WOC2015

[Tatty]

Great bulletin just gone up. Very comprehensive and well presented. Would really make me want to go.

[Lard]

I would put money on you being there

[Spookster]

More info at:

http://www.highland2015.org
http://www.woc2015.org (on which you can find the bulletin)

[Tatty]

Too true! Been to every 6Day since they started , one of a select group!

[ER]

Why are there no pictures of women athletes on the WOC 2015 site?

[andypat]

Hmmm you dont count Cat Taylor then?

[Sunlit Forres]

I was just talking to someone about what a fantastic "public face of orienteering" Cat would make. Time she was on Question of Sport.

[ER]

I certainly do count Cat Taylor but I cannot see her or any of the other leading women in GB orienteering on the opening page to the web site where they should be. This is the page that is found from the link posted above and also by a separate search. Perhaps we are looking at a different pages. These are the first images of people who take part in the sport that I saw and that meet the world when the site is opened and the images are of white males - is that the message about the sport and WOC 2015 that the organisers wish to be give ? I doubt it.

I am unsure of the aims of WOC2015. If it is to provide excellent world class orienteering competition then this aim will be exceeded as the planners, controllers and organisers in British orienteering have those skills, knowledge and abilities in spades.

If the aim is to market and publiscise the sport and increase numbers, especially young people to enter the sport then it is important to be open to suggestion, especially from people who do not currently orienteer. It is important to assess what you want to achieve through the eyes of the non orienteer or the orienteer who is not the skilled and knowledgeable orienteer, in other words the outsider and uninitiated.

Another example - if it was not for Nopesport correspondents I would have been at a total loss to find the links to the on line results and TV streaming etc of WOC 2013. I only accessed it through the links posted by Nopesport users. I notice that a visit was made to Finland to assess their media output? but the lessons to be learnt were by the user like me before a computer screen trying to find out what was happening in the competitions in Finland and feeling very frustrated that I could not do so. The outsider would not have been able to access the competitions from Finland.

In my opinion WOC 2015 should be accessible and inclusive; if not it will still be an excellent WOC from the competitors' viewpoint and the orienteers who spectate, but no one from outside the sport will be engaged or interested in WOC.

[Gross]

I am unsure of the aims of WOC2015.

The clue is the name... WOC = World Orienteering Championships so it's aim is to find the World Orienteering Champion (s).... any other goal / project / idea / etc is secondary......

As far as I am aware there aren't any non-white top class elite orienteers around so what's the problem with only having white elite orienteers.... I did notice there are a couple of pictures of a wee Scottish Ned... surely that's inclusive?????

[smf]

I certainly do count Cat Taylor but I cannot see her or any of the other leading women in GB orienteering on the opening page to the web site where they should be. This is the page that is found from the link posted above and also by a separate search. Perhaps we are looking at a different pages. These are the first images of people who take part in the sport that I saw and that meet the world when the site is opened and the images are of white males - is that the message about the sport and WOC 2015 that the organisers wish to be give ? I doubt it.

You are complaining because there are two pictures of Scott and one picture of Murray on the front page and no women?

I guess you didn't notice there are more pictures of women in bulletin 1 than men.

Another example - if it was not for Nopesport correspondents I would have been at a total loss to find the links to the on line results and TV streaming etc of WOC 2013. I only accessed it through the links posted by Nopesport users. I notice that a visit was made to Finland to assess their media output? but the lessons to be learnt were by the user like me before a computer screen trying to find out what was happening in the competitions in Finland and feeling very frustrated that I could not do so. The outsider would not have been able to access the competitions from Finland.

They will still be there.

How do you expect links to be on the WOC2015 website with online results and TV streaming, two years before the event?

[andypat]

[Domhnull Mor]

How do you expect links to be on the WOC2015 website with online results and TV streaming, two years before the event?

I think you've missed ER's point here. The WOC in Finland is over but what can we learn from it as to how we should make information and access to real-time media coverage available in 2015, including that from service providers other than those directly coupled to the event?

I think we would all agree that the media coverage we have had access to this last week has been great but like ER says, you had to be in-the-know to be able to find these, especially the SVT and YLE TV coverage. Even the official "pay-for" services were not the easiest to find. Also, at least at the start of the week, these services had their problems, not an encouraging start, but these were at least sorted out fairly quickly.

A good deal of the TV coverage we have followed in the last week was available via public broadcasters in other countries (principally YLE in Finland and SVT in Sweden) which, fortunately, those of you in the UK have been able to access free of charge. However, why should licence payers in other countries (I pay a licence fee here in Sweden) provide a free service for users in other countries for an event which is not even in my country? Indeed, will these options be available in the future? I've heard that YLE will not be broadcasting the Jukola, at least to the same extent, as they have to date.

There is a mention on the WOC2015 website about finance having been secured for live TV production/coverage but it will be interesting to see how this is made available to the armchair fan. I think ER's point is how can we make it as easy as possible for the average man/woman on the street to be able to access all this real-time media material without having to search for where to look. Also, will we once again have to rely, at least for TV pictures, on the benevolent vagaries of public broadcasters in other countries for free-of-charge coverage or will local broadcasters provide this in 2015?

[Gross]

[quote="Domhnull Mor"] how can we make it as easy as possible for the average man/woman on the street to be able to access all this real-time media material[/quote

You can make it as easy as you like for 'Mr Average Man on the Street' or 'Mr Outsider' but it won't matter.... they might watch for 2 minutes but it will have zero impact on the future participation of our sport. Targeting the general population is an absolute waste of time... particularly if the weather in summer 2015 is the same as this year... who is going to sit in and watch orienteering long distance final on TV? (unless you are already hooked) Anyone suggesting otherwise either lives in cloud cuckoo land or has their head up their a** chasing Sport England money

[SeanC]

Hey, I think you're all wrong. Don't target the average man in the street, or those in the know, but ordinary orienteers. Ask orienteers at the Smegworthy local event. I bet most of them won't know that WOC is on at the moment. To be honest I've been orienteering for 30 years and I've only just worked out that WOC is every year in orienteering. And I get confused with World Cup.

Targeting orienteers in this way could help increase participation by increasing retention, especially younger orienteers who are more likely to be inspired.

[Sunlit Forres]

Ask orienteers at the Smegworthy local event. I bet most of them won't know that WOC is on at the moment.

You are so, so, so, so, so right Sean.