Times Higher Education reports on senior university managers “getting in on the act” of carrying the Olympic torch, after Samsung allocated 3 places each to 31 universities. Continue reading
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Four out of seven directors at £50m Olympic energy contractor found among Olympic torchbearers – and the CEO’s PA gets to carry a torch too
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UPDATE: Now published on the Caledonian Mercury.
Rupert Soames is having a very good year. In addition to netting a £7m bonus this year on top of his £1.39m salary, and seeing the company’s share price shoot up, he will have the opportunity to carry the Olympic torch through Wandsworth – thanks to his position as chief executive of the “Official Temporary Energy Services Provider to the London 2012 Games“.
Soames is one of four of the company’s 7 executive directors to be found among the list of Olympic torchbearers – although not one mentions the company in their nomination story:
- Bill Caplan, Managing Director Europe and Middle East, gets to carry the torch through Dorking.
- 49-year-old Kash Pandya from Dubai, Aggreko’s Regional Director International, has a spot carrying the torch through Kingston Upon Thames.
- 56-year-old Peter Kennerley – the Company Secretary and Legal Director – is carrying the torch through Girvan.
In addition, Soames’s PA, Sheila McNeill, also carried the torch through Luss. Continue reading
Torchbearer stories: interactive
The word cloud below illustrates the words that appear most frequently in torchbearer nomination stories (a slightly different version is available here). Underneath that you can find an interactive word tree which allows you to enter specific words and see what other words and phrases are associated with them. You can also try it with sponsors’ names such as adidas, BT, etc. to see the context in which they are named.
Olympics citizen reporting hub to launch in June with day of free workshops
A hub that hopes to build a “sustainable group of citizen journalists” will be offering free workshops at its launch on June 29th. Tickets here.
#media2012, in partnership with 3D Native, is launching its West Midlands hub with an unconference day at The Public (West Bromwich) from 10am.
The day will be filled with workshops including:
- How to set up a free website
- How to set up a paid site
- WordPress blogging
- Video production & editing
- Recording audio
- Live blogging
- Publishing from mobile (video, text, pictures & audio)
- Any other suggested sessions from attendees
Visitors will be encouraged to trade skills and ideas, helping to build connections between different communities, encouraging engagement with locals and media producers to generate a unique perspective on coverage of the Olympics and beyond.
On the 30th June attendees will be invited back to West Bromwich to put into the practice the skills learnt the previous day, helping to create a solid group of community journalists who are passionate about their local area and want to give it a voice.
Workshops will be delivered by media workers from across the UK, including Adam Perry from Newsnet’s Media Trust who are backed by organisations such as BBC, Sky, Google, The Guardian, MTV and many more; Jon Coster from Citizens Eye, a successful citizen journalism group based in Leicester; as well as Franzi Bahrle, Jennifer Jones, Joe Hagen, Luke Holloway, Luke Seager, Ollie Clark and Steve Hands.
Uncategorized: Olympic Stadium following the games
With the most recent update from West Ham United being very positive about adopting the newly built Olympic Stadium it has opened the concern of whether the Olympic legacy will be maintained by the football club. Olympic legacy leader Sebastian Coe has pushed for the athletics track to be maintained following the Olympics, West Ham support this but Tottenham do not. Through supporting this lead of legacy it heightens West Ham’s chances of housing their football at the Olympic Stadium following the games. Continue reading
Question: Sex Workers and Mega Events
Last Sunday I took part in a discussion in Glasgow with those who are looking at the 2014 CommonWealth Games and London 2012 Olympic Games and the conflicts over urban space, regeneration and privatisation. The topic of sex workers and mega events emerged both here and at the recent Countering the Olympic meeting in London on the 28th Jen – and continues to be a major, under-discussed topic relating to the impact of mega events. Especially those mega events who claim to have a health-based focus and a health based legacy to maintain.
Here are some links to some studies and some campaigns relating to Vancouver 2010, London 2012 and Glasgow 2014.
Welcome to Help Me Investigate the Olympics
This is the start of a unique experiment in networked investigation. If you want to ask questions of the London 2012 Olympic Games – or anywhere else in the world – start contributing in the comments and we’ll try to help you.