Sport 2.0: Transforming Sports for a Digital World

by Andy Miah

Overview

Ramifications of the convergence of sports and digital technology, from athlete and spectator experience to the role of media innovation at the Olympics.

Digital technology is changing everything about modern sports. Athletes and coaches rely on digital data to monitor and enhance performance. Officials use tracking systems to augment their judgment in what is an increasingly superhuman field of play. Spectators tune in to live sports through social media, or even through virtual reality. Audiences now act as citizen journalists whose collective shared data expands the places in which we consume sports news.

In Sport 2.0, Andy Miah examines the convergence of sports and digital cultures, examining not only how it affects our participation in sport but also how it changes our experience of life online. This convergence redefines how we think of about our bodies, the social function of sports, and the kinds of people who are playing. Miah describes a world in which the rise of competitive computer game playing—e-sports—challenges and invigorates the social mandate. Miah also looks at the Olympic Games as an exemplar of digital innovation in sports, and offers a detailed look at the social media footprint of the 2012 London Games, discussing how organizers, sponsors, media, and activists responded to the world's largest media event.

In the end, Miah does not argue that physical activity will cease to be central to sports, or that digital corporeality will replace the nondigital version. Rather, he provides a road map for how sports will become mixed-reality experiences and abandon the duality of physical and digital.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780262343121
Publisher:	MIT Press
Publication date:	02/17/2017
Series:	The MIT Press
Sold by:	Penguin Random House Publisher Services
Format:	eBook
Pages:	288
File size:	1 MB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Andy Miah (@andymiah) is Professor and Chair of Science Communication and Future Media in the School of Environment and Life Sciences at the University of Salford, Manchester. He is the coauthor of The Medicalization of Cyberspace and The Olympics and the author of Genetically Modified Athletes.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Introduction 1

I The Field of Play

Prelude 17

1 Games-Based Culture 21

2 Real-World Games 39

II E-Sports in Three Dimensions

Prelude 59

3 The Digital Ecology of Elite Sports 65

4 The Serious Gamer as Elite Athlete 85

5 Digital Spectators in Augmented Realities 103

III The Olympic Games and Sport's Digital Revolution

Prelude 123

6 Media Change at the Olympic Games 127

7 The New Olympic Media 153

8 Social Media and the Olympics 171

9 The Effect of Social Media on the 2012 London Olympics 199

10 Citizen Journalism and Mobile Media 219

Conclusion 237

Notes 249

Bibliography 255

Index 271

What People are Saying About This

Andrew C. Billings

Many scholars tackle the key sports issues of today, but Miah is one of the few who address the key questions of tomorrow. No one can predict the future, but Miah's work establishes the parameters in which that future will unfold. For those wishing to ask 'What's next?' Sport 2.0 is an essential read.

Endorsement

Many scholars tackle the key sports issues of today, but Miah is one of the few who address the key questions of tomorrow. No one can predict the future, but Miah's work establishes the parameters in which that future will unfold. For those wishing to ask 'What's next?' Sport 2.0 is an essential read.

—Andrew C. Billings, Ronald Reagan Chair of Broadcasting, University of Alabama

From the Publisher

For those who think technology has transformed sport, think again—the revolution is only just about to begin! In Sport 2.0 Miah provides a glimpse into the future—a fusion of digital and physical worlds, where sport will be shaped by those able to imagine and harness the disruptive power of digitization.

—Mike Caine, Professor, Sports Technology & Innovation, Loughborough University

Many scholars tackle the key sports issues of today, but Miah is one of the few who address the key questions of tomorrow. No one can predict the future, but Miah's work establishes the parameters in which that future will unfold. For those wishing to ask 'What's next?' Sport 2.0 is an essential read.

—Andrew C. Billings, Ronald Reagan Chair of Broadcasting, University of Alabama

Mike Caine

For those who think technology has transformed sport, think again—the revolution is only just about to begin! In Sport 2.0 Miah provides a glimpse into the future—a fusion of digital and physical worlds, where sport will be shaped by those able to imagine and harness the disruptive power of digitization.