* The Debatewise Blog
WODC: It gets rather cutting from here on in
This is it. No more second chances. The winners stay logged on the losers log out all the way to the final of the World Online Debating Championships.The Draw for the Second Round of the WODC took place on Sunday and it produced some interesting possibilities for example an Eastern European final possibly a revenge match between Lithuania and Latvia, a transatlantic scrap in the semi’s soon after the recent controversy over a certain… enough said about that! . The draw produced some interesting match ups too: Leading off on Wednesday the 26th of August will be the United States of America who got through the first round as a result of Bosnia forfeiting their first round match. They’ll be proposing a motion against South Africa who scraped through their match against Japan with one of the adjudicators saying that he’d give it as a neutral but couldn’t do that. However both Eusebius Mckaiser and Daniel De Kadt are “delighted” to have got through and are “excited” about facing the USA. Also while England’s cricketers will be trying to get over the post Ashes euphoria after winning against Australia, England’s online debating team will be up against more Commonwealth opposition in the form of India fresh from winning against Bangladesh starting on the same day . Bangladesh qualify as one of the top losers and go up against South Korea who sat out the opening round after being the odd one out in the draw starting on Thursday. That happens with Bulgaria (who won a first round match forfeited by a "snoozing" Israeli team) typing off against Latvia in the other match of the day. Interestingly Bulgaria are in the proposition seat where as Latvia have been drawn as the opposition this time giving the opportunity for Bulgaria to prove a point so to speak as the proposition , as will other teams that were in inactive matches.
A match of teams that won by forfeits starts the second half of the draw on Friday with Pakistan (who arguably gave one of the best arguments by a side in the forfeited matches) going up against Estonia who fought a forfeited (but still interesting) debate by Nigeria. Next up it’s our winner in the battle of the two L’s Lithuania going up against Canada who won by forfeit against Macedonia despite Macedonia trying to clamber back. Lithuania won an interesting match over whether "Nazi and Communist symbols should be banned". Last but not least on Saturday Indonesia propose against Mexico ,while Scotland face an impressive Venezuela who won a tough fought and interesting match against Indonesia persuading the adjudicators (if not the audience) that they were the team that should get through with their arguments over whether Dictatorship was the best path to development" . Indonesia did enough to secure a second round spot and will like all of the other teams have a chance to improve on their first round performance. But for which teams will improve enough to get through to the Quarter Finals of this inaugural tournament? Stay observing to find out and stay voting to potentially decide the outcomes of these matches
SECOND ROUND LINE UP:
Starting on Wednesday the 26th:
(Proposing)USA v South Africa; (Opposing)
(P) England v India (O)
Thu 27th:
(P) Bulgaria v Latvia; (O)
(P) S Korea v Bangladesh (O)
Fri 28th:
(P)Pakistan v Estonia; (O)
(P)Lithuania v Canada (O)
Sat 29th:
(P) Indonesia v Mexico; (O)
(P)Scotland v Venezuela (O)
All debates type off at 12.00 UCT/GMT (that's 13.00 BST) each day starting on Wednesday.
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WODC First round results
More comment and reaction to follow later but here are the first round results of what was an interesting two weeks, albeit ones of mixed activity.First Round Results
Monday the 10th of August
(Proposing) Nigeria V Estonia (Opposing)
Estonia win through inactivity (missing a round by Nigeria). However Nigeria did respond in later rounds so may be in with a glance as a top three loser
(P) Bulgaria V Israel (O)
Bulgaria win through inactivity by Israel again- A good trio of points though by the Bulgarians
Tuesday 11th of August
(P) Venezuela V Indonesia (O)
Venezuela win by Adjudication (unanimous decision by both adjudicators on the winner). Out of all the adjudicated debates Venezuela are the only team in the round to win as the proposition.
(P) Dubai (V) Mexico (O)
Mexico win through inactivity by Dubai
Wednesday the 12th of August
(P) Bangladesh V India (O)
India won by adjudication in this sub continental battle
(P) Pakistan V Chile (O)
Pakistan win through inactivity by Chile.
Thursday the 13th
(P)Japan V South Africa (O)
South Africa win by Adjudication.
(P) China V Scotland (O)
Scotland win by inactivity by China
Friday the 14th
(P)USA V Bosnia (O)
USA win through Inactivity by Bosnia
(P)Latvia V Lithuania(O)
Saturday the 15th
(P)Canada V Macedonia (O)-
Canada win through Inactivity by Macedonia. Although Macedonia responded after 48 hours they are still in the bottom of the pack
(P) Singapore V England (O)
England qualify as a result of Singapore withdrawing from the competition. As a result both of the home nations qualify through to the second round
If you're interested ,all of the debates for the first round and for all of the other rounds of this competition can be found at: http://www.debatewise.com/wodc-debates
TEAMS QUALIFYING FOR ROUND TWO
1. South Korea- (bye to 2nd round)
2.Bulgaria
3.Estonia
4.England
5.Venezuela
6.Scotland
7.United States of America
8.Pakistan
9.India
10.Canada
11. South Africa
12.Mexico
13. Lithuania
14. Latvia -Top 3 losers -UPDATE
15 Bangladesh
16. Indonesia
The next round has been postponed to Wednesday the 26th possibly at 12.00 GMT. Before that there will be a draw to decide which team squares off against each other for the honour of getting through to the Quarter Finals.
