MULTIMEDIA EXPERIENCE: Community Model

*Our goal is to keep skateboarders connected socially as well as give them an online structure to help maintain their community. The online community will hopefully help reinforce the progression of the sport by providing a networking system to promote dialogue between skaters on both a local and global scale.

Boundaries

• skateboarders, skateboard enthusiasts (i.e> photographers, artists, designers, videographers), longboarders, freeboarders, possibly snowboarders or surfers.
• indoor parks, outdoor parks, seasonal conditions, vert skating, street skating, competitions, demos, professional riders, skate teams, skateboard varieties, tools, helmets, pads, apparel, shoes, trucks, bearings, decks.
• skateboard manufacturing companies, skateboard magazine companies, skateboarding apparel companies.

Demographic

• teens to late 30's and early 40's. Enthusiasts who may not be actively skating, but do however support the growth of the sport as well as the industry. The demographic includes people who skate on a regular basis. These people travel from A to B on their board and socialize with other skateboarders. Each day is an opportunity to land a new trick and or advance their technical abilities as a skater.

Who's Involved

• skaters, photographers, artists, skateboard manufacturing companies, fans, professionals, sponsors.

Wants & Needs

• Needs: gear, locations to skate, mobility, open mind, training, conditioning, market, good product, acceptance (at a certain level) from society.
• Wants: extreme skate locations, community with shared interests, good products, news about the sport, progress, become more accepted within society (not frowned upon), people to skate with, events, competitions, headlines.

Motivations

• to be recognized, to develop abilities, have fun, push yourself, to further establish the activity as a valid sporting event, to become recognized on a professional level.

Equipment Needs

• skate shoes, board, pads, helmet, skateparks, streets, photo camera, video camera.

Symbols

• helmet, the board, ramps, half-pipes, grip tape, fatty skate shoes, baggy pants, backwards hat, handrails, grinding, falling, asphault, pavement, skate parks, elbow and knee pads, grabs, board flips, drop-in, "getting air" or "hangtime", scars, blood, broken bones, casts, bandages, sweat, empty pools, wax, bearings, wheels, black curbs, street lights, cops (pigs), missing teeth.