Every moment counts at the Olympics - for both the competing athletes and the stadium-based spectators lucky enough to watch the action. But what if you can’t physically attend an Olympic event? Now, wherever they are in the world, fans can show their support using the power of the internet and the new Alibaba Cloud Fans Video Hub.

The Fan Video Hub automatically collects and filters content uploaded to a variety of social network platforms. These videos are then curated, checked, produced, and broadcast to a screen in an Olympic stadium or published on the web, creating the biggest possible cheer from the world’s sporting fans.

In doing so, this service puts the fans from all over the world at the center of the Olympic action, allowing them to cheer on their favorite teams and athletes and see their videos shown in world-class venues and through the internet.

In the run-up to the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games, fans are invited to take part in a special project where they video themselves performing to a special beat. They can dance or clap along to the beat, which is a melodic rhythm created from more than 1,000 different sound samples reflecting the themes of sport, Japanese culture, nature, and our daily lives.

For this project, fans are encouraged to upload their videos to social media using a unique hashtag, which is specified by the Tokyo Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. During the games, a compilation of the submitted material will then be displayed inside venues and on Olympic online outlets.

The worldwide Alibaba Cloud infrastructure has helped provide the required level of inclusivity that sits at the heart of this project, allowing anyone to join in, from anywhere in the world, regardless of their language, disability, age or gender.

The Cloud-powered Content Curation Solution and Fan Video Hub leverage the latest Cloud technology from Alibaba Cloud to help seamlessly achieve this and also includes a number of innovative features. It can curate and collect content from multiple social media outlets and filter that content, while deleting inappropriate videos.

We have not only developed a solution allowing us to automatically make a video from that curated content, but have also given it the capability to output that video on a stadium screen or broadcast in on the internet.

Let’s look at each stage of the Fan Video Hub now:
1. Curation: When a video with the specified hashtag is identified, it is curated and the system checks the user has provided their consent for the usage of the video.
2. Filtering: The video is then filtered and sorted, depending on the type of content – whether that’s a video, image or text file. The system also analyzes the uploads and reports any inappropriate content, taking a two-tier approach that includes automated system and manual checks.
3. Production: The video is split and fit to a prepared template, making it easy to edit the movie during the next video creation stage. A number of formats are then created for a range of different potential outputs.
4. Output: The video is then output to its chosen destination. This could be a stadium screen, using a high quality video, or a smartphone screen, delivered via a website of mobile app.

The Cloud-powered Content Curation Solution allows everyone to cheer on our Olympic athletes to the sound of the same beat, from anywhere in the world. This project not only brings encouragement to the Olympic athletes and energizes its venues, but also lets everyone be a part of the world’s greatest games.

If you’d like to find out more about how Alibaba Cloud is powering at Intelligent Olympic Games, click here.