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Expenses scandal at Debatewise!!
It is HOT in London, almost for the first time this summer, unfortunately it sounds like it will not last. However in the mean time we have managed to have our very own expenses scandal (we cant be outdone by the MPs or BBC) as we have claimed (Ok David bought for us... I doubt he will take the money off Debatewise as a company) for ice creams each, the luxury! Nothing is too small for us to claim for. Indeed I claim for newspapers I buy once a week! And then there is the big one, I get my expenses for travelling in from Reading each day (although not in rush hour). So has this revelation of scandal ruined us? will it make the front page of all the newspapers? I somehow doubt it! So moral of the story: expenses can be a good thing.Click here to add your comment
little but useful fixes
Well done to Greg and David for getting lots of fixes for Debatewise up over the last few days. We now have lines between paragraphs. This obviously makes Debatewise much easier to read, many points are rather long and it was always very difficult to see where the author of the point meant there to be a paragraph change. This should make reading the WODC debates in particular much easier.Also it looks like the ‘remember me’ when logging in might be fixed. It is certainly working for me. Until Friday I had to log into Debatewise at least twice a day, which was always rather irritating. Hopefully if this really is working for everyone then this will hopefully mean more people stay longer on the site and will be more willing to make edits, debates, comments and vote.
Great that these niggling problems have finally been sorted out!
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5 things in the week
Not done this in a while, so I thought we should break the monopoly of the WODC commentary on the blog
Alex:
1, ... ok so not quite! I have been helping Leo out with some WODC stuff this week; particularly emails and writing a bit for the facebook page. As a side point to this I put up the debate we at HQ had during our testing the software http://debatewise.com/debates/1013-we-should-dramatically-increase-the-rate-of-income-tax-paid-by-the-rich
2, Lost my precious 1k karma and in return gained the ability to add pictures to debates! Therefore spent quite a while (probably more than I should have done) looking for pictures for various debates.
3, Looks like I am finally pretty much finished writing some things for a possible evaluating board for revisewise... not getting very far on a cover letter though, I am useless at important letters.
4, Started doing a bit of research on what we would be liable for if the moderators miss something on our white label partners sites.
5, Thought I would mention the newspapers as it was the only bit of my work I was doing while on holiday – lack of internet access prevented any more (a good excuse at least!). I am told that this week’s 6 questions were oversubscribed so I think I will need to give over an extra hour on Tuesday afternoons in order to have more questions on the list, no squabbling about which ones U get to do RRT!
Steph: Five things I have done
1. Fussed Marely and gave him my lunch (Hey...its in my job description and I know my priorities)
2. Emailed ALL of the pressure groups, political parties, student unions and like-minded organisation- when I say ALL I mean thousands!
3. Secured a meeting and connected with different companies that are 'discussing' our proposal
4. Networked up a storm, well maybe a raincloud at an event on Wednesday. Booked the next events to come in Aug/Sept
5. Interviewed lovely, possible candidates for our internship position. What an experience being on the other side.
Might I add a tremendous thank you to David for giving me a free Big Chill ticket, I had an utterly, fantabulous time!
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Nine and a bit questions to think about or add to for the World Online Debating Championship
Nine and a bit questions to think about or add to for the World Online Debating ChampionshipI’ve written a number of questions with Alex about different aspects of the World Online Debating Championship . I can’t exactly speculate on who’s going to walk away as champions but I can ask some questions about it and see whether they will be answered at least provisionally as the tournament progresses, after the tournament or maybe I’ll have to wait until next year before giving a precise answer. Please note although I’m a old hand sort of when it comes to debating on council chambers or in student union committee this is my first “debating competition” so if you think some of the questions aren’t the right ones or could be improved please feel free to do make some more informed observations or more informed questions.
1. Will this championship be all about “The Rise of the East”?
A large amount of countries from soviet bloc Eastern Europe (like Estonia) , East Asia (such as Indonesia) and a few from the Middle East (Dubai) have entered but will this championship be about the rise of the east or will countries from the “West” prevail and that’s not a joke question. Tieing in with this is question 1b and that is
1b.How well will the Asian countries do as opposed to the rest of the world and again what if anything does it mean?
2. A majority of teams competing in the WODC come from different parts of Asia including the Indian Subcontinent. There are eight countries in from all parts of the continent which is around a third of the teams competing in this inaugural championship*. And what does it mean in terms of debating and the political discourse. I’m not an expert when it comes to debating or the impact of the internet but it could show a strong discourse developing in the Asian area which will potentially develop.
3. 2.Does the draw make the debates or the debate make the draw ?
Ok this is a strange question to ask but it’s an interesting one given that having done a draw to decide the grid for the first round of the championships we may have a draw to decide the nature of the second round, but this is something that is NOT set in stone . Will the nature of the debates on offer bring out the best in each team or will it be the competition and the chance of being the first to get the prize as well as the strength of the opposition. Or will it be a combination of all of those different factors.
4. What is the most effective size for a team and will it be a bigger team that ultimately prevails or a smaller one ?
The twenty five countries in the WODC have teams coming in quite a few different sizes. Take for example the ongoing match between Bulgaria and Israel. Israel has one member Bulgaria have four members on their team. On the surface this seems like a simple case of being outnumbered four to one and raises the question of will one person (or two in a team) survive all the rounds without missing one and forfeiting the competition. But will the bigger teams have more problems communicating then those in the smaller teams. At the start of the competition the mean average (and also the modal one) of all the teams currently competing was roughly three people per team (2.76 to be precise) rather than the five or six we predicted and recommended would be the ideal team after running the test debates*.
