The Revamping of Spectatorship
There is an energy and excitement stirring, the kind that happens every four years. Yes, the summer Olympic games have returned and in full force, bringing with them the usual feelings of anticipation, nationalism as well as enough controversy to hearken memories of the 1936 Berlin games when Hitler and the Nazis watched Jesse Owens win a gold medal for the long jump.
Despite the controversy, though, this year’s games will probably be well-watched as always. Why do we watch?
1. Bob Costas.
2. The anticipation of moments like this:
3. Watching other humans perform feats we can only dream of.
4. The sheer mystery of how the make-up stays on the synchronized swimmers.
This year, though, we watch because we can: The world is the smallest its ever been and the global conversation is at its loudest and most relentless with mobile technology and live video streaming.
The Associated Press reports “[NBC] is planning to make 2,200 hours of streaming video available on NBCOlympics.com. Consumers may also get video on demand via their computer and Olympics content through their mobile phones.”
USA TODAY reports that this is also the first year that the athletes themselves were allowed to blog about their experiences and many were supplied by Lenovo with computers and video cameras to document their stories.
The article also talked about Bank of America’s efforts in “viral rooting” and their site called AmericasCheer.com. The idea is that fans can record videos of themselves cheering and as well as well-wishing photos and post them on the sites for the athletes to see.
This is, in many ways, profound. Suddenly new technology adds a reciprocal element to the tradition that has been missing for centuries. Not only can spectators watch the events, they can now interact with the Olympians.
This year, thanks to the explosion of blogs and podcasts as a medium, the games become a discussion and a forum. For the first time, the games can be simultaneously enjoyed, celebrated, inspired and for some, whose teams do not win those coveted medals, endured.
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