video

Dr. Andy Miah came over to BC Canada Place and tested some new software that the University of Paisley is trialing to give remote classes using a web browser. Here's a little video clip on YouTube of Andy giving his talk plus the Torino team of KK and Robert hard at work uploading our citizen media.

We're putting videos on YouTube as well -- not just from my little cameraphone, but from Kris and Robert's Samsung SportCam. Check out the Torino group on YouTube to catch up with all the latest videos. If anyone else is in Torino, stick your videos there -- it's open to everyone.

Flickr also has lots of coverage. We've been tagging everything with Torino, so check the torino tag for ours and others. As well, someone created a Torino 2006 group.

It's great to see so much citizen media being created. I only wish we could have more directly from athletes themselves, but blogs by Olympic participants appear to be banned, according to a story from the Japanese Olympic Committee. The problem appears to be commercial use, or perhaps the key phrase being "journalistic activities" by participants. And that's the key issue: are blogs and other citizen media quote/unquote real journalism, or are they personal expression? I can only imagine that an athlete's appearance at the event is one of the most amazing and powerful personal experiences they will ever have. It's a shame that they can't (or aren't allowed) to share that with both their friends and family, as well as us.

There are HBC stores set up at both the British Columbia Canada Place as well as Canada House. I took this picture of a gaggle of young Italian Olympic Village volunteers wearing the Canada hats that are available. We think they're a bit silly looking, but it turns out that the Italians really do love them (Robert's Flickr stream will have a better picture later). In any case, whether during regular public hours or even at the Whistler Apres event where I took the picture, the HBC stores are packed and Canadian gear is flying off the shelves. In part it's a love of Canada and the excitement of the next Games being there, but HBC has really put together a fantastic selection of clothes. Even the green has grown on me.

Two short videos explaining what the process is for sampling the food and wine from the Piemonte region. See http://www.regione.piemonte.it/