Twicket
{{EngvarB|date=August 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2024}}
{{Infobox news event
|title = Twicket
|image_name = John Popham and umpire at Twicket.jpg
|caption = John Popham interviews the umpire, John Marshall.
|date = {{start date|2011|04|25|df=y}}
|time =
|place = Wray, Lancashire, England
|coordinates = {{coord|54.10319|-2.60761|region:GB_type:landmark|display=inline,title}}
|also known as = Wray vs. the Rest of the World
|first reporter =
|filmed by = Aquila TV
|participants =
|outcome = Wray beat Rest of World
|awards =
|website = {{URL|www.twicket.info}}
|notes =
}}
Twicket (a portmanteau of Twitter and Cricket) was a village cricket match, streamed world-wide on the Internet on Easter Monday, 25 April 2011,{{cite web|url=http://www.twicket.info/|title=A World First – Live Broadcasting a Village Cricket Match|last=Popham|first=John|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110428062314/http://twicket.info/ |archive-date=28 April 2011 |url-status=usurped}} with the intention of highlighting the need for high-capacity upstream broadband to enable community content provision. This innovative exercise—claimed to be a world first—caught media attention, making BBC television news, BBC Radio London,{{cite news|title=BBC Radio London|date=26 April 2011}} talkSPORT,{{cite news|title=TalkSport|date=26 April 2011}} Radio New Zealand;{{cite news|title=Radio New Zealand|date=6 May 2011}} and being written about by The Guardian,{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/blog/2011/apr/25/twicket-wray-lancashire-boadband|title=Lancashire village cricket match attracts thousands... |last=Hartley|first=Sarah|date=25 April 2011|work=The Guardian|accessdate=25 April 2011|location=London}}{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/blog/2011/apr/12/broadband-cricket-wray|title=Cricket livestream to highlight rural broadband needs|last=Hartley|first=Sarah|work=The Guardian|date=12 April 2011|accessdate=17 April 2011|location=London}} The Observer{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2011/may/15/aleks-krotoski-britishness-internet|title=Being British: How has the internet affected our national identity?|last=Krotoski|first=Aleks|publisher=The Observer|accessdate=15 May 2011|location=London|date=15 May 2011}} and MetroMetro, 15 April 2011 and mentioned on Twitter by Stephen Fry,{{cite tweet |user=stephenfry |author-link=Stephen Fry |number=57696632447307777 |date=12 April 2011 |title=A World First? Live Broadcast of a Village Cricket Match https://johnpopham.wordpress.com/2011/04/10/a-world-first-live-broadcasting-a-village-cricket-match/}} the BBC's Rory Cellan-Jones{{cite tweet |user=ruskin147 |author-link=Rory Cellan-Jones |number=62472785993281536 |date=25 April 2011 |title=A live village cricket match on Twitter – you can watch here: http://bambuser.com/channel/johnpopham/broadcast/1605441 #twicket}} and Jonathan Agnew (BBC cricket correspondent).{{cite tweet |user=Aggerscricket |author-link=Jonathan Agnew |number=61499198364856320 |date=22 April 2011 |title=RT @Pam_nAshes Have you heard about the Village cricket match being streamed live on the web on Monday? http://bit.ly/i5pA1V "Sounds fun" }}
Background
The event was conceived by consultant John Popham after seeing two comments on Twitter; in the first Dan Slee expressed his hopes for keeping up with a local village cricket team via Twitter.{{cite tweet |user=danslee |number=57142108875800576 |date=10 April 2011 |title=Love the idea of getting a glimpse of village #cricket this summer via Twitter. Here's @StoneSPCC. http://yfrog.com/h3s1owoj #staffordshire. }} Then, Chris Conder (@cyberdoyle) mentioned that she was testing a new 30 Mbps, symmetrical internet connection,{{cite tweet |user=cyberdoyle |number=57135935514611712 |date=10 April 2011 |title=our community wifi network giving us 30 meg symmetrical today #digitalbritain http://tinyurl.com/3kcb4tj #fiwipie }} recently installed by Lancaster University{{cite web|url=http://www.infolab21.co.uk/livinglab/|title=RuralConnect Living Labs|accessdate=17 April 2011}} in her village, Wray, in Lancashire, England, one of only three villages in the UK to have a symmetrical community network.