5.
5. Will those teams who have gone through the preliminaries or got through automatically to the second round fare better than those who have got directly drawn for the first round
This is going to be an interesting one to see. This year teams from three countries had to go through preliminary rounds and a single country (South Korea) is getting a bye into the second round. On the one hand teams who did not go through the preliminaries can see the first debate done by their opposition and get an idea of their style, on the other those teams who have already been through the preliminaries have more experience in the style of the competition.
6. Will the World Cup format work out and can teams from individual nations perform as well as teams from multiple countries? This is one we can’t exactly test that in the competition itself. But in future editions it may be interesting to see how this bears out whether teams from one national are stronger then teams from multiple ones (for example maybe a team made up of players from the Pacific Islands) as well as gauge the initial impact. Alex however sees this question in a wider context than I initially did which I should actually use his own words to describe: “I was really thinking in much broader terms. When we first came up with the competition I wondered if it would be an idea to allow people from different countries in the same team, thus taking away the problems for some teams of ESL. There is no reason why in the future we would have to stick to our countries format rather than anyone entering to take part in a team drawn from all over the world.”
7. What impact will this tournament ultimately have? Will it bring people together in the spirit and open a new door to people who wouldn’t normally debate or not This one will only play out in the long term and possibly if we have more editions although it will be possible to see initial impact. Also I wonder what range of ages as well as races are competing in this. We didn’t ask for this information but maybe it would be good to look at the demographics in the future
8. Why are we doing this in this format and will it be effective in not just getting an entertaining competition but one at a high standard too? Alex’s one here but he raises a good point. The World Online Debating Format is a simple and effective one: The winners go on, the losers go home but will this format actually bring the best out of the competition. Alex again observes “This competition has a relatively small number of teams competing but the format would become cumbersome with more. Moreover there may be questions about what we have chosen to allow in each phase of the debates; why should the opposition both have to make their points and their counter arguments in the same 24 hours (Opposition Case), at the moment if a team misses 24 hours there is little way of going back and stating their points, should this be the case?” That will be something the adjudicators may have more of a precise view than I do but it’s worth considering.
9. Will having English as a second language make a difference to which competitors perform best? Most of the countries in this competition don’t use English as a first language for example Macedonia, Japan and Bosnia are good examples of countries that don’t have English as their first language. However some of the countries competing aside from the usual suspects like England and Scotland also have English as their official language for example Nigeria but the types of language vary in words used as well as spelling. etc. This is going to be interesting to observe and something I think we’ll see that’ll play out throughout the competition and possibly in future competitions.
10. Will the “seasoned veterans” dominate or will there be an opportunity for a spot of giant killing by some amateur or rookie upstarts?! Possibly one for future editions of the tournament as we do not currently ask for that information from applicants, but it would be interesting to know the make up of the team that does ultimately prevail in this contest. Will it be a group of experienced debaters or will it be a group of relative outsiders who triumph? This may be a world championship but it’s nice to have an element of the FA cup in it
If you’ve got any questions that you think should be on this list then post a comment . I won’t pass my final judgement until the last adjudication has been placed on the final debate of this inaugural championship but they seem interesting enough. And it never hurt to do a bit of active speculation given that we are pretty much in semi uncharted territory. As for the rest all should become clear if not now but in the future.
In time honoured tradition we’ll just have to wait and see
* Note this was mostly written on Day 1 Monday before Singapore withdrew from the competition so the number of countries have been affected as the average. I’ll have the latest calculations up for you tomorrow
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WODC update on Day three
HiDebatewise HQ here with an update on day three of the WODC
First up, some overdue congratulations to STJ- New Kids on the Opp who won their preliminary round in what was the toughest and strongest field of the three preliminary matches. They managed to win both their debate and get selected over their other three rivals as the best team out of two debates both over whether "Assisted Suicide should be Permitted". Both debates were concisely and accurately described by Johnathan Leader Maynard as both: " high quality debates in argumentation, evidence and sheer quality . However both judges ruled that they also thought that all teams needed to be more briefer and straight to the point and that Team Phillips and Best of Both Coasts were too eager to scrap point for point- possibly as a result of something debated.
Their victory got a positive reaction from Korey Pace the team captain : "First of all, we are very honored to represent the USA as well as St. John's University in the WODC. Looking at the countries whom are participating, there seems to be a representative from every part of the world which will provide lots of interesting and unique perspectives on various topics. This tournament has already been a great learning experience for us because the format calls not only for persuasiveness but also an ample amount of research to back it up. We are looking forward to competing as long as we can in this tournament as the information and feedback we have been receiving has simply just been unmatched to any other tournament we have competed in. We wish the best of luck to [Bosnia], but we are fully determined to win." A brief set of happy and confident remarks from a team who arguably won the toughest and maybe the most fiercely contested preliminary round of the WODC but still like the rest of the teams still in the competition have some more challenges ahead of them.
