Tired of traditional media broadcasting the humdrum, sanitized, “G” rated media coverage of the Olympics? If so, then here is the Unofficial Smart Mobs A-List of “8″ alternative ways to experience Olympic coverage. This list should satisfy your appetite and curiosity for understanding what is really happening in Beijing right now.
1.) QIK.com is probably the only user-generated platform that is offering an unprecedented perspective on what is happening live and uncensored from Beijing. No other platform offers real-time, instantaneous, people driven mediated coverage of the Olympics. There are about 18 individuals roaming around Beijing with QIK enabled phones live streaming to the world what is happening at the Olympics in Beijing. The QIK Olympic channel can be found here:
2.) Dailymotion offers an eclectic range of sources which easily rivals YouTube in substance. Think of Dailymotion as the “European” non-Googlian alternative which attracts quality sources from all points of the globe.
3.) YouTube China /Taiwan offers an official Olympic Channel which is only available to countries which do not have official Olympic coverage. Check out BeijingOlympics2008 for coverage of one man and his camera via YouTube.
4.) Kyte.tv currently offers about 9 channels with approximately 2 dozen shows covering issues ranging from Falun Gong, Tibet and the Olympics.
5.) The Pirate Olympics is what Janko Roettgers asserts will arise when “countless [Olympic] sports fans will look for video coverage of the Olympic games online while trapped [at work] in their cubicles… and chances are at least some of them won’t head to NBC’s official web site but will try their luck elsewhere.” Read: Pirate Olympics: 5 Alternative Ways to Watch the Olympics Online for a list of alternative ways to experience the Olympics.
6.) Flickr is an unyielding source of first-person accounts highlighting a plethora of visual perspectives in Beijing. A picture may be worth a thousand words, but flickr delivers thousands of pictures related to just one word: Olympics
7.) Twitter is another unique way to keep abreast of what people are doing in Beijing. You can track what is happening in the twittersphere with the following hash# tag #080808 There are over 2 dozen individual twitter feeds spewing micro-content of what is happening, although only a few are really worth tracking. Sadly the only twitter feeds worth tracking are: NBCOlympics (for an American mainstream perspective) 080808news for an “Official Olympic Games Data Stream”. You need to dig around on twitter to find those individuals who are broadcasting micro-content via twitter.
8.) Last but not least you can experience the Beijing Olympics from an Eastern perspective with CCTV.com, the official “window on China and the world. Also, check out Al Jazeera’s coverage which is a clear counterbalance to CNN.
Tired of traditional media broadcasting the humdrum, sanitized, “G” rated media coverage of the Olympics? If so, then here is the Unofficial Smart Mobs A-List of “8″ alternative ways to experience Olympic coverage. This list should satisfy your appetite and curiosity for understanding what is really happening in Beijing right now.
1.) QIK.com is probably the [...]
Comments
@ 09:14
This post has been extremely helpful. Thanks so much for the options, i am so dang tired of watching USA Women’s Beach Volleyball on NBC night after night after night.
@ 23:11
Thanks for the alternative Olympic coverage suggestions. I love the Olympics but I don’t think I can stand another horrible cliche, idiotic metaphor, or condescending statement of the obvious from NBC’s horrendous color commentators.
I unfortunately caught the coverage of race walking, which to me is an absolute joke, and the color commentator (apparently an insider of the “sport”) was trying so hard to sell it as entertaining. She said something about it has all the ingredients to make for “incredibly compelling television”. No- it DOESN’T!
After watching a real race- where athletes actually get from point A to point B as fast as they can (by RUNNING)- I can’t fathom how this goofy spectacle became a bona fide Olympic event. Then they actually breakdown what they apparently felt to be a key moment in the race by showing a replay in slow motion. Slow motion!!? They’re already WALKING!!
What’s next- the short jump (no bending your knees)? Olympic sitting? Sleeping? When it happens- someone will be there on NBC to tell you how exciting the semi-final long-sleep event is shaping up to be.
If you’re gonna race on two feet- RUN! And if you’re gonna provide color commentary for millions trying to enjoy the greatest athletic competion in the world- please have a remotely likeable personality, don’t try to be a poet, and don’t treat us like we’re the idiots!