High-Tech Olympics focuses on the new technologies used in sport today and how they are being used to help train world-class athletes. It also includes diagrams to illustrate how technology has been used to develop state-of-the art sports equipment and an Olympic records table to show how Olympic records have changed and some technological reasons why these may have changed.
High-Tech Olympics focuses on the new technologies used in sport today and how they are being used to help train world-class athletes. It also includes diagrams to illustrate how technology has been used to develop state-of-the art sports equipment and an Olympic records table to show how Olympic records have changed and some technological reasons why these may have changed.
"A major contribution to the study of global events in times of global media. Owning the Olympics tests the possibilities and limits of the concept of 'media events' by analyzing the mega-event of the information age: the Beijing Olympics. . . . A good read from cover to cover." —Guobin Yang, Associate Professor, Asian/Middle Eastern Cultures & Sociology, Barnard College, Columbia University From the moment they were announced, the Beijing Games were a major media event and the focus of intense scrutiny and speculation. In contrast to earlier such events, however, the Beijing Games are also unfolding in a newly volatile global media environment that is no longer monopolized by broadcast media. The dramatic expansion of media outlets and the growth of mobile communications technology have changed the nature of media events, making it significantly more difficult to regulate them or control their meaning. This volatility is reflected in the multiple, well-publicized controversies characterizing the run-up to Beijing 2008. According to many Western commentators, the People's Republic of China seized the Olympics as an opportunity to reinvent itself as the "New China"---a global leader in economics, technology, and environmental issues, with an improving human-rights record. But China's maneuverings have also been hotly contested by diverse global voices, including prominent human-rights advocates, all seeking to displace the official story of the Games. Bringing together a distinguished group of scholars from Chinese studies, human rights, media studies, law, and other fields, Owning the Olympics reveals how multiple entities---including the Chinese Communist Party itself---seek to influence and control the narratives through which the Beijing Games will be understood. digitalculturebooks is an imprint of the University of Michigan Press and the Scholarly Publishing Office of the University of Michigan Library dedicated to publishing innovative and accessible work exploring new media and their impact on society, culture, and scholarly communication. Visit the website at www.digitalculture.org.
This book exposes the anxieties of loss of control and missed opportunities for freedom of expression resulting from changes in technologies and geopolitics.
This book focuses on the processes of documenting the Beijing Olympics – ranging from the visual (television and film) to radio and the written word – and the meanings generated by such representations. What were the ‘key’ stories and how were they chosen? What was dramatised? Who were the heroes? Which ‘clashes’ were highlighted and how? What sorts of stories did the notion of ‘human interest’ generate? Did politics take a backseat or was the topic highlighted repeatedly? Thus, the focus was not on the success or failure of this event, but on the ways in which the Olympics Games, as international and historic events, are memorialised by observers. The key question that this book addresses is: How far would the Olympic coverage fall into the patterns of representation that have come to dominate Olympic reporting and what would China, as a discursive subject, bring to these patterns? This book was previously published as a special issue of Sport in Society.
The hosting of sports events – whether large international events, or smaller niche events – can have a significant and long-lasting impact on the local environment, economy and society. Strategic Sports Event Management provides students and event managers with an insight into the strategic management of sports events of all scales and types, from international mega-events to school sports. Combining a unique conceptual framework with a practical, step-by-step guide to planning, organising, managing and evaluating events, the book explains the importance of adopting a strategic approach, showing how to implement strategies that lead to successful outcomes over the short and long-term. This fully revised and updated third edition uses international case studies in every chapter, from the NBA and NFL to Formula One and the English Premier League, offering real-world insight into both larger and smaller events. In addition, woven throughout the book are a series of in-depth studies of the London Olympic Games, the ultimate sporting event and an important point of reference for all practising and aspiring event managers. The book covers every key aspect of the sports event management process, including sports organizations, such as the IOC, FIFA and IAAF, and their interactions with event partners, the media and promoters short-term and long-term benefits of the planning process event impact and legacy operational functions including finance, ticketing, transport, venues, IT, human resources, and security marketing and communications, including social networking and new media the bidding process research and evaluation. Strategic Sports Event Management is the leading sports event management textbook and is now accompanied by a companion website containing a range of additional teaching and learning features. The book is important reading for all students of sport management or event management, and all practising event managers looking to develop their professional skills..
This book analyses the relationship between the Olympic Games, with its ethos of openness and collectivism, and the security concerns and surveillance technologies that are becoming increasingly prevalent in the organisation of public events.
