There’s a lot of buzz in Vancouver leading up to the 2010 Winter Olympics. There have been Olympic court battles , wars of words, major developments going over budget , rumors of social activism, some questioning if there will there be a riot? The police have been  buying sonic crowd control devices, and the climax of it all of course…the gold medal men’s hockey game .
The one thing I’ve been most interested in seeing though (after the gold medal men’s hockey game of course) is how social media will have its journalistic coming out party this February. True North Media House (Dave Olsen in particular) forged a trail into VANOC and the public discourse around the Olympics by being very vocal about the role of blogging and other forms of social media during the games. It was their hard work and initial phone calling, e-mailing and blogging that got social media recognized for the first time as a credible “news” source for the Olympics, a first. But while True North may have opened the door, W2 has turned on the lights and got the party started.

The co-working space across from Woodward’s has already been busy with local artists, bloggers and media mavens as the leadup to the Olympics and the opening of the official W2 space across the street in the new Woodward’s Building gets closer and closer. The W2 2010 Media House has already been fielding Olympic inquiries from as far away as Japan and the Netherlands according to their site, but they’re not the only space in the DTES that will be open for bloggers during the games. Other co-working spaces are beginning to fill up slowly as well, including the Building Opportunities with Business office at 163 Pender and True North Media haven’t been counted out yet either, though W2 has clearly emerged as the dominant hub for social media during the Olympics. True North Media House currently has no major sponsor or venue, though that could all change quickly if the stars align. Or perhaps True North and W2 will find a way to work together. An opportunity like this only comes once, and it’s an opportunity to really showcase Vancouver’s talented pool of social media experts and bloggers. More information on W2 , and more information on True North Media House . More information at the Co-working space at BOB .

There’s a certain irony that physical space has become such a contentious and competitive issue for bloggers during the Olympics, but social media has yet to fully satisfy every social aspect of human interaction. Sometimes having a coffee and relaxing while throwing ideas back and forth, face to face, just can’t be beat. I’m excited to see this unfold. Like clusters of independent journalists of old, these co-working spaces will be buzzing with objective and uncensored observation during the games. Vancouver has become the testing ground for a new paradigm of journalistic social media, so let’s do this right.

With the Vancouver Olympics fast approaching there are plenty of surprises, scandals and rising tensions bubbling to the surface as Canada gets ready to own the podium. So today I wanted to take a look at some new technologies that we’ll be seeing at the Olympics, and take a moment to examine the impact of technology in sport. The Canadian ski team recently announced that they’ll be employing the use of a real time GPS (Global Positioning System) called STEALTH. Just announced this week, the Olympic ski team and the University of Calgary have put 3 years of research and development into the system. It tells skiers the fastest and safest route down hills through a small lightweight box attached to the skier, that transmits satellite information to their helmet and then verbalizes the best path. Athletes and representatives from other countries have complained that it is an unfair performance enhancing technology.

Technology and sport have enjoyed a symbiotic relationship from the first ball or stick related games though, and on one hand we cry foul when someone comes up with a brilliant new material or method, yet it inevitably improves the performance, safety, and entertainment value of any given game. In hockey and football major focus has been placed on improving helmets and other protective gear, mainly due to the fact that technology, training methods and genetics have progressively increased the strength, skill and speed of athletes- oh I forgot drugs too. I guess we’ll lump that in with technology.

One kind of technology in particular is a hot topic during the upcoming Olympic games, surveillance. Over 900 closed circuit cameras have been implanted throughout Vancouver and area in an effort to make sure no funny business goes on during the games. The rigid security measures, parking and traffic controls, cameras, crowd control devices and harassing of liberal journalists like Amy Goodman, has numerous civil liberties groups very concerned that these Olympic games are going to turn Vancouver into a temporary Orwellian police state. But really, if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear…

Funny how with over 900 cameras installed for the olympics that VANOC would fight to prevent the British Curling team from using their own single custom camera technology during the games. In the end the team won the right to use their camera-after much squabbling between Vancouver Olympics organizers and the curling powers that be who are headquartered in the UK- maybe it’s an example of post-colonial acquiescing. Or maybe the British curling team agreed to let it double as a security camera when they weren’t using it.  Considering how angry the public in Vancouver, Seattle, and elsewhere have been about ticket prices, hotel rates and every other detail of the games, it doesn’t surprise me that VANOC feels safer with Vancouver under martial law.