Points for Participation?

Into the thick of the Olympic sporting competition, Canada is rolling in a litany of 5th, 6th, 7th places ... but with track and field, rowing finals and trampolining yet to come, the Canucks still have a chance to visit the podium.

As Tod Maffin twitter'ed: "Maybe Beijing will at least give us a courtesy Participaction pin?(Dont understand this? Ask a Canadian over 30.)" (ed note: or view this Participaction toque).

In the social media production department, Scales continues to create video at an epic pace despite losing his co-hort Kris who was repatriated to Vancouver in time for a glorious summer weekend. Scales is staying busy by picking up more tickets for varied events at the incredible new venues including the whitewater kayak run (plus visits to the Danish hospitality house).

I'm heading to the hills with tent and beverages so here's a few highlights to enjoy with your weekend viewing:

In this installment of the Beijing Summer Olympics social media report, we join Robert Scales and Kris Krug as they spread their on-the-ground reportage around the world. Indeed, their barrage of videos, photographs and words are deepening the coverage for fans, pundits and athletes' families as their coverage is picked up by social and mainstream media outlets.

Coverage Highlights

BBC's Canadien Correspondent

Robert Scales' second entry from his Olympic diary is up on BBC - this time he talks about the opening ceremonies (video) and their venue reconnaissance (video) with visits to the Birds Nest' national stadium, the 'Water Cube' aquatic centre, the fencing hall and the Yukeson basketball stadium while fortified by snake, silk worms, scorpian and salamanders (videos).

Beijing's Faces in LA Times

Krug's Olympic photos are in the LATimes blog with a photo essay called the Faces of Beijing - the candid photos show KK's skill of relaxing the subject to be themselves - you can almost feel the humidity in the photos.

Cross-posted from: BBC Sport | Olympics | Beijing Diaries

Cross-posted at: Raincity Studios

Background: Raincity Studios CEO/Founder Robert Scales and Pres/Ambassador Kris Krug are on the ground in Beijing to document and study the 2008 edition of the Olympic Games. They are publishing dispatches to a variety of news outlets including the venerable BBC. Here's Scales' first installment of his Olympic diary.

ROBERT SCALES, MONTREAL, CANADA

Robert runs a web development company based in Canada

NOTE: As part of on-going social media coverage of the Beijing 2008 games, this article was cross-posted at:

• Raincity Studios
• Now Public
• Urban Vancouver
• etc.

Citizens On the Ground

Raincity Studios Sino-Away-Squad of Scales and KK, are on the ground in Beijing to cover and participate in the Olympic experience as citizen journalism, technology experts, social pundits and cultural ambassadors.

The Glimmer Twins' tasks are diverse and their methods varied so here's a preview:

• participating in the 9th International Symposium on Olympic Studies, in Beijing, August 5-7 with Olympic scholar Dr. Andy Miah's
• documenting the scene for crowd-sourced new site: Now Public, Vancouver radio station: Crave 95, and BBC Interactive - among other media outlets
• shooting Creative Commons licensed photos delivered via Flickr
• extolling about the new, improved Bryght web community hosting product - available in free, cheap or fancy varieties
• meeting up with prospective clients to extol Raincity Studios' status as an approved weblog vendor for Vancouver/Whistler 2010
• cheering for Team Canada at the Archery, Fencing, Women's Softball, BMX and more summer games sports
• spreading international goodwill in the fun-loving/hard-working style they honed whilst at the Torino 2008 Winter Games.

Torino 2006 Skeleton Gold Medalist athlete Duff Gibson chats with Olympic Outsider host Dave Thorvald about having a beer named after him, life as a Calgary fireman, being Canada's (and the world's) oldest gold medalist, training for technical and speed courses, the Whistler track, athletic challenges and the future of the sport at an Olympic rally at the Vancouver Art Gallery in May 2006.

Download The Duff Man! - Olympic Laughs with the Superhero Skeleton-ist Duff Gibson
(.mp3, 8MB, 9:53)

Doing business in China in advance and following the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, is the topic as Australian businessman Andrew Gilkes, Chairman of ChinaAccess2008, an international business facilitation program, shares tips and best practices for interacting with this rapidly growing economy.

Mr. Gilkes answers host Dave O's questions about the creative arts and science industries, the effect of the Hong Kong handover, educational levels, economic growing pains, environmental remediation, understanding the culture, and diaspora of "sea turtles."

Today, in Vancouver, shortly after noon, the Olympic countdown clock was revealed to the public in an event attended by supporters and surrounded by the chaos of protesters chanting and protesting the coming of the Olympics.

Here's VANOC official Press Release regarding today’s presentation:

“What’s six metres high, three metres wide, weighs 1,170 kilograms and is wrapped in a 15 metre by 12 metre gift box from Omega on the Vancouver Art Gallery’s northwest corner in downtown Vancouver? It’s the new Vancouver 2010 Countdown Clock, presented by Omega, Official Timekeeper. Preparations are underway to unveil it to the citizens of Vancouver, rain or shine, in a fast-paced noon hour celebration on Monday, February 12 – the three-year anniversary to the start of the 2010 Winter Games.”

Vancouver BC Place Stadium dome un-flated {Note: Cross posted at GetElastic, Urban Vancouver and Ephemeral Feasthouse}

Note: Photo updated with correct date, apologies for any confusion.

Digg this story

Vancouver’s noble and venerable stadium BC Place - which opened in 1983 as one of the first self-supporting domes in the world - is the latest casualty of the wildest winter weather ever around here.

[Cross-posted to Urban Vancouver and my personal weblog.]

Kris Krug just posted a photo of a poster seen in Gastown, and surely elsewhere, of a stylized middle finger made out of the Olympic rings. If it had the Olympic colours, it probably would have been less subtle, but let's be honest, I don't think a lot of people, myself included, initially saw an obscene gesture made with one's hands, but a body part that people are more discreet about. I wonder if the people who were behind the 2010 Riot stencils are behind this poster as well.

Huh? Where??

As part of BarCamp Shanghai, the first of its' kind in China, Kris Krug from Bryght will be facilitating a PhotoCamp and PhotoWalk through the streets of Shanghai, and no doubt schooling on the wonderful ways of flickr to boot!

Do the bloggers and internet geeks in China know about Flickr? Do they use it? Can they? Apparently so. Check out these recent photos of some crafty "goods" that will be needed at BarCamp - Scotch tape lives in China!

Check in with the photostreams of Kris and Rob over the next few weeks as they wind their way through China, from Beijing to Shanghai to Hangzhou. Crystal from Raincity has done a lot of grunt work from Vancouver to get BarCamp off the ground, so check out her pics as well.