Yesterday I travelled to Lausanne with two of my colleagues from the legal department to meet with our counterparts at the International Olympic Committee.
On the agenda were digital rights. The fast-changing media landscape is very challenging for both us and the IOC. Our games are five years away, which may seem a short time to the team at the ODA building the Olympic Park, but in digital media terms it's an eon.
But I was really heartened to find that our colleagues at the IOC are as excited about the opportunities digital media offers as we are. I am now very confident that we will be working very hard together to embrace change rather than run away from it.
On our way out the IOC's James Whitburn took us down to the car park to show us what Santa had brought him for Christmas (see below). He claims his "Twike" can travel at 50mph powered by nothing more than electricity and some vigorous pedalling. As a geek with a soft spot for bicycles, my eyes lit up. I hope Santa is reading this ...
On our way out the IOC's James Whitburn took us down to the car park to show us what Santa had brought him for Christmas (see below). He claims his "Twike" can travel at 50mph powered by nothing more than electricity and some vigorous pedalling. As a geek with a soft spot for bicycles, my eyes lit up. I hope Santa is reading this ...
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Comments for this post:
23 Dec 2006, Adrian R D Norman said:
Alex
I hope you are also discussing digital rights with technologists as well as lawyers. A year before London was chosen to host the Games, I was putting together a conference at the University of East London on New Technology and the Olympic Games. The most critical challenge looming on the horizon was digital rights and eight years did not seem a long time to sort out the issues.
It was evident then that by 2012, most of the million or so spectators would carry multifunctional "personal digital assistants" incorporating phone, wallet, identification, calendar, tickets, diary and, significantly, a movie camera. It would also be linked to the broadband wireless internet and attached to its owner, from both of which it could be detached only by coercion. Since it would be a key element of the security system, it could not be switched off.
Although the quality of the picture from an individual PDA camera would be low, the images from thousands of cameras "mashed" together would create a three-dimensional virtual-reality model which could be viewed from any angle and distance, and match the quality of the best outside broadcast. Subscribers to multicasting services would get better coverage than any traditional broadcaster could offer, including their choice of action replays and "hawk-eye" analyses. Furthermore, this technology allows for continuous coverage of all events and every competitor, however few the live or distant audience: what we now call the "long tail" market. So most of the billion viewers around the world will watch the new services, not those of the appointed official broadcasters.
The IPR contest outside the arena will be as enthralling as the sporting contests inside and more important to the economic and social success of the Games. You will indeed have to work very hard together to embrace change rather than run away from it.
Adrian R D Norman