Our other preliminary debate winners China are also in their own words "excited" to be competing in the WODC particularly as this is Zachary Gill's first competitive debate (nice to see new people competitively debating and a possible chance of giant killing) alongside Frances Chou who is more experienced and the team captain. They're also a bit nervous to be competing against Scotland as : "..I'm guessing they are somewhat experienced and we might be out manned if they have a bigger team than we do. However, we will do our best and look forward to the challenge."
In the mean time we've got a couple of debates for you to follow and to vote on although there is the increasing possibility that a couple of active debates will be declared forfeit so WATCH THIS SPACE to see if we get our first qualifiers a little earlier than we expected . Anyway the debates ongoing in Round 1 are:
Bulgaria ( Proposing) V Israel (Opposing) "
Should all countries have the right to pursue a nuclear defence?" http://www.debatewise.com/debates/1000-all-countries-should-have-the-right-to-pursue-a-nuclear-defence
By the way this is the the one thousandth debate created on Debatewise as a whole. Kind of a milestone although we won't be uncorking the champagne in the office just yet,,, (Four digits yahoo!) but we can allow a few grins at least . As this goes to press we've currently got 624 published debates which is a hundred and one away from a big 750 debates so maybe some celebrations will be in order then...
Venezuela (P) V Indonesia ( O) "Dictatorship is the best path to development"
http://www.debatewise.com/debates/1001-dictatorship-is-the-best-path-to-development
Nigeria (P) V Estonia (O) "All patents should be removed on anti retroviral drugs to fight aids"
http://www.debatewise.com/debates/999-all-patents-should-be-removed-on-anti-retroviral-drugs-to-fight-aids
Dubai (P) V Mexico (O) "Convicted paedophiles should be chemically castrated"
http://www.debatewise.com/debates/1002-convicted-paedophiles-should-be-chemically-castrated
Tomorrow sees the Land of the Rising Sun, Japan start their match against our other African representative in the World Online Debate Championships South Africa, Also as mentioned more than previously, the Chinese team continue their journey in the championships with their first international opponents coming in the form of Scotland. Should be some interesting contests in what is shaping up to be an interesting competition.
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WODC Officially underway in the first round!
The waiting is over, we are finally underway with the beginning of the World Online Debating Championship going off smoothly at 12.00 GMT. The field is set with 25 different countries competing the debates are ready, and we have our final line up of contestants well almost…Team Qoozee go through to become the team representing China in the first round of the WODC and will be squaring off against Scotland after a unanimous decision by the judges in favour of them. However the victory wasn't as much a flawless victory as a shaky start as neither of the adjudicators thought that both teams had done much to distinguish themselves with both sides making key mistakes by not doing a good team effort and more importantly according to Ian Lising :“The materials that are somewhat related to arguments from either side of the House were never linked to the impacts they are assumed to bear” meaning that the evidence cited was not tied in effectively to the impacts they were assumed to have for example with Swine flu . However a win is a win but both Frances Chou and zgill will be looking to build on that as they face some Celtic competition in the form of Team Scotland who will be waiting to launch a motion to them on Thursday.
Representing the Israeli's (who start off by opposing Nigeria) are what used to be Pakak Paka having got a walkover as Um Shmum failed to make their arguments in the set time for their match that had been previously rescheduled because of personal reasons affecting one of the teams.
More information to follow on the US preliminary round which instead of being two rounds was one round where the best team out of both debates will capture the flag and become the ones carrying the hopes of the land of the free in this competition. This is contrary to an earlier press release which assumed that the US round would be two knockout rounds rather than one judged round so apologies for that. We’ll reveal the identity of the American team as soon as it is officially confirmed.
In the meantime a quick explanation on how the first round of the finals is going to work. Twelve matches will be fought over the next two weeks with two matches beginning each day until Saturday. The match winners will qualify directly to the second round where there will be a nervous wait for the other teams as there are three best losers places up for grabs. The only country that can rest totally easy for the moment is South Korea as being the odd team out in the draw and with no other teams registering before the start of play they automatically go into the second round.
Finally a few words of observation from our CEO David Crane. While David wisely wouldn’t be drawn on who he believes will win. David thinks the winning team will have good concise well referenced arguments and will be very capable of countering their opponents arguments.
Good luck to all of those who are competing in the championship over the next two months. As for those of you who are watching sit back relax and enjoy the ride (oh and maybe help decide the outcome by registering on the site and voting on some of the title fights) ,The waiting is over it’s time for people to start debating.
Points of Information for Journalists
Debatewise (www.debatewise.com) is an not for profit online debating site where people can register for free to create and strengthen new contents bringing together the strongest arguments and counter arguments on virtually anything. The WODC is one of a number of initiatives Debatewise run including Revisewise which is a tool that can be used for revision by students. It was founded in 2008 by David Crane. It is currently based out of Bash Studios Scrutton Street in London and it’s patrons include Michael Crick, Gabby Logan and Chris Heaton Harris.
Contact details Tel: 44 20 3393 7223 E-mail info@debatewise.com or postal address Debatewise CIC
Scrutton Street
London
EC2A 4PJ
UK
The International Debate Education Association: The International Debate Education Association (www.idea.com) was created in 1999 to co-ordinate pilot member programmes. “IDEA acts as an independent membership organization of national debate clubs, associations, programs, and individuals who share a common purpose: to promote mutual understanding and democracy globally by supporting discussion and active citizenship locally.”
