Working on the little Byram Hills tournament next week—it’s free, it’s online, it’s posted on tabroom, and you’ve got until Tuesday if you’re interested—has hammered home something that has been hotly discussed by the NDCA TDs, to wit, the impact of time zones.
The thing is, theoretically anyone on the planet can debate at an online tournament because, well, unless you’re blocked by some totalitarian government (I’m looking at you, USA), you can sign up and there you are. As a general rule, most IRL debate tournaments draw from their own regions for obvious reasons, but some tournaments can make the claim to having a national draw, and again IRL, people have traditionally flown into them. This is especially true of the Ivies, where a sizeable proportion of the field is there for the college visit, but also of tournaments with a quarters bid or better in something. As a general rule, the attractive tournaments in the northeast draw big numbers from Florida, plus some Texans and Californians. It’s those Californians that are the problem, if we don’t pay attention to what we’re doing.
The one thing everyone seems to agree on is that virtual tournaments are very demanding in their own unique way. Sitting at a computer, either as a judge or competitor, tends to wear people out. The TD universe has quickly come to a general agreement that 4 rounds a day is enough in the CX world, or 4 double flights in LD and PF. Maybe 5 single flights if you’ve got the judging. Zoom Fatigue, or whatever you want to call it, is only one part of the deal. The other is location. If you assume that every participant at your tournament has all their own modern equipment, and an isolated environment for their videoing, and complete control of their at-home schedules, then A) you have a lot of freedom in creating your schedule, and B) you have no idea of who actually attends debate tournaments, not to mention that you’ve forgotten why we’re having these virtual tournaments in the first place. Families are at home—the whole family. Start from there and use your imagination.
(I did like that a lot of people on our local CFL call yesterday were talking about using their schools for participation spaces when the season actually starts. I've already talked about that a lot. It can help eliminate all sorts of—but not literally all—barriers to entry.)
The Byram Hills tournament was to some extent predicated originally on the participation of Californians. Golden Staters, therefore, are intrinsic to its running. The time in Malibu is now 7:35 a.m. The time in my kitchen in 10:35 a.m. So you can see the problem. For me to start a round at 8:00 a.m., I have to base my schedule on Pacific time. If I give 3 hours to each double flight, which is reasonable, that means 8, 11, 2, 5 for the prescribed four rounds. If you’re on the beach in Malibu, that is. On the other hand, if you’re at home in Queens with Ma and Pa and your brother Darryl and your other Brother Darryl and Granma Joad and cousin Orville, your rounds are at 11, 2, 5, and 8. That eight o’clock round might be something of a problem, as it is in competition with whatever Ma and Pa and your brother Darryl and your other Brother Darryl and Granma Joad and cousin Orville want to do at eight o’clock. Netflix anyone?
“It’s eight o’clock. Do you know where your bandwidth is?”
When push comes to shove, I don’t think anyone will be adjusting their schedules to make them attractive to opposite coasters. It offers little to anyone, given that there are plenty of tournaments within a time zone or two of everyone all the time, so no one has to get put out and everyone can have plenty of geographic diversity without having to put anyone at a disadvantage. And let’s face it. For most debaters, debating at home at night is a disadvantage, and that doesn’t even begin to take into consideration judging. (“Hey, Mom. Step away from ‘Tiger King.’ You’ve got a PF round to judge.”)
Before the TDs started confabbing, Brian M created schedules that would cover every contingency, including four time zones. They’re great. But what they didn’t cover was where those rounds were taking place within those time zones. And that, people are pretty much coming to realize, is something that has to be seriously considered.
No comments:
Post a Comment