By Bob Lujano
With the conclusion of the 2012 London Paralympic Games, I imagine that athletes who have made repeated trips to the Paralympics are being pressed to answer the question, “Was this the best Paralympic games ever?” One indisputable answer would be, “Yes, since I won a Gold medal!” A response from a different perspective might point out that since Coldplay, Rihanna and Jay-Z headlined the Closing Ceremonies in London, the London Games were clearly the best yet. I looked recently at a different way of calculating the success of the Games � the use of online and social media during the competition.
According to the latest online and social media statistics, these Games blew past all others like Paralympian Jessica Long passed swimmers in the 100-meter breaststroke. Nearly 2 million people visited www.paralympics.org, the official website of the Paralympic Games. Paralympic Sport TV had 16,913 subscribers listed. �At the NCHPAD office, we tuned into the website to watch our favorite Paralympic sports and athletes.
The International Paralympic Committee (IPC)’s official Facebook group grew by 130 percent during the Games, and now boasts over 136,000 user “Likes.” The Official IPC Twitter feed had 28,509 followers on the day the Games began and over 39,000 the day after the Games concluded. Do you like to “Google+?” The IPC Google+ page received 50,000 followers daily during the Games. Many individual athletes’ social media sites also made great gains. For example, South African sprinter Oscar Pistorius’ Facebook fan page added 30,000 new followers in the two-week span of the Games.
I am not sure when NBC and the United States Olympic Committee will renegotiate their contracts, but I hope they are not wearing Goalball eyeshades when it comes to evaluating these numbers!
The social media impact alone shows one area in which these Games were clearly the best yet.
For more information, check out this video at the IPC Media Centre website: http://www.paralympic.org/news/london-2012-paralympics-prove-be-online-successUpcoming Events and Conferences:
- WBU-ICEVI 2012: World Blind Union 8th General Assembly, International Council for Education of people with Visual Impairment General Assembly
- This event will focus on how to develop partnerships to serve people with blindness in Asia.
- November 8 - 18, 2012
Bangkok, Thailand
http://www.wbu-icevi2012.org/ - 1st CBR World Congress
This congress is to develop strategies to better network with agencies to reduce poverty and improve lives for people with disabilities - November 26 - 28, 2012
Agra, India
http://usicd.org/detail/opportunity.cfm?opportunity_id=240&id=144
- 2012 TASH Conference
This conference is an advocacy, networking and educational event to discuss issue impacting the disability community - Long Beach, California, USA
Contact: Haley Kimmet
1001 Connecticut Avenue, NW
Suite 235
Washington, DC 20036
Tel: (202) 540-9015
FAX: (202) 540-9019
TTY:
E-mail TASH Conference
Internet Events
November 19, 2012
Text Customization for Readability
http://www.w3.org/WAI/RD/2012/text-customization/
Contact Shawn Henry (CW3C/WAI) W3S MIT CSAIL
32 Vassar Street Building 32-G528
Cambridge, MA 02139-4307
shawn@w3.org
December 3, 2012
Easy to Read on the Web
http://www.w3.org/WAI/RD/2012/easy-to-read/
Contact Shadi Abou-Zahra
shadi@w3.org
Here is some new information and websites to get you Training and Traveling.
Working Wounded Games � for Crossfit Training
http://www.cvent.com/events/working-wounded-games/event-summary-4befd8bcca364480bed3e0e29efa4860.aspx
World T.E.A.M �The Exceptional Athlete Matters
http://worldteamsports.org/tag/adventure-team-challenge/
Crossfit Activities for everyone
http://crossfit.com/
S.A.T.H. �The Society for Accessible Travel and Hospitality
http://www.sath.org/
Accessible Able Travel Source
http://www.access-able.com/