Contact details: For any inquiries about IDEA please contact it’s Salem office
Willamette University
900 State Street
Salem Oregon 97301
USA
Telephone: (503) 370-6244
Fax: (503) 370-6171
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WODC Just over three days until the words begin to fly ! (Press Release)
Yesterday August the 6th at 11.00 BST (10.00GMT), The draw to set the grid for the first round of the inaugural World Online Debating Championships took place in London. Conducting it were Debatewise’s founders David Crane and Marcin Zaleski as well Project Co-Coordinator Stephanie Gaynor. Neill Harvey Smith the Chief Adjudicator for the WODC was also present. There are some interesting matches already in prospect in this first round and a interesting global exchange of views is guaranteed from the start of proceedings.The opening matches of the tournament will both commence at noon GMT (11.00 BST) on Monday August the 10th and are between Nigeria (who will propose) and Estonia (who will oppose and Bulgaria versus Israel ,who’s team qualified in a preliminary round through the other team in the match forfeiting. After these two other debates will start at midday each day until all of the matches have begun. The identity of our first of sixteen second round teams should be known around Friday the 15th . However the top losers will qualify for the second round so there are opportunities for redemption and revenge for some of the teams who lost out first time.
Representing the home nations ,Scotland start by opposing the Chinese on Thursday the 13th with England disputing a motion proposed by Singapore on Saturday the 15th of August. Other matches to look out for include a contest between the two L’s: Latvia and their neighbours from the south, Lithuania will ensue on Friday the 14th with a sub continental battle between India and Bangladesh beginning on Wednesday. Also an interesting match between the US and Bosnia will start on Friday.
People can keep up to date with the competition by watching the debates as they happen on Debatewise.com and possibly deciding who wins by registering and voting on whatever team they think has the best argument if the adjudicators can’t make up their minds. If they tie then the Chief Adjudicator gets to say the last word for the match. Reports on each of the rounds will be posted on the Debatewise blog which can be accessed at (www.debatewise.com/info) and the Facebook Group which can be found at (http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/group.php?gid=88378553341 ). Debatewise’s spokes bird will also be making some interesting tweets over on Twitter about the WODC as well as office life, the universe etc. You can find it squawking on its perch at: http://twitter.com/Debatewise and it doesn't want crackers!
FIRST ROUND DRAW- MATCHES
Starting on:
Monday the 10th of August
(Proposing) Nigeria V Estonia (Opposing)
(P) Bulgaria V Israel (O)
Tuesday 11th of August
(P) Venezuela V Indonesia (O)
(P) Dubai (V) Mexico (O)
Wednesday the 12th of August
(P) Bangladesh V India (O)
(P) Pakistan V Chile (O)
Thursday the 13th
(P)Japan V South Africa (O)
(P) China V Scotland (O)
Friday the 14th
(P)USA V Bosnia (O)
(P)Latvia V Lithuania(O)
Saturday the 15th
(P)Canada V Macedonia (O)
(P) Singapore V England (O)
So it's over three days until the words start flying but which countries will make a nice landing? Be wise and watch out
Points of Information for Journalists
Debatewise (www.debatewise.com) is an not for profit online debating site where people can register for free to create and strengthen new contents bringing together the strongest arguments and counter arguments on virtually anything. The WODC is one of a number of initiatives Debatewise run including Revisewise which is a tool that can be used for revision by students. It was founded in 2008 by David Crane. It is currently based out of Bash Studios Scrutton Street in London and it’s patrons include Michael Crick, Gabby Logan and Chris Heaton Harris.
Contact details Tel: 44 20 3393 7223 E-mail info@debatewise.com or postal address Debatewise CIC
Scrutton Street
London
EC2A 4PJ
UK
The International Debate Education Association: The International Debate Education Association (www.idea.com) was created in 1999 to co-ordinate pilot member programmes. “IDEA acts as an independent membership organization of national debate clubs, associations, programs, and individuals who share a common purpose: to promote mutual understanding and democracy globally by supporting discussion and active citizenship locally.”
Contact details: For any inquiries about IDEA please contact it’s Salem office
Willamette University
900 State Street
Salem Oregon 97301
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WODC- Aujudication pool revealed
Leo here again with the latest news on the World Online Debating Championships. First up we at debatewise finally know who some of the adjudicators are going to be, an group of people that our Chief Adjudicator Neil Harvey Smith describes as " the best all-star adjudication pool ever put together". In alphabetical order they are:- Ray D'Cruz
Monica Ferris
-Colm Flynn
Connie Grieve
-Andy Hume
-Ian Lising,
-Logan
Jonathan Leader Maynard
Tony Murphy
Can Okar
Sharmila Parmanand
Omar Salahuddin
With more still to follow we have a group of very high quality people for what is promising to be a high quality competition. Debaters whether novices or old hands are going to get a massive opportunity to learn their craft and the rest of the world will also be able to follow and learn too.
