Digital revolution: Sport 2.0
Monday 3 April 2017
E-SPORT Olympics, gamers becoming thought of as elite athletes and spectators using virtual reality technology are all on the way according to a new book on the future of sport.
Written by future technology expert Professor Andy Miah and published this month, Sport 2.0 lays out how Andy sees the future of both traditional and e-sports as new technologies disrupt current trends.
In Sport 2.0 Andy Miah, Professor of Science Communication and Future Media at the University of Salford, explores how watching, competing and even the nature of sport itself could change in the coming years.
Professor Miah said: “Digital technology, including virtual and augmented reality is changing everything about sports. Athletes and coaches rely on digital data, referees rely on digital technology to make decisions, and fans use social media to comment on what they are watching or to keep up with the score and watch highlights if they are not actually physically there.”
One example given by Professor Miah is that of someone who was snowboarding down a slope previously used in an Olympics. They could use augmented reality goggles to see the exact placement of the flags on a slalom run and then test themselves against the times of actual Olympians. The same could be done on marathon courses or for bike riders, giving extra meaning and motivation to physical activity, as amateur sportspeople can compare themselves to elite athletes.
Professor Miah added:“We have had sports for at least a few thousand years, but sport as we know it is about to change and traditional sports know this. It’s why we see professional e-sport players being signed to large football clubs like Manchester City and it’s why the Olympic Games is embracing new, alternative sports, like skateboarding. Existing sports will evolve to integrate the technology as part of their experience and completely new sports will develop as a result of these disruptive technological possibilities.”
Professor Miah said: “Everybody is buzzing about augmented content in sport and participatory spectator experiences. From sharing photographs to being involved in actual team decision making, digital technology is re-making every aspect of sport.”
The experience of watching live sporting events will also change. We already are seeing experimentation with a range of virtual reality simulation seats, which could allow us to experience what it is like to perform a pole vault, and many more experiences.”
Professor Miah added: “The entire history of sports media has been an attempt to bring us closer to the action. Digital technology puts us in that position and sports will have to provide those opportunities. To be very clear I don’t see traditional sports dying out anytime soon, but they will have to change and offer new ways of engaging with sport.
“For instance, we might integrate camera technology into a ball and allow spectators to feel what it is like to be the ball as it flies through the air.
“One of the big consequences to all of this is that sports can become meaningful again to a generation that has been lost to digital gaming. We need to bring these two worlds together and create new opportunities for people to be physically active. While people think of digital experiences as completely different from physical activity, Pokemon Go showed us in 2016 how this could be otherwise. If we can build on this then sport has a bright future in a digital world.”
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Sam Wood
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