Has anyone considered using an iPad as a viewing computer for paperless debating? By using Dropbox and/or FileApp, it is relatively easy to transfer Word documents from a laptop to an iPad. The advantages of using an iPod are pretty clear: it’s smaller and lighter than any other viewing device, the screen size/resolution is good (certainly better than most netbooks), and it is super easy to use/handle. There are also obvious disadvantages, though: it does not have a USB port so it is impossible to jump files without either accessing a network or connecting it to iTunes, it doesn’t allow documents to be edited (just viewed), and the screen is smaller than a full-size laptop.
Do the advantages outweigh the disadvantages? Would debaters and coaches feel comfortable with an iPad as a viewing computer? Has anyone else experimented with this yet? Please share your thoughts in the comments.
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Ladies and gentlemen, if I could have a moment of your time.
With the debate season winding down, many of you may wonder to yourself how you’ll occupy those last few weeks of school. You could go outside, have fun, make friends- or better yet do something productive like beta-test Debate Synergy 1.5.
Billions of hours, blood, sweat and tears went into the 1.5 update to the Debate Synergy program. I’ve been receiving about two emails a day about Debate Synergy since October and have used it myself in over fifty rounds; I have learned from experience what works and what doesn’t. Currently, this is a Beta version- so it’s not Roy-friendly. Although myself and others have been testing it this week, it’s still possible for there to be bugs and the manual has not been rewritten in great detail (not that any of you read it anyways).
If you are a debate coach interested in making the paperless transition easy or a camp director, I would love to give a personalized presentation to your squad- similar to the one I gave at Woodward this past weekend- but it’s better if it’s personalized since I can spend as much time as necessary for the debaters to learn it. The ideal time to do this would be in those last few weeks of high school or before camps start. I can also present my browser addon to make debate research easier and faster- and I’ve been working on more useful features for a new release this summer. I’ve received several such requests already, so please contact me soon at alexgulakov@gmail.com.
What’s new in 1.5?
- The virtual tub system is entirely different- it’s much simpler to use since it just mirrors the structure of subfolders and files on your harddrive
- Standalone timer.exe program- it’s not just launched from Word
- The Word toolbar integrates with a superfast file search program called Everything Search, which you should download from http://www.voidtools.com/
- Major macro improvements to the paperless macros and a warrant extension macro
- Many small things, like bug fixes, interface improvements, ability to customize the toolbar, compatibility with Windows x64 versions and Office 2010 (a larger changes list will be in the final release)
The National Debate Coaches’ Association is hosting an informational seminar about paperless debate during round five of the Woodward 1st and 2nd Year National Championships. Alex Gulakov—an alum of the St. Mark’s School of Texas, a current student at the University of Texas, and the creator of the Synergy software—will be demonstrating paperless debating tools for interested coaches.
The NDCA is recording this presentation so that it can be made available to the community; more information will be posted as soon as we have it.
Thanksgiving is a great time to pick up deals on electronics, and so there will be a ton of debate deals out there. I’ll post what I see below the fold, add any you find in the comments.
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I did a post on spdebate a while ago about debate tech I use, a few people have emailed me recently asking about it again so I figured I would post a centralized update. So below the fold you have my review of debate tech- both for stuff related to debate and for debate admin.
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For those of you looking for debate computers:
Source
Ryan Ricard has provided simple instructions for downloading an offline copy of the NDCA wiki so that you can open it even when you don’t have access to an internet connection. To make things even easier, I have added Category code to each of the 2009-2010 policy pages; this allows you to access the category page and a listing of only the pages categorized as “Cross-Examination/Policy 2009-2010”. In order to be listed, a page must include [[Category:Cross-Examination/Policy 2009-2010]]—this can be added anywhere on the page. The best way to do this is to begin the page with __TOC__ [[Category:Cross-Examination/Policy 2009-2010]]. This adds a table of contents and makes sure that the page gets listed on the category page. The ability to download an offline copy of the wiki has been a frequent request; hopefully this solution will be helpful.
So I have some google wave invites and was thinking about how to dole them out in a just manner and I thought perhaps a little bit of a contest. The rules and description are below.
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Below are some short videos on how to use the basic functions in debate synergy. If there is something you haven’t been able to figure out how to do ask in the comments and I will try to get around to them.
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This judge choice discussion seems to be proving that this is getting out of hand- it seems discussion would be much easier if conversation took place in 1 spot instead of 5+. Perhaps some kind of agreement to keep discussion of a topic to the original blog where it was posted (in this case georgia debate)- keeping up is starting to feel like homework
Discuss… but only in this spot
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