Meanwhile two teams Um Shmum and Pakak Pakka are squaring off in the only preliminary round to see who gets to be in the championships being the standard bearer for Israel . Their Hebrew names are pretty dismissive of certain institutions and everbody else respectively but who will be the ones doing the dismissing or suffering an early dismissal? Here's the link for those interested to see and maybe help shape the fate of this preliminary roundhttp://www.debatewise.com/debates/985-surrogate-mothers-should-be-allowed-to-profit-financially-from-surrogacy
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WODC-You’re the third man or woman
Following that first press release a quick note about the ongoing contests in the World Online Debating Championships preliminary round. When it comes to judging each contest will be decided by a pair of adjudicators(referee) plus a third person. If they can't make a decision on who comes first or second then they'll turn to the third person who is not going to be exactly in the room... YOU. If you're registered you can do some voluntary jury service and influence the outcome by voting for the debate at the bottom of the page for each debate on who you think has made the most convincing argument (Not just who you agree with please!) . If the adjudicators can't agree on who they think is the winner then they'll look at the vote totals in the top right hand corner of the screen. The winners will be the team with the most votes from registered after the summation when the two adjudicators will count the votes and make their ruling . If the vote is tied then the Chief Adjudicator will be the one who makes the final call.
For the record the matches currently taking place in this preliminary round are:
STJ- New kids on the Opp (For) vs Team Adium (Against)- USA Preliminary Round 1 -http://www.debatewise.com/debates/983-assisted-suicide-should-be-permitted-1
Best of Both Coasts (For) vs Phillips Academy's Philomathean Society- USA Preliminary Round 1 -http://www.debatewise.com/debates/984-assisted-suicide-should-be-permitted-2
The winners of these matches advance to the next preliminary round where they'll type off against each other to see who goes on to represent the United States in the WODC themselves
Qoo Zee (For) vs Team Cecilee (Against)- China Preliminary Round http://www.debatewise.com/debates/982-prisoners-should-be-used-for-medical-experiments-without-consent- China Preliminary Round
The winner of this round will represent China in the World Online Debating Championships.
So make your marks on either side of the debate.
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Official Press Release for the start of the WODC Preliminary Round
“And nation shall debate unto nation.”
Debatewise is pleased to announce that the preliminary round of the inaugural World Online Debating Championships (WODC) is currently taking place. This is to decide which debating teams from the United States of America, Israel and China will go on to represent their country in the Championships themselves which begin on August the 10th . They and other teams will compete in a straight knockout tournament lasting just over a month in a format that brings together the length of test cricket with the cut and thrust of politics of Westminster. This is a joint initiative with the International Debate Education Association and the World Universities Debating Council some of who’s members are acting as Adjudicators with Neill Harvey Smith being the Chief Adjudicator.
The championships are taking place in a time of great international economic, political and social turmoil and domestic discontent across many countries including our own. We believe strongly that never before has the need for debate by individuals of whatever race, age, gender, creed, physical or neurological condition from the quiet or noisy corners of the globe has never been greater than now ,whether on issues related to one place or many places in the world. We also believe that the internet can play a crucial part in facilitating and strengthening discussion as part of a stronger global discourse. The recent events in Iran are a shining example of the webs power to bring important issues to the attention of an international audience. The World Online Debating Championships can play a part in this by bringing countries together to thrash out issues on an array of era defining subjects, ranging from should assisted suicide be illegal to should prisoners be used for medical experiments without their consent.
Currently we have strong representation from across Asia with teams hailing from Bangladesh to the Republic of Korea, a variety of the ex Soviet countries in Eastern Europe as well as teams from the major debating powers Australia the USA and the UK. We also hope to have some teams representing regions as well.
The winners of the World Online Debating Championships will be revealed on September the 21st and will receive a suitable reward for their commitment, intelligence and passion over the past month. But whoever wins or loses we hope that bringing people together from different countries in the spirit of competition as well as intellectual exchange will strengthen the global discourse and that people will come away from it, be it competitors or spectators determined to talk freely and frankly beyond the boundaries of mere nation states. It is time for nation to debate unto nation.
Points of Information for Journalists
Debatewise (www.debatewise.com) is an not for profit online debating site where people can register for free to create and strengthen new contents bringing together the strongest arguments and counter arguments on virtually anything. The WODC is one of a number of initiatives Debatewise run including Revisewise which is a tool that can be used for revision by students. It was founded in 2008 by David Crane. It is currently based out of Bash Studios Scrutton Street in London and it’s patrons include Michael Crick, Gabby Logan and Chris Heaton Harris.
Contact details Tel: 44 20 3393 7223 E-mail info@debatewise.com or postal address Debatewise CIC
Scrutton Street
London
EC2A 4PJ
UK
The International Debate Education Association: The International Debate Education Association (www.idea.com) was created in 1999 to co-ordinate pilot member programmes. “IDEA acts as an independent membership organization of national debate clubs, associations, programs, and individuals who share a common purpose: to promote mutual understanding and democracy globally by supporting discussion and active citizenship locally.”
Contact details: For any inquiries about IDEA please contact it’s Salem office
Willamette University
900 State Street
Salem Oregon 97301
USA
Telephone: (503) 370-6244
Fax: (503) 370-6171
www.debatewise.com/wodc
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Weekly 5 and a massive welcome to the first 5 volunteers from the class of 2010
Konban Wa!Here's what I've been doing for the past week
Well the office has become progressively more quiet this past week with David going off South East towards Bosnia for two weeks, Alex leaving today for the Highlands of Scotland again for two weeks and Steph hunting for work (Oh and not to forget Pete leaving. So here's 5 things what I've been doing:
1. Placing adverts and attempting to place adverts for volunteers to join the Rapid Response Team and...
2. Welcoming five new Team members in, the first new members of the class of 2009-2010. I've already e-mailed them privately but once again a warm and cheerful, public welcome to Olusha Ojikutu, Arfraz Majeed, Sean Cable, Michael Archer and Daniel Lipman who are the first five new members to join this summer. It's nice to see I may be greedy but we're still looking for more people whether you're young old, disabled or non disabled, LGBT or straight, Black or white. The Rapid Response Team is effectively one of the motors on the site and a good bit of competition for us interns at HQ as well as raising the standard of debating for all contributors whether RRT HQ or not. After all we can't have Alex (who's going to be the first to score 1000 Karma tomorrow) or me( who was first to break the 500 K mark in June getting all the achievements on Debatewise!
