Here are the spesifics on how DebateThis will work, a few of the certain features the DebateThis community will see and information of the maitenece of the idea.
Some of this information is repeated (and edited) from a few of my previous posts, but a lot of that inforamtion has already answered many of the questions that have been continually posed throughout the project. There are some changes.
Also there is a bunch of added new inforamtion about relevant issues.
This is the first of several posts to satisfy the need for DebateThis saturation. More to come in minutes.
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Handling Demographics
-DebateThis is aimed at the politically and socially informed, ages 14-23. More importantly it is aimed both at the section of youth that is both competitive and used to a certain level of digital recognition and fame.
-This covers both the iGeneration and yGeneration, two groups of young people who expect technical simplicity, creativity, style, entertainment, instant gratification and most importantly: themselves.
-These are the children of YouTube, Myspace and Facebook… where fame is not only a possibility; it is, to a certain extent very expected. DebateThis feeds into that desire in such a way that allows news and the ability to gather news to take center stage in that hunt for notoriety.
-Registration will be limited to ages 14 and above, based on registration that checks date of birth. It is possible for some kids to lie, but a lot of sites acknowledge this.
-No profanity or pornography is allowed on the site whatsoever.
Homepage
-DebateThis targets local news websites and constructs that filter multiple sources of content through one main hub. An example of this is mLive.com. mLive serves as a starting point for more than six different websites of prominent Michigan newspapers.
-The DebateThis homepage is tied to the hub, ala mLive or a similar website.
-But the homepage is its own space and has a dedicate page specifically for DebateThis. The content is then routed through a widget at the bottom of relevant stories.
-The DebateThis homepage itself is a subpage of the media’s main site and features a YouTube style media hub with links to specific arenas, participating news homepages, interesting articles, DebateSpace community profile pages, relevant videos and clips, blogs and opinions from top debaters, links to debater status and the DebateThis leader board. This is also where new users will come to sign up for the community.
Maitenence
-The news organization will have to have some level of involvement (albeit very small) to maintain DebateThis in its starting phases.
-The debates will have to be moderated and the upkeep of certain hosted filed will have to be maintained. This should not take a lot of manpower.
-The list of responsibilities may include: maintaining a small network, moderating conversations, maintaining upkeep of minor filesharing, making DebateThis work for the media company’s homepage.
-One of the benefits of DebateThis is that as the community begins to grow, many of the entitled high end users (I like to call them master users or senior point earners) will begin taking on some of that moderator responsibility.
-As members gain the necessary power within the site (and as such, have a proven track record for being smart, balanced, obsessed with the site and not completely crazy) they will also gain powers surrounding the content of the site.
-These members will be allowed to maintain ethical and contextual editorial content.
**While the level of company involvement may be low, it is conceivably necessarily at this time. With that said, the level of involvement is at a minimum compared to the potential rewards for a adopting this fresh and possibly revenue-generating idea. If DebateThis is to succeed, the organization that adopts it must take some care and effort in its original incubation. The community will take it from there.
Functionality
-DebateThis is a widget. A clickable, linkable icon that can attach to nearly any web 2.0 savvy web page. DebateThis will feature its own website where you can customize you're own user profile.
-Clicking on the icon takes you to TheArena, a sub-page that is back within the DebateThis website itself. There you will see a enclosed version of the article along with a section to "Spark a Debate."
-Basically, the first person to comment can say anything he or she wants about the article in controlled but challenging manner. The idea is that the person comments on something in or about the article that in effect, challenges the other members of the DebateThis community.
-That challenge can be in an audio, video, print or multimedia format and is displayed prominently on the articles own arena page (and also linked to each individual poster's blog).
-Other members then come out of the woodwork to counter the argument, statement or question.The motivation is that each time a user posts something thought-provoking and directly tackles whatever was said in a way that it almost trumps the other user, it earns points for that user.
-The user community can vote on each post. Points are awarded for the number of positive ratings as well as number of hits per each post. Accumulating points allows each member to become more influential in the community.
-The top point earners are always displayed on the homepage where users can find out more about that person. A senior point earner may be able to write his or her own articles for the page or have his own featured space where other users can listen to more of what he has to say.
-A member may become such a good and knowledgeable debater that his fame can travel across the entire community. With enough points and position in the community, he may even grow a following and then a team, where other members work to post together under his leadership.
The News Arenas.
A News Arena is basically a chain of DebateThis debating.
Here’s how it works:
1) A DT member clicks on an article, reads it and scrolls down to the bottom. Lets say the article is titled “Obama Inexperienced for 08.”
2) Member X is infuriated by this article and clicks “DebateThis!”
3) From there, the member is taking to the “Obama Inexperienced for 08” arena. He is the first to enter as this is a brand new article so he clicks the “Spark a Debate” icon.
**The length, format and extensiveness of each user’s post is completely organic and based once again of the DebateThis point system.Example: A brand new user is limited to creating only a text post with a very limited space (maybe one or two paragraphs max).
An advanced user has a whole page for posting, can create audio and video clips featuring whatever creative message he chooses to get across as well as links, pictures, etc.
Basically an advanced point earner has an extensive arsenal at his disposal for gaining points and respect in any given arena, where a new user can only use a very brief and limited medium.**
4) After choosing to spark a new debate, the user (lets say he is a new user so is limited to restricted text) posts a short paragraph on Obama. Maybe he agrees with points in the article that say he’s experienced or maybe he agrees with the ones that say he is completely inexperienced.
Whatever he chooses to write about, he does so and posts it on the area wall. After the post, DebateThis then asks him to pose an open challenge. It could say “prove me wrong” or “why exactly do you think Obama is experienced” or “There is nothing you can say to trump my argument.” This statement prompts other users to jump in.
5) Member Y sees this post and wants to post and can either decide to post a well thought out rebuttal or spark another debate.
6) As the debate continues to sprawl, every member in the community can make a simple vote to decide how many points he or she will give the user for his or her post.
The Point System
-Clicking on the icon takes you to TheArena, a sub-page that is back within the DebateThis website itself. There you will see a enclosed version of the article along with a section to "Spark a Debate."
-Basically, the first person to comment can say anything he or she wants about the article in controlled but challenging manner.
-The idea is that the person comments on something in or about the article that in effect, challenges the other members of the DebateThis community.
-That challenge can be in an audio, video, print or multimedia format and is displayed prominently on the articles own arena page (and also linked to each individual poster's blog).
-Other members then come out of the woodwork to counter the argument, statement or question. The motivation is that each time a user posts something thought-provoking and directly tackles whatever was said in a way that it almost trumps the other user, it earns points for that user.
-The user community can vote on each post. Points are awarded for the number of positive ratings as well as number of hits per each post.
-Accumulating points allows each member to become more influential in the community.-The top point earners are always displayed on the homepage where users can find out more about that person.
-A senior point earner may be able to write his or her own articles for the page or have his own featured space where other users can listen to more of what he has to say.
-A member may become such a good and knowledgeable debater that his fame can travel across the entire community.
-With enough points and position in the community, he may even grow a following and then a team, where other members work to post together under his leadership.
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