In cooperation with the Olympic Channel in Madrid, the International World Games Federation has made its archive even more user-friendly. One of the new functions makes it easier for customers and partners to download the assets they need. In addition, the platform presents itself more clearly and intuitively, and the search function makes it easier to find specific videos and photos from The World Games since 1981. Filters limit the number of objects displayed.
Philipp Doering works on the functionality of the archive for the IWGA. He praises the cooperation with the Olympic Channel engineers:
"As always when you set up a new system like this, there are challenges and unexpected obstacles. Our counterparts in Madrid then reliably find a solution and develop their own ideas to make the archive more user-friendly."
The IWGA launched the archive in November 2020.
In the meantime, the IWGA archive team around Philipp Doering has been able to add more than 2,000 photos from The World Games 2009 in Kaohsiung in Chinese Taipei. One of the media representatives at the Games in the port city in the southeast of the island had made the material available. Philipp Doering: "Our goal is to document the history and development of The World Games as completely as possible and to make it public. That's why we are happy to receive and archive further material from past editions."
Meanwhile, it is also decidedly easier to search for video footage of The World Games 2017. "Over the past few months, we have taken another look at all the videos and tagged them with keywords. This means that the assets are not only sorted by sport and discipline. In addition, we have documented - whenever possible - the nations and the names of the athletes as well as the stage of competition," explains Philipp Doering.
Making the current assets available to users as easily as possible is currently one of the most urgent goals in the further development of the tool. With a view to the next edition in 2022 in Birmingham, Alabama (7 to 17 July 2022), the hosts in the USA in particular are using the assets to promote the event.
"The fascination of The World Games is easiest to convey via videos and images. We can provide this footage. Right now we are registering greater demand as we come closer to the event."
Another task will be to archive the material from the Games in Birmingham, Alabama as promptly and easily as possible and make it accessible to users. Given the amount of data expected and the different sources feeding in their material, this will be a challenge. "We plan to work on the necessary strategies and solutions with our counterparts in Madrid in the third quarter of 2021, which is after the Tokyo Olympics. When the Games are on in Birmingham, we just want to talk about functionality and not about problems," explains the IWGA expert.
The IWGA Archive currently contains about 14,000 assets, including more than 456 hours of video footage as well as over 12,000 photos from 1981 to 2017. The 39 member federations of The World Games family as well as partner organisations of the IWGA such as NOCs or Local Organising Committees can use the assets free of charge for the purpose of promoting the multisport event. Requests for use of the archive should be sent to [email protected].
The World Games is a multi-sport event staged every four years by the International World Games Association under the patronage of the International Olympic Committee. The 11th edition of The World Games will be held in Birmingham, Alabama, USA, 7-17 July 2022. 3,600 athletes from over 30 sports and 100 countries will take part in The World Games.
