Week Four: Week 4: The Olympics as a globalising force and global event

I've been waiting for this one sports fans, so here it is, the Olympic blog!

I love The Olympics, have done for years and will continue too, staying up until 4am watching Poland play Greece in Handball, why? Why not I say?

The Olympics is a truly special event where you can come from anywhere, be anybody, but as long as you can run, jump, swim, catch, whatever, you can be a star.

In my mind, there is no doubt the Olympics is a globalising force, its bringing cultures together on the biggest stage of them all, and challenging boundaries like few other events or conferences can do.

The fastest man in the world, Usain Bolt, appears cocky and arrogant, but the world loves him and cheers for him because he does what he does so well, many find themselves cheering against their own country because they want to see athletes like Jamaica's Bolt beat a world record or the USA's Michael Phelps swim for yet another gold medal.

The power and opportunity that the Olympics gives and provides is something that you cannot really argue with, not just for the athletes either.

 "In the past two years, the number of 'amateur', 'citizen', 'participatory', or 'grassroots' journalists, have soared." (Singer, 2007).

The topic of "participatory journalists," is raised, because so many people in so many countries around the world want their fix, opportunities arise for regular people to chase their dreams, be it through competing or reporting or just meeting a superstar from the other side of the world, the Olympics draws together a world wide audience, for a stage which none other can compare. 

Reference:

Singer, JB c2007, ‘Bloggers and other "participatory journalists"’, Online journalism ethics: traditions and transitions c2007, M.E. Sharpe, Armonk, N.Y, pp. 115-150

Image:  http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4013/4353114920_e23c078835.jpg

Week Three: My Media Empire - what would your global media empire look like, how would it function?

My media empire, what a world that would be.

If you are familiar with my blogs, you know I love sport, and the reporting of sport and all forms of sports broadcasting and hope to one day work in this field. So for a change, I think I'll make my Media Empire all about me monopolizing Australian TV sport.

And I know what you're saying, 'Jake, you can't give people live coverage of more sport than they can handle, its just not possible!' Ha. Watch me.

My ideal sports media enterprise would not be one of total control and power, its been proved with the News of the World cases, that one big rich guy at the top of many different media outlets at the top of newspapers at the top of journalists doesn't work, and then the big boss cops the whack for snakes in the grass that work for him. (In my opinion).

Its too much, if the lines get blurred of what is the aim of a media outlet, trouble brews, so: My Media Empire will be all about the Sport, talking sport, live broadcasts and viewer interactions.

Technology today is expanding and its potential is almost unimaginable, to give viewers the choice of what they want, when they want it, would be amazing. Tough, but amazing.

Imagine a world where you can be watching a live soccer game from England, and then flip channels to the cricket in West Indies, all whilst having a beer in your loungeroom. Whilst this is possible now to a certain extent, it costs money, money that many don't have, I don't like making people pay for live sport, it should be a right, not a privilege.

Ahh, a boy can dream, right?

Week Two: What is missing from current definitions and accounts of Globalisation?

Globalisation is so broad and carries with it a lot of aspects, so many so that its often hard to see a few underlying but yet pivotal things that continue to exist in a Globalised land.

Now, I'm a big sports fan, and many of my posts and blogs will no doubt refer to sports, sports events, sports people, etc etc, so brace yourself.

Sport in general is a huge part of cultures shifting towards the same likeness, and a constant source of cultures mixing and changing and picking up things from each other.  "Sport is frequently referred to as a ‘global language’ and used to promote international awareness and cross- cultural understanding – two key themes inglobal citizenship literature" (Unknown, 2011).

Referring to sport as a global language may seem foolish to some, and in my opinion, those some are wrong. And that's my opinion, and opinions cannot be wrong.

Sport challenges all sorts of global boundaries, language being one of the most difficult ones to hurdle. But athletes love their sport, no matter where they are from, they all meet in an arena to do what they love, and through their sport, they are able to make friendships and share experiences that they would have never dared to dream of if they were not a professional athlete.

Every year the Indian Premier League Twenty20 cricket tournament brings the best of the best from all around the world together to compete, and the players love it, they love the companionship of a new team, and learning the new culture of their home for 2 whole months of the year.

Whilst politics and the economy make the world go around, and are heavily featured in reasons for a Globalised world, its unfair to ignore on an academic level, the contribution sport makes.

Phew.

Reference:

Third World Quarterly, Vol. 32, No. 3, 2011.

Article Sourced from  http://cdnglobalcitizenship.wordpress.com/2011/05/09/global-subjects-or-objects-of-globalisation/ after being presented at a conference.

Week One: What is Globalisation?

"Globalisation sparks conflict" (Nederveen-Pieterse, 2004 pp7). No other sentence I've read so far on Globalisation says so little, but so much at the same time. And I'll tell you why.

Globalisation is not something that can be easily defined, it takes in a lot of different factors and events which as a whole create it. There are many variables in Globalisation, but controversy seems ever present.

As technology grows and develops, so does Globalisation. Technology is allowing people in countries all around the world to communicate in the blink of an eye, and the coming together and understanding each others cultures and social values and the religious aspects that make up a society in a far off country is a big part of what is known as Globalisation. 

As understanding one another's cultures occurs, confusion and racism can and does occur too. What is it about not being able to grasp someone's beliefs and that they differ so heavily to yours that those people should become the victim of ridicule and isolation?

This coming together of cultures hasn't happened over night, and the thought of one day having trade agreements where no one country holds power over another is a pleasing thought, but as we stand today, an unrealistic thought.

Globalisation isn't an easy thing to grasp, and the cultural boundaries are only one piece to the puzzle, and trust me, as this blog and the unit continues, there will be many a piece still to come.

References: 

 Nederveen Pieterse, J 2004, ‘Globalization: consensus and controversies’, Globalization and culture: global mélange, Rowan & Littlefield, Lanham, Md., pp. 7–21