The Olympic Games always generate a barrage of questions and accompanying answers that in their turn need to be checked and ratified using, of course, the local reference library. This time round the Internet is set to play a major role in the way people get information about the games. The official Olympic Games site has an increasing amount of intelligence on each of the sports, the venues and of course the athletes. The commercial model of how all the sponsorship and advertising will work with the Web is too complex for many of us to even bother about. Rest assured that there will be large amounts of money available and a variety of ways that the money might be cut. There are also the traditional spin‐offs that a country gets from hosting the games. Usually the opening ceremony goes some way towards showing off a country’s assets. But that is a mere event; with the Web it is possible to offer a more persistent display of the host’s attractiveness. Australia most certainly does this through its excellent links from the Olympic site.
For a number of months the site has developed and grown into one of the most sophisticated I have come across, certainly in the world of sport. The site, or more importantly the process of developing such a site, is of interest to the reviewer for a number of reasons. First, it represents a unique approach in that the content attempts to generate enthusiasm for the games. But, of course, most of us will watch the action on television. Therefore, the content is designed to supplement the TV action. Second, the content will obviously be ever changing and indeed rapidly changing if it is to appear current. How will the site be managed to cope with almost constant change? Third (for the archivists), when the games are over what will happen to the Web site? This question is important if the site is to be a point of reference, and generally on the Web, preservation has become one of the big issues.
Having said all this and, setting aside the reviewer’s worries about the site’s maintenance overhead, it is a good Web site. The graphics, layout and general aesthetics are well worked and clean, although out of necessity some screens are overcrowded. This cramped feeling is perhaps intentional as it certainly gives the impression that much is happening. Tables and colour are used effectively in the information design aspects, for example the fixture list of the women’s football tournament is given a useful clarity.
General navigation is assisted by the use of a horizontal menu bar that is quite unambiguous. A further navigation tool is a site map. Many sites claim to have site maps but few do the job well; this one does. Essentially a site map should serve the purpose that a table of contents does in a paper format. Obviously, unlike a book, a Web site will follow a non‐linear structure which must somehow be conveyed to the user in an understandable way. Often careful study of a good site map will provide invaluable insight to the underlying information architecture.
In conclusion, this Web site offers an official view of an international event and as such it has a use in reference work. Whether the site is sustained or whether it will be bettered by an unofficial site remains to be seen. One final point, the site should not be mistaken for the International Olympics Committee (IOC) Web site which has the address www.olympic.org and which, incidentally, carries much information on drug use in sport and doping issues.