On learning from Conder that Wray was to hold a special cricket match part of the village's annual Scarecrow Festival, billed as Wray vs. the Rest of the World,{{cite web|url=http://www.wrayvillage.co.uk/scarecrows.htm|title=Wray scarecrow village UK information page|accessdate=17 April 2011|archive-date=30 April 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110430090256/http://www.wrayvillage.co.uk/scarecrows.htm|url-status=dead}} Popham decided to broadcast it to the world to demonstrate the potential of high-speed synchronous broadband. He explained:
{{Blockquote|I'm confident we can do this, because the village Wi-Fi has a 30 Mbit/s upload speed ... It's a bit of fun, but it has a serious purpose too. The serious side is to demonstrate that it can be done, it {{Allcaps|is}} possible to live broadcast events like this using relatively cheap equipment and a good internet connection. It will also demonstrate the importance of good internet connectivity in rural areas, and the need for fast {{Allcaps|upload}} connections if we are to realise the aspiration to use the internet to enable more people to produce their own content.}}
In a retrospective blog post, he explained:{{cite web |last1=Popham |first1=John |title=#twicket, community, and social capital |url=http://oursociety.org.uk/profiles/blogs/twicket-community-and-social |website=Our Society |date=10 May 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110717014349/http://oursociety.org.uk/profiles/blogs/twicket-community-and-social |archive-date=17 July 2011 |url-status=dead}}
{{blockquote|the point is that putting the cricket match up front made people turn their heads in my direction and I then had a platform from which to make some serious points about countryside connectivity}}
The match
The match was 20 overs per side (the Twenty20 format), with any batsman reaching 20 runs required to retire. Wray won the toss,{{cite web|url=http://www.twicket.info|title=Twicket (video stream archive)|date=25 April 2011|accessdate=25 April 2011}} and elected to bowl first. After 20 overs, The Rest of the World were 69 for 5, leaving Wray needing 70 runs off 20 overs, which they achieved with a final six, in their eleventh over, winning by 8 wickets.
The post-match tug o'war contest (won by Rest of World, 2 out of 3) was also streamed live, as were interviews with various participants.
Media
File:Twicket broadcast crew.jpg
The event was streamed online on Bambuser with technical support from Birmingham company Aquila TV{{cite web|url=http://www.aquila-tv.com/|title=Aquila TV|accessdate=26 April 2011}} who used two Sony Z1 cameras and a DSR 350. The stream was watched by a peak of 2,733 viewers. A separate audio commentary was broadcast on-line, by Radio Youthology, attracting 1,780 listeners; their highest figure ever.
Also attending were a BBC North West television news crew, whose film was broadcast the same evening.{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b010nr0g/North_West_Tonight_25_04_2011/|title=BBC iPlayer – North West Tonight: 25/04/2011|date=25 April 2011|publisher=BBC|accessdate=25 April 2011}}
The related hashtag #twicket was trending on Twitter shortly before the end of the match.
The match also made a star out of local commenter, Brenda, who drank Pimm's throughout the game.
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{Official website}}
- {{YouTube|Dwf6yAhA7DM|Highlights}}
- [http://johnpopham.wordpress.com/2011/05/01/the-story-of-twicket/ The Story of #Twicket] – Popham's post-event round-up.
- [http://soundcloud.com/johnopham/me-talking-twicket-on-radio Popham interview on BBC Radio Lancaster]
- [http://vimeo.com/22881532 BBC North West news feature, extracted to Vimeo]
Category:Internet-based activism