Month: August 2012

Research Ideas

/ sunilagni / Leave a comment

Source: Wikimedia Commons

If I had extended my tenure as a student, my research would have probably focused solely on hockey fans who conduct data analytics. Blogs, which was the focus of my MACT final project, would play a prominent role, along with other social media tools and analytics software.

That got me thinking of what other research projects could possibly spin out from the research I did complete. Here’s my random, evolving list:

–       History of hockey analytics

–       Comparison of hockey fans across teams, regions and their online activity

–       Does following a horrible team make you more likely to get into hockey analytics? Looking at you, Oilers fans.

–       Interview people who do hockey analytics to find out why they do it, what methods they use, what barriers they face and/or what they think the future holds for hockey analytics.

Building the Narrative: Transmedia storytelling in professional sports

/ sunilagni / Leave a comment

sunilagni's avatarHockey in Society / Hockey dans la société

By Sunil Agnihotri

Within any form of entertainment lies numerous narratives, designed to engage the audience. Television shows, books and films are all examples of entertainment that utilize plot development and characters to develop a storyline and convey some sort of message to the audience. Traditionally, storytelling came across a single medium, like a book, or an orator. But now the technology available has altered the way these narratives are distributed to audiences. For example, movies not only have their stories distributed across screens, but also across other platforms such as websites, video games and comic books. This is referred to as transmedia storytelling and can be described as:

“…..a process where integral elements of a fiction get dispersed systematically across multiple delivery channels for the purpose of creating a unified and coordinated entertainment experience. Ideally, each medium makes it own unique contribution to the unfolding of the story.” (Jenkins…

View original post 678 more words

Hockey Bloggers with Press Passes

/ sunilagni / 1 Comment

Without a doubt, a tension exists between hockey bloggers and those who work as members of the mainstream media (MSM). The lines that separate the two groups have blurred as both fans and those with official press passes to cover the game interact and participate online. Communication tools and software have become more readily available and easier to use, allowing anyone with a basic understanding of the technology, and an interest in the game, to participate online.

In the past few years, bloggers have made the jump to more mainstream platforms and  we’ve also seen those with press passes, such as fomer Edmonton Journal writer Robin Brownlee, get into blogging. In his latest post for OilersNation, “Deep Thoughts XXIV: Ties that bind”, he had this to say about the current state of hockey coverage: Continue reading →