The Daily Whim

Somebody writing an internet column seems to have noticed our blog. He wanted to check whether Olympic Blogging Came of Age. It's an overview of blogging activities during Athens 2004 compared to previous games and he found our blog through a simple web search. His column can be found HERE.

As even participants are exploiting their own blog, the organisation has decided last Friday that no athlete, coach, support personnel or other official is allowed to report on the games through a blog. This is to protect the broadcast rightsholders for the event. There's one exception: if the blogger already had a blog or site which was not set up specifically for the Games... (???) See the CNN article HERE.

Funny enough, the news article does not mention volunteers. At least, the quote "personnel or other officials" can be translated as paid staff. In every Olympic release, volunteers have always been mentioned separately, so I guess we can assume the same here...?

(What was that project managers line again? Never ASS-U-ME, because that makes an "ASS" out of "U" and "ME")

Of course, the Daily Whim couldn't have let this press release pass by without his view on the matter. One quote from his column (hopefully with his permission):

First, it’s notable that the IOC believes not only that “athletes and their coaches should not serve as journalists,” but also that the simple act of blogging would breach that barrier. Ergo, bloggers are journalists. It’s an Olympic decree.

If these athletes blogged, they wouldn’t be getting attention because they were engaging in journalism, they’d be getting attention because they were athletes, doing something that millions of individuals do … publish their thoughts on the web. To say that publishing on the web makes an Olympic athlete a “journalist” is as absurd as saying that putting an experienced sportswriter on the Olympic track makes them a sprinter. It is skill, training, and experience that makes a journalist, or a sprinter … not the medium.

(His entire column can be found HERE)

The question remains: are we "allowed" to blog? I can hardly imagine our little blog to have an impact on the billions of dollars paid by the broadcast stations. Of course, I come across many things that some newspapers might find very interesting and I even write about these things. However, as I avoid mentioning the NOC's involved and I'm pretty sure the things I see are not new, I don't see why a harmless non-commercial blog aimed at sharing experiences with friends and family can be a big issue.

My personal opinion as a person, not a volunteer? I think the IOC needs to realise that internet has changed the world and that what they're trying to stop is unstoppable. Communication has come a long way since the first games in 1896, but the IOC seems to be still living in that 19th century.

It reminds me of the Record Companies twisting and turning in every direction trying to stop the exchange of music through MP3 files. As we all know, with very little success.

It's a bit naive...

What's next? Thou shall not take digital pictures with thy mobile phone at broadcasted events? Try stopping that! As two years from now everybody will be walking around with 2 megapixel camera's built into their phone...

Oh well, let me get of my soapbox and start on a 'normal' blog posting...

Roberto