IASI World Congress 2009

The International Association for Sports Information (IASI) are hosting their 13th annual congress in Canberra, Australia, 11-13 March 2009.

The main theme of the conference is "Building and sustaining sport information communities - through connectivity, collaboration and sharing". Session themes are:

• Online collaboration solutions for sport information communities
• Electronic sport information resource sharing
• Digital asset management repositories
• Sport performance analysis applications and technology solutions
• Knowledge delivery, online libraries and archives

Deadlines:

• 1st September 2008: submission of papers and poster abstracts
• 8th December 2008: Full text of papers due

Check the website for registration and accommodation information

The Drug Information Database and 100% ME Programme

The misuse of drugs still remains an issue in sport and below is some information on two web resources that firstly help identify the validity of certain drugs and secondly provide an awareness approach to the problem.
The Drug Information Database (DID) provides an easy to search option which allows you to determine a drugs status on the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Prohibited List, whilst the initiative 100% ME Programme is an athlete-centred education and information programme that aims to increase understanding of drugs in the sporting community. This Sport UK sponsored website, includes a wide range of information on doping in sport, the rules and testing process and also an education section where there are lesson plans are available. It also provides links to other sites, news and a selection of video downloads.

Olympics Survey

A nationwide survey carried out by the British Market Research Bureau (BMRB) has revealed that 76 per cent of people questioned are pleased London is staging the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games in 2012.

LA84 Foundation Digital Archive

The LA84 foundation started in 1985 with funding left over from the 1984 Olympic games. Its mission is to increase the knowledge and understanding of sport in young people. One of its current initiatives is to digitise part of its traditional library. This digital archive is split into two sections. The first section contains books and reports, with a strong Olympic bias. It has an impressive range of Olympic reports staring with the Athens games of 1896 up to the Athens games over 100 years later in 2004.
The second section concentrates on Periodicals and Series, again this is largely Olympic based journals but there is also a historical and international element to the information.
All of the digital publications are available at no cost to website visitors, and I will be exploring the website over the next few months and highlighting some of their particularly useful reports and journals