James Pearce – Pioneer, thorn, saviour…

I hadn’t actually had this piece planned for #L2012Days, but in the spirit of being newsy (or attempting to) I felt it apt to shove the agenda around.

And I’ll preface this brief piece by saying that I never met James Pearce, neither in the run-up to or during the London 2012 Games.  Many of the renowned 2012Tweeps have done so and can speak more laudably about the man.  What I will say about him is that, well, if people have a perception that loads missed out on tickets for the Olympics and Paralympics then a hell of a lot more would’ve missed the cut were it not for Mr. Pearce.

As someone who follows Social Media in general terms, he remains head-and-shoulders above his peers in telling the story through mediums such as Twitter.  His play-by-play reporting of the Harry Redknapp fraud trial was a textbook example of the power of social.  But instead of being one of many journalists who have a linear approach to their channels, James always found time to reply to followers and enquirers. 

This I can speak of first hand.  When I began the heady circumnavigation of buying Olympic tickets from European ATRs, James was someone who’d answer questions, share insight and in many instances fight for consumers to get access where resellers were not playing ball.

Many people who attended London 2012 (myself included) owe him (and his employer, the BBC) a huge debt of thanks for opening our eyes to the possibility that it was possible to go to our Olympics.  That it was possible to attend more than one session.  And that it was a mite disingenuous to try and shimmy around the Great British public.

Moreover, it was always a joy to follow the progress of someone who was as passionate about the London Olympics as we were.  He was a journalist, but was as much a fanboy for this epic coming together of sport and culture.

Of course, this doesn’t intend to read like an obituary!  As James is very much alive and kicking, and moving on to the challenges freelancing will bring.  But just as I hold the 2012Tweeps in such high esteem for single-handedly getting thousands to London 2012, so I thank James for being a public face to all of our endeavours.

A Social Media pioneer, a thorn in the side of the shady ATR and a saviour for many a person’s summer.  @Pearcesport – I salute you.

2012: A ticket-hunting odyssey - and the passionate few

I’ve spent the last couple of days making peace with, and consolidating, all the Olympic tickets bought over the last year. Being honest, my demeanour has been quite vacuous on the matter of late - which is alarming considering how the hunt to secure my place at London 2012 has become nothing short of an obsession. Maybe I have reached the point of saturation. I’d laugh were it not so damn ironic.

Harking back to bright, springtime days of 2011, the process of buying official tickets for the London Olympics seemed like such pure sport. A lottery with a twist. Money was staked, fingers were crossed. And online bank account statements were monitored like hawks in pinstripes, checking for that all important deduction that said you made it - that you were going to the Games.

I was quite fortunate. Across two applications in the first round of LOCOG sales I secured six pairs of tickets, including Athletics and Tennis. As I began to find my groove in writing about my experiences and witnessing the unfolding drama on Twitter, I had no idea that a year later things would be quite so different.

As history notes, the horse bolted and changed the landscape when news broke that tickets were available on official websites in mainland Europe. For whatever blather exists about EU disharmony and austerity, never has a league of nations been so important for such as a pseudo-trivial exercise. Without Europe, I wouldn’t have jumped from twelve modest tickets to a comparatively embarrassing total of around ninety.

I certainly never planned nor budgeted for it. Yet when those opportunities came, I couldn’t resist. With opportunity comes enlightenment, chance and choice. I wanted to see Track Cycling, but had no idea what the right sessions would be to attend - likewise Athletics. The immense online community that is the #2012Tweeps have played a huge part in understanding both the sweet science of ticket hunting, and shaping a Games experience that I can ultimately feel good about.

It was expected to be an Olympics dominated by Social Media, and the work of the Tweeps has singlehandedly challenged all perceptions that normal Brits couldn’t get hold of tickets. Indeed their existence and help have defined the debate around the matter. The refuseniks and haters have been given a disproportionate voice across all traditional media because the power of the social community threatened to bring forward the one thing news men and women seem to hate: a good news story. Indeed, the ticket-buying actions of a relative minority have gone a long way to dispel the notion that real fans are without tickets. That is untrue in the absolute main. Fair-weather followers perhaps, but those with the passion to be in London at the Olympics? Never.

As a Joe writing about my ticket-hunt I crossed paths with a community of people and a cross-section of fans who all shared a common goal. And amongst that group were some brilliant minds. It’s with a rye smile I see Tweets now about the work of Ben Marsh’s site checker, when a proverbial generation of SocMed users have missed the exploits of the brilliant Neil Douglas and Alex Kersley, along with Kevin Plasmans - all of whom have been instrumental in providing a platform for Olympic ticket hunters to gather news, information and data. Along with the work of Volshy and Matt de Monte as marketeers, tickets have made their way into the hands of real people - and in the process made many an ATR and NOC very profitable.