3.Editing and working on debates such as one on whether the latest swimsuits used in competitive swimming are a form of mechanical doping ,something that has added significance given that the Swimming World Championships are happening in Rome at the moment .
4. Not related to work but... I went out on a trip for people on the National Autistic Society's Transitions Scheme to Greenwich on Thursday seeing the Maritime Museum and Royal Observatory as well as the Planetarium. On that note A huge friendly shout out of appreciation to those people from Goldman Sachs who organised, facilitated and went around with all of us in the cool but nice weather on that day as well as the staff from Transitions. I had a really interesting time viewing the various exhibits and sitting and watching the 3D movie and it was nice meeting the different people who went both autistic and non autistic. I even got to blow some rust off my passing and dribbling skills (which I haven't done in at least a year) as well as enjoy some nice sandwiches too!
5.Back to things debating related, I've also been responding to last minute inquiries from people about the WODC before the deadline for registration closed. I can't report on the precise breakdown of the nations yet although rest assured that will be coming soon along with the draw and reports on each of the rounds of the WODC as and when they happen.
Well got to leave the workstation clean but derelict for now as the weekend's calling.
Sayonara
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All good things come to an end
"And now, the end is near, and so I face the final curtain"Well the time has finally come when unfortunately I need to bid my very fond farewells. Due to a variety of reasons, I have had to tell Dave that it is time to seek pastures new and end my time at Debatewise HQ. When I replied to that advert on w4mp, I had no idea how much fun it would be working at Debatewise, and without any hint of a lie, it has been the most enjoyable 4 months of my working life thus far.
The reason I have enjoyed my time so much can be put down to the people I have worked with, and the environment I worked in. The Debatewise team are all so amazing for a variety of reasons and working with them has been such a pleasure. Dave has been such a fantastic and encouraging boss, easily the best I have had, Alex is one of the most intelligent and knowledgeable guys I have ever met, Leo is such a friendly and enthusiastic person and Steph has been such a ray of light in this office, and has really helped to give me more self confidence. There was also Betony and Judith, both sadly departed, who were lovely women, and I know they will be really successful in their future endeavours.
I intend to continue contributing to the site, and want to catch Alex and Leo on the Karma leader board. You guys are going down!
I don’t know what I am going to do in the future, but if it comes remotely close to my Debatewise experience, then I know I am onto a winner.
God Bless
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what we have been doing this week
A week without Steph (and without leo after monday) so frankly it has been a quiet week!Alex – mostly debates this week
1, for revisewise I have been researching data collection methods, both quantitative and qualitative, on the assumption that the point of a pilot project would be to study revisewise and we need to have some idea how we would go about such a study.
2, I have been writing historical debates (Cromwell) and adding to some that Leo made (McNamara).
3, took part in the debate on ‘does mother nature rule the world?’ for radical nature. I also picked out some quotes from the debate that I believe were read out.
4, took part in a test debate for the WODC, those Chinese sure can write a lot so it was lots of effort to keep up!
5, Made a revisewise debate on World Systems Analysis.
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Five things for the week
It is time to list what we have been up to this week1) Have gone on a bit sport debate crazy, I have written two football debates this week
2) Researched hotels and hostels that can be used for the idea exchange
3) Kept adding to the leads for potential clients to buy our software, this has been keeping Steph nice and busy
4) Had a good session of the papers, some very interesting debates where thought of. Unfortunately as it was so hot we did not have the chance to have chocolate
5) Not work related, but went to see Blur on Thursday night. It was amaaaaaaaaaazing
Alex... the comment about chocolate above, sorry my fault for buying the papers in the morning rather than when we were going to use them, chocolate would never have survived 5 hours in the heat :( I should buy some biscuits instead.
1, edited several debates for the newsletter, adding points etc to make them presentable and up to standard.
2, had a debate with my brother on whether Obama should have done more to help the Iranian moderates.
3, written a FAQ for debatewise
4, written some moderating guidelines for when we begin moderating debates on other sites (there is very little moderation on debatewise itself)
5, wrote a quick walk through of the WODC for our Chinese contestants in the test run next week.
