Keynote address at First European Sport Tourism Academic Conference at University of Limerick

1. S P O R T E V E N T S A N D N E W M E D I A :
C R I T I C A L P E R S P E C T I V E S
PROF DAVID MCGILLIVRAY, CHAIR IN EVENT AND
DIGITAL CULTURES, UNIVERSITY OF THE WEST OF
SCOTLAND
EUROPEAN ACADEMIC CONFERENCE ON SPORT AND TOURISM
@dgmcgillivray
david.mcgillivray@uws.ac.uk

2. Sport event and the media landscape
New ‘media’ transformations: from production to prosumption
Sport events and (destination) brand activation
Two Participatory Case Studies: #citizenrelay & Digital Commonwealth
Concluding thoughts
COVERAGE

3. SPORT EVENTS DOMINATED BY RIGHTS-OWNING
MEDIA
ESTABLISHED NARRATIVES
CORPORATE-MEDIA NEXUS

4. MEDIA LANDSCAPE OF MAJOR
EVENTS
Accredited media
Sponsors
Strict media guidelines
Unaccredited media
Independent media
Citizen/community media
Narrative control
Alternative narratives

5. CHANGING MEDIA
LANDSCAPE
ubiquitous mobile devices, shareable
web platforms and DIY ethos
deployed to create as much as
passively consume media
flattened hierarchies, enabling citizens
to subvert corporate-media narratives
and have voices heard
exploiting networked publics (boyd,
2014) restructured by networked
technologies

7. SO WHAT IS IT?

8. “I use the term social media to refer to the sites and
services that emerged during the early 2000s, including
social network sites, video sharing sites, blogging and
microblogging platforms, and related tools that allow
participants to create and share their own content. In
addition to referring to various communication tools and
platforms, social media also hints at a cultural mindset that
emerged in the mid-2000s as part of the technical and
business phenomenon referred to as “Web2.0” (Boyd,
2014: 6)
THE RISE OF THE SOCIAL WEB

9. Social media empowers people as ‘creators’ rather than just ‘consumers’ –
the prosumer (Ritzer & Jurgenson, 2010) (e.g. citizen journalists)
Social media liberates people living in ‘closed’ societies: gives voice
without the need for financial power or influence
Social media can decentralize, empower, mobil(e)ise (Hands, 2011) and
organize (Rheingold, 2002)
Social media enables challenge to established sources of knowledge &
authority (e.g. sport media)
Social media encourages greater accountability and transparency in public
life (e.g. bid committees, OCs)
SOCIAL MEDIA: THE OPPORTUNITIES

10. Boundaries blurring between ‘new’ and mainstream media as
each extends reach into others’ territory
Web sites, online content, and social media are acting as ‘‘second
screens’’ to the primary broadcast via television, and are being
used simultaneously by fans (Hutchins & Rowe, 2012, p. 4
Evidence of (successful) appropriation of new media by the
corporate sport-media nexus
Sponsors, destination marketers, and broadcasters utilise the
‘massive media attention and cultural space occupation of major
sport events’ to pursue commercial imperatives (Rowe, 2014)
SPORT EVENTS &
CORPORATE MEDIA COMPLEX

11. ‘accelerated availability of devices and ways of connecting them’ (Rowe, 2014)
intensifies competition for ‘eyeballs’ – whether sports org or tourism agencies
Sport spectators (in various mediated spaces) now ‘make their own media
texts’ for Twitter, Facebook to communicate their experiences in real time
Contrived, easily ‘mediated’ public viewing spaces designed to animate and
showcase destination assets (Frew & McGillivray, 2014)
Enhanced connectivity facilitates
a ‘citizen witnessing’ (Allan 2013) which
dilutes the role of media organisations
‘describing the world to those that
inhabit it’ (Rowe, 2014: 755)
SPORT EVENT ‘PROSUMERS’

12. NEW MEDIA AS BRAND ACTIVATION TOOL
Social media used as just another vehicle to
broadcast, ‘message’ & activate brand propositions
Social media enables tourism agencies to speak
directly to its target audiences, bypassing
traditional media outlets, conveying messages
without the input of journalists
But, it can also be a space open to dissent, protest,
opposition and negative sentiment
Controlling the sport event message is increasingly
difficult as established media strategies collide with
the networking capacity of web 2.0 and the
popularity of social software to communicate
alternative readings of events quickly

13. (SOCIAL) MEDIA AND RISK NARRATIVES
Sport events viewed as image enhancers
but risk narratives often emphasised by
MSM (e.g. crime, security, overcrowding)
Reputational risk also possible as
oppositional voices more easily shared to a
wider ranging network public
Cultural Programmes provide real
opportunity to ‘project’ positive destination
images
“The media coverage, and the Cultural
Programme’s web and social media
audience, multiplied the opportunities to
see Glasgow and Scotland in a positive light
many times over. Media coverage across all
platforms was almost wholly positive, as was
social media sentiment” (Cultural
Evaluation, 2015)

14. Social Media ambushing
u s e d e f f e c t i v e l y b y
‘unofficial’ brands to reach
World Cup audience

15. SPORT EVENTS AS CATALYST FOR MEDIA
DEMOCRATISATION

17. Adoption of decentralized
& distributed structure,
where heterogeneous
actors could network and
amplify their messages
through a shared
communication platform

18. #citizenrelay used a hybrid
media environment,
including blogs and social
media, to mobilise,
organise and discuss issues
pertaining the Olympic
Torch Relay

19. collaboration
MSM working wit
broadcast media to e
‘coverage’

20. (hyper) locality
A commitment to a more
bottom-up, place-specific &
rooted agenda to support
citizen media makers in
each locality

21. Creating space for the
local and regional
place identities to be
promoted

22. Empowerment & participation
mass media and institutional
gatekeepers circumvented by those
providing first-hand, real-time
coverage and non-hegemonic
interpretations (Bakardjieva, et al,
2012)

23. digital infrastructures offer
citizens new channels for
speaking and acting
together and thus lower the
threshold for involvement
(Bakardjieva et al, 2012: i)

24. Visualising place through
everyday image production
– authenticity key

25. Digital
Common
Wealth
Creative response to the Commonwealth
(Games) from across Scotland, involving
diverse range of individuals/communities
Community media clusters
- community media cafes and digital storytelling
workshops
Schools programme
- in-school digital storytelling workshops with primary and secondary
learners in Scotland’s 32 local authorities
Creative voices
- documentary film, creative writing and
community songwriting around
UWS campuses
Queen’s Baton Relay – tell your community stories

27. O P E N
R E S O U R C E S
Provided a ‘framework’ for
expert practitioners to work w/
people to produce stories via:
• Blogging
• Audio
• Video
• Social media

29. C R E A T I V E
V O I C E S

30. Difficult to assess ‘impact’ of new media efforts
Need for more developed techniques to understand
the Big Data being generated and its ‘meaning’ long
term
Need more research into power of new media
narratives in sharping the story of major events
Less focus on volume (eyeballs) and more on sentiment
and influence
THE CHALLENGE OF ‘KNOWING’

31. Participatory media practices around mega/major events can
help establish new productive/creative/sustainable networked
collectives formed for, or as an outcome, of the Games
The social web provides tourism agencies, sponsors and other
actors with huge opportunities to engage with new
audiences, but they need to understand the cultural mindset
of users to maximise benefit
Social media is about cultivating conversations, making
connections, generating commitment and (co) creating
content
Sport events continue to be a testing ground for new tools
and technologies – but narrative control is no longer one-way
and uncontested
CONCLUDING COMMENTS

32. Thanks and Questions