Many other Tweeps have made and shaped the experiences of others as the days tick toward the Opening Ceremony this Friday. Indeed it was a Tweep tip-off that enabled me to get to the LOCOG site on time last month and snare a pair of what always were my dream ticket. I remember being an eleven year old watching Rebollo light the cauldron in Barcelona. And now I will see it being lit in my hometown. It bought me close to tears the day I got them - and even now I well-up a little as I write.

The Tweep community - its core - are generous with their time, help and inclusiveness. I, like many others (including a plethora of international athletes competing in London) owe them a huge debt of thanks.

The ticketing process for London 2012 will be analysed and assessed to death when the Games are over, if nothing else to aid Rio and their efforts in 2016. But time looks set to judge these upcoming Games kindly. Perhaps the vitriol has been such because so many people wanted to go. That for all the pouting and protestations of disengagement, the haters actually want to be there.

As for the result of my aforementioned consolidation: I tallied in summary that I was attending some 36 sessions over the Olympic Games. It will be an endurance race and a test in the extreme. But, to counter my irony from the outset - this is the Games I always wanted, and yet I never knew it. Not without the help of a passionate few.

Read more about me and London 2012.

Close imitation: the Telegraph, the Olympics and my blog

As tempting as it to be emotional from the get-go, I shall leave it at the door - or at least park it as an addendum item. 

I’d like anyone - ideally - who reads this blog to make their own judgement before reading the rest of my commentary.  In doing this it perhaps best encapsulates the spirit of what I’m trying to put across.  The facts are as follows:

  1. I have - for over a year - been writing a series of blogs, based on my own personal experiences, on getting official tickets to attend the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
  2. The latest addition to my blog on this matter went live in the very early hours of Thursday, 28 June 2012.  You can read it here: http://goo.gl/xS09b
  3. Some 24 hours later, The Daily Telegraph went live with a piece on their Olympics 2012 section, on tickets.  You can read it here: http://t.co/GBdWnNkN

I should add that on the morning of June 28, my piece was shared by a third-party with a Telegraph writer called Alice Philipson on Twitter.  As it transpires, Ms. Philipson was the writer of the piece that went live on the Telegraph website on Friday morning.

That same morning, as I headed to the office from a client meeting I found my Twitter feed full of references to my piece and something to do with the Telegraph.  Much of this had been flagged by a large core of the Olympic ticket-hunting community who’ve read my work.  In their eyes, an act of plagiarism had taken place.  I had a limited view until I had a chance to review and consume myself.

Indeed I did compare the pieces - and I cannot escape the fact that both from a content and structural perspective, the pieces are very similar.  Naturally I was stunned.  As flattering as it could be considered, the fact that neither Ms. Philipson nor anyone else at the Telegraph sought to speak to me to either gain permission, clarify facts or even engage in a sense of collaboration brought a compounding sense of disappointment.

News of this spread amongst other ticket hunters, as well as friends and family on a number of social networks.  As opposed to baying for blood I wanted to escalate in the proper fashion - e-mailing their editorial team and even dropping a Tweet to their Editor, Tony Gallagher.  I had no idea if I had recourse from a legal perspective - I guessed not - but I certainly expected the Telegraph to respond in a respectful, transparent manner seeing that I purposefully sought to avoid sandbagging their social media channels with irate Tweets and posts…

This was my initial e-mail to Telegraph editorial:

Dear Telegraph team,

I’ve signed-in this morning to find that one of your reporters has lifted a significant amount of content and structure from a blog I have written about Olympic tickets.

My piece went live on the early hours of Thursday morning - and today I note that Alice Philipson has had a piece go live this morning which reads as a virtual copy of my original.

I am very disappointed that I have not been credited in any way in her article despite providing nearly all the inspiration and content for it!  I did not give any permission for the piece to be reproduced.

I would ask that the piece be corrected appropriately, either giving me due credit or be removed completely from all of your channels henceforth.  If you cannot do this, I would be very interested to hear what you can offer by means of compensation.

As I’m sure you can appreciate, being London 2012, this is a very social issue and I see commentary has been made on various channels this morning.  I am flattered your publication deemed my work so useful - and would’ve been happy to have been approached and produce from scratch a piece as a paid writer - perhaps this is a route of compensation you and your team should consider!  Instead, it is sad such a fine institution has to resort to copying other people and failing to disclose and recognise it.

I look forward to hearing what action you plan to take very shortly.


Yours faithfully,


This was the response I received from Chei Amlani, the Telegraph’s Digital Olympics Editor:

Dear Sri Sritharan,

Thanks for your email earlier about our last-minute ticket guide. This is a piece Alice has been working on for a few days. She has been in contact with a number of people on Twitter with questions about tickets and has been pointed to a number of places, including your blog, for further information.