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World Online Debating Championships: T-35 days
Just over a month to go until the start of the main competition stage of the World Online Debating Championships and so far we've got interest from 12 different countries from the four corners of the globe That's ten if you count the UK as one but then you'd be risking the wrath of a large amount of nationalists from both sides of the border, Sorry unionists!. Whatever, Stand by for more than a few sporting and edgy political observations as I go through the possible countries that could be involved so far. Out of the Home nations who have entered so far it's the Auld Enemies England and Scotland who meaning we could see debating's equivalent of the Calcutta Cup (a rugby union match between England and Scotland normally held during the Six Nations tournament). A competitor or team from Turkey beat all of the other European Union entries bar the UK in entering. Interestingly enough Turkey is where next year's World University Debating Championships will be held. Crossing over the Black Sea to the Middle East we find two key members of the Middle East peace process Israel and Jordan looking at competing . Also a large amount of entries have come from Asia and especially South East Asia with entrants or should I say wisers coming from Indonesia, Bangladesh, Malaysia and Singapore which given the large amount of territorial disputes and nature of the countries should be interesting. South Africa is the first country of the African continent to get involved. The USA is also involved so far being the only North American representative although that will change as some of it’s north American cousins will want to put the world’s oldest democracy in it’s place. Finally last but not least the Japan may well also be fielding entrants making it the first to do so from the Far East.This is because one of the things we'll be doing next week is putting the finishing touches ( a touch of Western arrogance maybe?) to the destruction of the People's Republic of China's Green Wall as we hold a test debate between a group of our very own rapid response team's finest (with more than a little bit of input from certain people in HQ) and a team of students somewhere in the PRC as a dry run before the mayhem begins. We've had one in house debate so far using the system and despite a few teething troubles it works. Next week's test will be a good final shakedown although I'll be missing it (grr) as I'll be off to Italy with a new passport! .Expensive but worth it and I won't be losing this one in a pile anytime soon! Can't win them all.
Although the WODC is over a month away the deadline for registering is on July the 19th which is just over two weeks away. To find out more information and possibly register your interest in taking part click this link hereclick this link here which will take you to the WODC page on the site.
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Good luck to both sides involved, may the best team in the shake down win and may the site be fully prepared for the five or more rounds that are to come!
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so what is a revisewise debate?
I have been thinking of adding a debate on Cromwell in Scotland (I have some notes on the topic from a few years ago) but should it go on the main site or revisewise?on the revisewise side:
The debate is academic in that what I have was for a presentation when back in uni.
It is history which is not something we really get debates on for the main debatewise site so fits in better with the content in revisewise.
on the debatewise main site side:
I dont have any references and footnotes for it as it came from a presentation, so it would not be helpful at guiding users to other sources for the topic, which I consider to be one of the big reasons for revisewise.
I dont want history to be totally relegated to revisewise, politics debates can be in either depending on the subject matter or the wishes of the creator of the debate, so why should history be any different?
In my view it is not rigorous enough,yes I had multiple sources at the time, but what use is it if I dont know what they were? On the other hand the point of debatewise is that the arguments will get better, it is possible that someone would find the sources I used and add to it.
Essentially there is no obvious dividing line between debatewise and revisewise, what should be in a general archive of debate and what comes under the 'academic' archive? I dont really know and I suggest that the disdinction should be up to the creator of the debate, if you are creating a debate that is with the intention that it will be used for education, be it yours or your friends then it should be revisewise. If the debate is just out of your general interest then debatewise.
Anyone have any views where we should set this line?
p.s. ill probably put the debate on the main site even if only as a token history debate!
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railways
I tend to think of myself as quite a frequent rail traveller and fairly knowledgeable about how they work however this does not prevent me regularly being baffeled by delays on our railways. As I get the train from Reading into Paddington every morning the train (whether it is the 9:35, 37 or 45 from Reading) almost always stops outside Paddington for a few minutes. Im pretty sure there are set platforms that they are supposed to go into, if there is a train that does not leave until mine is supposed to be arriving to free up the platform then why not change the timetable by a minute? What is even odder is that it even seems to happen when late, how can there not be a platform free?I assume this must all be down to a lack of capacity for the number of trains meaning that the staff in the signal boxes must be juggling trains and platforms right up to the moment the train arrives. So we need more investment and no real chance of getting it until after the recession is over. Crossrail in 4-5 years time should mean even more trains running along the line to maidenhead, I wonder if it will help or hinder?
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Five things and gone fishing or rather recruiting
Konichi Wa or Konban Wan or whatever greeting in whatever language you speak.Here's five things I've done last week and Monday:
1.Created Facebook, Myspace and Bebo groups all trying to get people to come and compete in or follow the World Online Debating Championships
2. Spread my wings and started tweeting as the new spokes-bird for debatewise.
3. Managed to potentially get an article into two publications for autistic people
4. Battled sleep while watching a training video for Salesforce (Still got more to watch!)
5. Helped Alex with the new FAQ section and worked on various debates such as on Formula 1
Out of the five activities I've been doing this week most of these things involved doing one thing: fishing for people for different purposes which is tricky. This is particuarly since I'm in the stage of doing what any good fisherman or woman does and setting out his bait for unsuspecting fish to come and take a bite and get reeled in. Difference is with interns people know what they're letting themselves in for hopefully and I can't hurt any people by either creating a hole in their tongues with a metal hole in their mouth's or getting them trapped in a fishing net. One thing remains the same in fishing and recruiting: what bait or where to go?. Debatewise is a not for profit meaning zero budget for promotion or recruitment so... that means thinking about trying to make an offer that people and advertising companies can not refuse, something that I'm getting the hang of. A great thing for whipping up passion in the team ethic that is debatewise but a tricky challenge meaning that I'm looking for outlets from the quiet corners of the globe as well as the loud ones. Any tips for how to fish (recruit) ethically but effectively in strange waters for people would be great fully appreciated. Oh and any new people too...
Anyway got to flutter off now
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