON SPORT AND TOURISM
PROF DAVID MCGILLIVRAY, CHAIR IN EVENT AND DIGITAL CULTURES, UNIVERSITY OF THE WEST OF SCOTLAND
SPORT EVENTS AND NEW MEDIA: CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES @dgmcgillivray david.mcgillivray@uws.ac.uk
COVERAGE
Sport event and the media landscape New ‘media’ transformations: from production to prosumption Sport events and (destination) brand activation Two Participatory Case Studies: #citizenrelay & Digital Commonwealth
Concluding thoughts
SPORT EVENTS DOMINATED BY RIGHTS-OWNING MEDIA
ESTABLISHED NARRATIVES
CORPORATE-MEDIA NEXUS
Accredited media Strict media guidelines
Sponsors Narrative control
MEDIA LANDSCAPE OF MAJOR EVENTS Alternative narratives Unaccredited media
Independent media Citizen/community media
CHANGING MEDIA LANDSCAPE ubiquitous
mobile devices, shareable web platforms and DIY ethos deployed to create as much as passively consume media
f lattened hierarchies, enabling citizens to subvert corporate-media narratives and have voices heard
exploiting networked publics (boyd, 2014) restructured by networked technologies
SO WHAT IS IT?
THE RISE OF THE SOCIAL WEB
I use the term social media to refer to the sites and “ services that emerged during the early 2000s, including social network sites, video sharing sites, blogging and microblogging platforms, and related tools that allow participants to create and share their own content. In addition to referring to various communication tools and platforms, social media also hints at a cultural mindset that emerged in the mid-2000s as part of the technical and business phenomenon referred to as “Web2.0� (Boyd, 2014: 6)
SOCIAL MEDIA: THE OPPORTUNITIES Social media empowers people as ‘creators’ rather than just ‘consumers’ – the prosumer (Ritzer & Jurgenson, 2010) (e.g. citizen journalists) Social media liberates people living in ‘closed’ societies: gives voice without the need for financial power or influence Social media can decentralize, empower, mobil(e)ise (Hands, 2011) and organize (Rheingold, 2002) Social media enables challenge to established sources of knowledge & authority (e.g. sport media) Social media encourages greater accountability and transparency in public life (e.g. bid committees, OCs)
SPORT EVENTS & CORPORATE MEDIA COMPLEX Boundaries blurring between ‘new’ and mainstream media as each extends reach into others’ territory Web sites, online content, and social media are acting as ‘‘second screens’’ to the primary broadcast via television, and are being used simultaneously by fans (Hutchins & Rowe, 2012, p. 4 Evidence of (successful) appropriation of new media by the corporate sport-media nexus Sponsors, destination marketers, and broadcasters utilise the ‘massive media attention and cultural space occupation of major sport events’ to pursue commercial imperatives (Rowe, 2014)
SPORT EVENT ‘PROSUMERS’ ‘accelerated availability of devices and ways of connecting them’ (Rowe, 2014) intensifies competition for ‘eyeballs’ – whether sports org or tourism agencies Sport spectators (in various mediated spaces) now ‘make their own media texts’ for Twitter, Facebook to communicate their experiences in real time
Contrived, easily ‘mediated’ public viewing spaces designed to animate and showcase destination assets (Frew & McGillivray, 2014) Enhanced connectivity facilitates a ‘citizen witnessing’ (Allan 2013) which dilutes the role of media organisations ‘describing the world to those that inhabit it’ (Rowe, 2014: 755)
NEW MEDIA AS BRAND ACTIVATION TOOL
Social
media used as just another vehicle to broadcast, ‘message’ & activate brand propositions ocial media enables tourism agencies to speak S directly to its target audiences, bypassing traditional media outlets, conveying messages without the input of journalists ut, it can also be a space open to dissent, protest, B opposition and negative sentiment
ontrolling the sport event message is increasingly C difficult as established media strategies collide with the networking capacity of web 2.0 and the popularity of social software to communicate alternative readings of events quickly
(SOCIAL) MEDIA AND RISK NARRATIVES
Sport events viewed as image enhancers
but risk narratives often emphasised by MSM (e.g. crime, security, overcrowding) eputational risk also possible as R oppositional voices more easily shared to a wider ranging network public ultural Programmes provide real C opportunity to ‘project’ positive destination images
“The media coverage, and the Cultural
Programme’s web and social media audience, multiplied the opportunities to see Glasgow and Scotland in a positive light many times over. Media coverage across all platforms was almost wholly positive, as was social media sentiment” (Cultural Evaluation, 2015)
Social Media ambushing used effectively by ‘unofficial’ brands to reach World Cup audience
SPORT EVENTS AS CATALYST FOR MEDIA DEMOCRATISATION
Adoption of decentralized & distributed structure, where heterogeneous actors could network and amplify their messages through a shared communication platform
#citizenrelay used a hybrid media environment, including blogs and social media, to mobilise, organise and discuss issues pertaining the Olympic Torch Relay
collaboration
MSM working wit broadcast media to e ‘coverage’
(hyper) locality A commitment to a more bottom-up, place-specific & rooted agenda to support citizen media makers in each locality
Creating space for the local and regional place identities to be promoted
Empowerment & participation mass media and institutional gatekeepers circumvented by those providing first-hand, real-time coverage and non-hegemonic interpretations (Bakardjieva, et al, 2012)
digital infrastructures offer citizens new channels for speaking and acting together and thus lower the threshold for involvement (Bakardjieva et al, 2012: i)
Visualising place through everyday image production – authenticity key
Creative response to the Commonwealth (Games) from across Scotland, involving diverse range of individuals/communities
Community media clusters - community media cafes and digital storytelling workshops
Digital Schools programme - in-school digital storytelling workshops with primary and secondary Common learners in Scotland’s 32 local authorities
Creative voices - documentary film, creative writing and community songwriting around UWS campuses
Queen’s Baton Relay – tell your community stories
Wealth
OPEN RESOURCES Provided a ‘framework’ for expert practitioners to work w/ people to produce stories via: • Blogging • Audio • Video • Social media
CREATIVE VOICES
THE CHALLENGE OF ‘KNOWING’ Difficult to assess ‘impact’ of new media efforts Need for more developed techniques to understand the Big Data being generated and its ‘meaning’ long term Need more research into power of new media narratives in sharping the story of major events Less focus on volume (eyeballs) and more on sentiment and influence
CONCLUDING COMMENTS Participatory media practices around mega/major events can help establish new productive/creative/sustainable networked collectives formed for, or as an outcome, of the Games The social web provides tourism agencies, sponsors and other actors with huge opportunities to engage with new audiences, but they need to understand the cultural mindset of users to maximise benefit Social media is about cultivating conversations, making connections, generating commitment and (co) creating content Sport events continue to be a testing ground for new tools and technologies – but narrative control is no longer one-way and uncontested
Thanks and Questions