You clearly have an understanding of the ticketing process and Alice has used some of the information in your blog to help build her piece, which is very much her own work. She has not plagiarised your blog and she clearly has no trouble in crediting sources when required. She has equally directed users to other Twitter accounts whom she deemed useful to the process. The fact that she did not link to you was an unfortunate oversight that was rectified very quickly this morning by adding a link to your Twitter page.

Like you, we are passionate about the Olympics and have covered the ticketing process, along with many other subjects, comprehensively for some time.

I trust this is of assistance.

Sincerely


This was my response back to Mr. Amlani:

Dear Chei Amlani,

Thank you for your e-mail.

In fairness much of what you have outlined below was to be expected from someone in your position.  But no one can escape the structural and content-based similarities between my piece and Alice’s.  I’m not going to list these ad nauseam; if you do cannot see it then I fear any amount of direct communication is going to be a waste of time.

Add to the fact that were it not for social media intervention this morning I wouldn’t have got any recognition at all – which in turn speaks volumes for the proactivity and responsibility shown by your team.  One wonders how many bloggers and contributors the Telegraph are “researching” at any given time to harvest free content.

Personally, I hold no ill-will toward Alice – she has clearly been let down by a team that far from offering any recompense or formal recognition (note the hyperlink to my Twitter handle is incorrect – an “oversight” indeed) cannot even bring themselves to apologise to me for the matter.

I look forward to sharing this experience with Olympic ticket hunters and bloggers alike soon.  Like you say Mr. Amlani, we both share a passion for the Olympics, and this experience will not perturb me from writing more pieces in future and collaborating with responsible providers.

Regrettably for the Telegraph, enough people on social media channels are intelligent enough to recognise plagiarism when they it.  The fact that it was brought to my attention by people who are readers of your output should make it clear that it is your readers who have marked you as plagiarists, not just me.

Best,


And this was Mr. Amlani’s final response to me:

Dear Sri,

We have looked at your blog. The structure and content are not the same as Ms Philipson’s, which is very much her own work.

Sincerely

Whilst I never expected Mr. Amlani or Ms. Philipson to concede full complicity in an alleged act of plagiarism, I certainly expected more recognition and more class from those representing a publication that’s 157 years old.  Mr. Amlani’s conceited attitude is perhaps endemic of large organisations who believe they can harvest content for free from those actually doing the work and gathering the data.

To stress, I hold no grudge toward Ms. Philipson, as made clear in my communications above.  Had she reached out to me formally I’d have been happy to help her as I have with other journalists and publications previously.

What is abundantly clear in all of this is the fact that had no red flag been posted in my direction, the Telegraph team would have not even extended the courtesy of posting my Twitter handle in their article.  Which perhaps anchors the view of plagiarism in this instance.  That Mr. Amlani could not even bring himself to apologise for the errors underscores the Telegraph’s attitudes to both bloggers and readers everywhere.

While I would never put this scenario in the league of the Tatty Devine/Claire’s case, or Paperchase/Hidden Eloise saga, this incident highlights a number of issues with today’s media.  Once upon a time, TV and print news would actually pay money to have people investigate properly - perhaps a member of Mr. Amlani’s team would have actually bought tickets and talked to the ATRs directly in this instance.  But why bother doing that when you can troll on Twitter for a while and get the story completely gratis?

To go 360 on matters however, and as someone pointed out to me on Friday, the fact that the Telegraph had to borrow so heavily from a number of sources via social media indicates that in the most very real sense, newspapers are becoming increasingly irrelevant.  The group I referenced heavily in my piece - the 2012Tweeps - have been helping people around the world get Olympic tickets, safely and legally.  This is the same group that has helped Olympians like Zac Purchase, Dai Greene and Laura Trott get tickets for the Games.  One has to ask, what has the Telegraph done for our Olympians in this respect?

I now consider the matter closed.  I look forward to writing more about the Games over the next couple of months and collaborating with some great people in the process.  I have said all along that my objective with these blogs was to help those who are without tickets get to the London Games. 

To that end, both the Telegraph and I share a common objective.  But moreover, I am a writer - an antiquated one at best - but one who strives to put himself out there when he can.  IOC founder Pierre de Coubertin once said “The Olympic Spirit is neither the property of one race nor of one age.”  Perhaps the guys in SW1 should remember that next time they do some research.

The 2012 ticket race - The Finish Line

As I write this we are just over a month away from the closing throes of the Opening Ceremony for the London 2012 Olympic Games. Danny Boyle’s extravaganza will have blown-up Twitter and the mood will be set for the city, and the nation. The morning after of course, the real business of sport commences. And for those of you who have looked - or continue to look - for tickets, the klaxon for getting business done really resonates now.

