Digitizing the Games

• In Event: Global Sports Events as Platforms for Innovation

Abstract

Given the social and technological significance of the Olympic movement it is surprising to discover a gap in the academic literature addressing the digital evolution of the Games. To address this gap, the following presentation traces the digitization of the Olympic Games through a content analysis of the press and trade coverage of the first official website for the summer Games in Atlanta, 1996. In doing so, it also raises a couple of key questions. First, how does the evolution of the first official website enrich our understanding of the processes of innovation? Second, how can we read this as a historical case study into the development of Olympism and mega sporting events? The answers to these questions not only resound beyond the Olympic context but also present key findings for thinking broadly about the development of the Internet and the notion of technological ‘innovation’.

Author

• Katerina Girginova, University of Pennsylvania