Debatepedia.org
Debatepedia.org is a wiki encyclopedia of pro and con arguments and quotations. It is essentially "the Wikipedia of pros and cons," centralizing scattered arguments from op-eds, editorials, and books into comprehensive pro/con articles. This dramatically enhances decision-making, doing to the public debate what Wikipedia has done to the encyclopedia.
About You
Section 1: About You
First Name
Brooks
Last Name
Lindsay
Organization
Debatepedia
Country
United States
Section 2: About Your Organization
Organization Name
Debatepedia
Organization Website
Organization Phone
206 406 7558
Organization Address
1201 Q. St. NW Apt 301
Organization Country
United States
Your idea
Name Your Project
Debatepedia.org
What is your idea? What makes it innovative? Why is it important?
Debatepedia.org is a wiki encyclopedia of pro and con arguments and quotations. It is essentially "the Wikipedia of pros and cons," centralizing scattered arguments from op-eds, editorials, and books into comprehensive pro/con articles. This dramatically enhances decision-making, doing to the public debate what Wikipedia has done to the encyclopedia.
Will you launch your idea as a business or non-profit?
Non-profit
Country your work focuses on
What will be the impact of your idea?
Debatepedia's individual articles make it as easy as possible for citizens to view all of the pros and cons in a public debate, "weigh" them side-by-side in a simple split-screen structure, and draw robust conclusions. The impact is in improving reasoning and decision-making across-the-board among citizens and policy-makers alike. Because Debatepedia.org has already produced several thousand pro/con articles of this type, and aims to produce hundreds of thousands more on a scale similar to Wikipedia, the potential impact spans global-to-local. This is particularly true when considering that we cover topics of a local, municipal, state and regional, national, and global context. This means that the ceiling will always be growing and the impact always advancing, just as we see happening with the continual growth and impact of Wikipedia.
Who will help you develop your idea? Why are you the one to make this happen?
Debatepedia started out as a pure start-up, founded in 2006 by two Georgetown students, and with the help of Georgetown's network of professors and students. It later merged in 2007 with a 501c3 non-profit called the International Debate Education Association (IDEA). IDEA, along with its sponsor foundation The Open Society Institute, provides administrative, technical, and fundraising support to the Debatepedia.org project. Debatepedia.org remains driven largely by its Founder Brooks Lindsay. Why? In large part, this is due to his/my continued passion for the idea, in particular my passion for researching and writing pro/con articles, and working with other citizen-editors on Debatepedia.org that share this passion. In short, if the work was not my current occupation, it would be my fondest hobby. But, for all my passion, vision, and experience in pro/con journalism, I am not an expert programmer nor expert social media community organizer. Securing an employee or contractor with the highest level of experience in both of these fields is essential to launching Debatepedia.org toward community-driven self-sustainability.
How much will it cost to launch your idea? (This can be an estimate)
It will cost $84,000 to launch Debatepedia.org toward its potential in 2010. Of this 2010 budget, we have so far secured $40,000. $25,000 will take us nearly the rest of the way. Critically, it will allow us to hire an additional full-time staff member beyond Founder Brooks Lindsay. In particular, this person will specialize in programming, social media marketing, and online community organizing. This is essential to taking Debatepedia, a social-media wiki project dependent on the growth of its community, to the next level (ie. community-driven self-sustainability). $25,000 from the We Media Pitch It competition will take us there.
This Entry is about (Issues)
| Attachment | Size |
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| Debatepedia_logo_without_background.png | 33.91 KB |
 | 122 weeks agoBrooks Lindsay said: Debatepedia is a wiki media environment, in which citizens can revolutionarily outline, document, and organize arguments, quotations, ... about this Competition Entry. - read more > |
| 122 weeks agoa. b said: Please explain why your idea/project, is suited/perfect to using... 'media' ...to bring about A BETTER "WORLD"...the entire planet...? ... about this Competition Entry. - read more > |
| 122 weeks agoBrooks Lindsay updated this Competition Entry. |
| 122 weeks agoBrooks Lindsay updated this Competition Entry. |
| 122 weeks agoBrooks Lindsay submitted this idea. |