The beauty of a blaring klaxon in a scenario like this means there is time to act. Not much mind…


THE STATE OF PLAY

Firstly, there are still Olympic tickets left to buy! Estimates released by LOCOG indicate there will be around a million left to sell before Games-time, though this number is impacted by the presence of the many Football tickets left to shift. Needless to stay, marquee events within Athletics, Swimming, Ceremonies and Track Cycling remain hard to get hold of; given that more information has been released about the Olympic Park prospective buyers should look to buy tickets for any sport on the site, which in turn will give them access to stick around, absorb the atmosphere and catch other events on the big screens.

Sports outside of the Olympic Park, such as Volleyball remain easy to get hold of but expensive categories are the ones being left for latecomers as the cheaper seats are snapped up quickly.

Critically, buyers have the choice of several ATRs and LOCOG itself to buy tickets. But time is the essential matter. While retaining a poker face and hoping for late releases (or even turning up on the day of events for Wimbledon-style queuing) may yet pay off, the advice is that if you have identified something you want to attend and can buy it - do!


TO ATR OR NOT?

The European ATRs have been the backbone of many a ticket-hunter’s armoury for the past year, and several continue to have their webshops open for business to sell those last-minute tickets.

They key thing to bear in mind in dealing with ATRs at this stage is whether they can get the tickets you want in time. Many members of the most preeminent of Olympic ticket group, the 2012Tweeps, have only started to receive deliveries from European vendors. It’s worth engaging with the ATRs prior to purchase to ensure they can get your tickets delivered in time - or dealing with ATRs who will have London-based centres to allow personal collection of tickets.

It will soon be a strange sight visiting many websites that have been synonymous with the search for Olympic tickets and find that they have closed their doors for good on London 2012.


THE REMAINING OPTIONS

Having been mired in the shadows for many months, the official LOCOG website is now the definitive portal to buy outstanding tickets. Recent big releases of contingency seating across all sports have led to many fans getting hold of dream tickets at their intended face-value. Ticketmaster have in turn now developed a mechanism to allow for effective resale, meaning there are daily releases of tickets on the website. They key for anyone is to regularly visit the site, become familiar with the sports and sessions they want to buy and be ready to act - rapidly.

In Europe, Germany’s Dertour, Belgium’s Suseia, Holland’s ATP and Spain’s Aristeia/Viagogo tie-up continue to hold small batches of tickets left in a number of sports for immediate purchase.

France remain a goldmine for a number of key sports, with both the ticket-only venture and hospitality website offering several different sessions - just be prepared to pay for steep mark-ups and access to the infamous Club France!

Other cross-territory ATRs, such as CoSport and Sportsworld are on their very last legs in terms of inventory available but are worth monitoring given their plans for ‘will call’ facilities in Central London for the Games.

Thomas Cook continue to offer ticket and hotel packages, and they are slowly cutting prices after long periods of inactivity. The recommendation - go to your local branch as opposed to the online estate, where you stand a better chance of getting a good deal on Olympic Park tickets.

LOCOG’s own Prestige Hospitality is in overdrive on offering remaining tickets with daily adverts in the Metro newspaper, complete 10% discount codes! Steep pockets needed of course, but again a viable option if desperate.


KEY RESOURCES

Twitter is a fountain of knowledge on the art of ticket-hunting - standout figures such as @Volshy, @Matt_Shoreditch, @NMDouglas and @2012Tweeps are worth following for the latest developments.

The 2012Tweeps have helped Olympians, both in Britain and beyond, secure tickets for London 2012; a genuine, knowledgeable, friendly community online and more reputable than other resource online.

Kevin Plasmans’ OS Site Tracker remains invaluable in getting updates for when various websites update their stock with new tickets.

Plugins, such as Update Scanner for Firefox are fantastic for having extra eyes on websites that sell tickets; and the WebWatch app for iPhone is a very useful tool to have on the move.

Finally, always consult the official London 2012 ticketing website for guidance on approved ATRs.


I CALL UPON THE YOUTH OF THE WORLD

This represents my last ‘Ticket Race’ blog - bar a retrospective on my experiences which will be live soon. As alluded to throughout the piece, the end of searching for tickets is very near. In just over six weeks time, the Olympics will be over - so the time to cherish what we have to look forward to is right now.

I plan to shift attention to writing other pieces on London 2012 before, during and after Games-time, as well as sharing images and video of what will be an amazing time for our country.

I hope you will come back to read these stories. I thank anyone and everyone who’s read, shared and used these blogs to help their own search for Olympic tickets. A year has flown by, which usually means the experience has been an enjoyable one. Who am I to disagree?


To E20!

Read more about me and London 2012.