Citation
Calvert, P.J. (1998), "Web Sites for the 16th Commonwealth Games", Asian Libraries, Vol. 7 No. 7. https://doi.org/10.1108/al.1998.17307gad.001
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 1998, MCB UP Limited
Web Sites for the 16th Commonwealth Games
Multimedia and electronic resources
Web Sites for the 16th Commonwealth Games
If you did not know it already, the 16th Commonwealth Games will be held in Kuala Lumpur, 11-21 September 1998. The Commonwealth Games is one of the largest sporting meetings, only just short of the Olympic Games, and it is the first time it has been held in Asia. There will be 68 countries participating this time, and many are from the region served by Asian Libraries. From Asia: Bangladesh, Brunei, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, the Maldives, Pakistan, Singapore, and Sri Lanka; and from the Pacific: Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and the small states of the Cook Islands, Nauru, Norfolk Island, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, and Western Samoa.
If you live and work as an information manager in any of these countries, then get ready for a wave of interest as the opening ceremony comes closer. Your customers will want to know the schedule of events, the leading competitors, and of course, who has won the medals. There are already a few Web sites you can turn to for assistance, and there will probably be a few more starting up soon.
The Official 16th Commonwealth Games Web site is at http://www.kl98.com.my/. As its name implies, this is the first place to look for information about the Games and its infrastructure. Details are already up and running about the schedule of events, the venues (including some photos), the Games village, and even associated events such as the Queen's Baton relay. In particular, as one might expect, the schedule of events is very detailed and will be all you need to know to help someone wanting to find out when to take a day off to watch an event on the television. News items, especially strong on Asian stories, are added to the site on a daily basis. The section on the athletes is divided into local and foreign athletes. We are promised details of the 'public and private lives of Malaysia's stars', though there wasn't much about the latter to be found. Look for tremendous detail in the 'equipment' sections; for aquatics the following are described: swimsuits and trunks, goggles, caps, earplugs, noseclips, monitor, and (believe this) the shaver. After the Games have started this might be a good place to look for medal winners, though of course other sites such as; http://cnnsi.com; take some beating for the speed of posting results. Unfortunately, not all the official site was ready at the time of writing (31 May), and the 'funtime' section was still under construction. The serious news which is lacking almost inevitably so is what will happen if The Haze returns to South East Asia again this year.
There are sure to be commercial sites springing up as soon as online hosts and software companies realise the publicity bonanza that is to be had when the Games start to roll; http://www.commonwealthgames98.com; is one example of a commercial site. It lacks the detail of the official site, but does include some useful information for tourists that the official site lacks, such as 'getting around' in Kuala Lumpur. The Australians already have their own official site at http://gatekeeper.ausport.gov.au/acga;, and no doubt some other countries will soon follow. Coming up soon the 13th Asian Games in Bangkok. Look soon in Asian Libraries for useful Web sites!
Philip CalvertVictoria University of Wellington_