There were not nearly as many people involved as I thought there would be.  It varied at different times during the evening, but the room averaged somewhere around 30 people at any one time, and I would say only about 10-12 of those were really active in the process.  Off the Bus also set up a wiki page.  This seemed to cause some logistical problems, as I guess some people confused the wiki with what should have been occurring in the chatroom, so they kept editing the wiki to discuss things/ask questions.  The Off the Bus people seemed to want the wiki to be a more organized project, where they would take people from the chatroom, assign them to certain questions and send them to the wiki to post their findings.  But, I don't think that was clearly communicated prior to the process beginning.  I ended up being assigned a research project to find out the process of how the videos were chosen, which was great since I had a previous student who is interning on staff this summer for Anderson Cooper and was involved in the process of choosing the videos.  I was assigned to work with a "writer" who was in the chatroom (this was all done on a purely voluntary basis - so, one of the Off the Bus organizers would say, "Is there a writer and a researcher who can work on _______ and post something over at the wiki later tonight?" and some individuals would volunteer and start working on it). Unfortunately, I just checked that page and the blog post has not been posted.  I'm not sure if that is a problem with the writer assigned to it or the Off the Bus people being bogged down with other stuff (it did not sound like the writer I worked with knew how to use a wiki).  I just sent an email inquiring about that, but have not heard back from them.

Things I thought were exciting about the process:

* It allowed a more interactive experience with the debate.  Even if you weren't assigned a research/writing job, the Off the Bus people were collecting the questions that came up repeatedly from those in the chatroom in order to use them in follow-up.  And it definitely made the debate more intriguing - as I'm sure you all found with the students viewing it at your institute.  I remember sponsoring a "Debate Watch" event at Pepperdine and many people seemed really disengaged with the process.  This allowed a much higher level of engagement and critical thinking (as one of the areas they were focusing on was fact-checking and material deserving of follow-up).  I definitely would use this process in an educational setting (interactive, real-time chat room and blogging).

* There was follow-up after the debate.  So, there were individuals volunteering for additional duties (e.g. finding some of the video questioners and getting their reactions to the debate) and then there was an article posted at Huffington (http://www.huffingtonpost.c om/off-the-bus-reporter/no- sport-of-kings-how-th_b_576 56.html) with a byline for the people who worked on it.  I think this is a great example of non-professionals (I assume there were a number of non-journalists involved in the process) and people with campaign experience (one person had run for office in the past and another had worked on campaigns I believe) getting together on something where they would never otherwise have contact.  This is definitely a strength of the internet experience.

Things I think could be improved in the next experience (upcoming Republican debate):

* Better organization pre-debate.  Assign research/writer teams prior to the debate starting so the assignments can go out sooner and get completed faster.  This would also mean that people would be placed in their strengths instead of just trying to fill in where needed.  It was relatively ad hoc last night.

* Assign people to be "watchers" - whose only job is to identify facts or questions or answers that are deserving of follow-up.  I felt like there were times when many of us were distracted by other things and no longer really paying attention to the debate.

* Give people more specific guidelines for all the things they want done.  It was nice to have an open-ended process, but I think it caused a lot of people to not be as involved as they otherwise may have been had they had a little more direction from the beginning (e.g. an email 2-3 hours before the debate that provided specific instructions/expectations and defined a role for each participant).

In the end, I think it will probably be better the next time around as the Off the Bus organizers probably learned a lot.  It is definitely something I would participate in again and it is definitely something I would attempt to get my students (whether debate or just communication studies) involved in if offered in the future.

Benefits to Debate as an Activity
One of the oft-cited criticisms of academic debate is its insularity and its inability to transfer the incredible amounts of knowledge that are held by the debaters to the general public.  I think Off the Bus types of activities can be a way for our community to interact effectively with the general public without having to change what we do in competition.  The speed with which debaters can access information via the web and their often impressive background knowledge about past legislation and who has supported that legislation would mean they would come into the process with more background than many others who may get involved.  In addition, I think one of the strengths of switch-side debating is that it forces debaters to question even those things that they support.  I noticed in the chatroom that most of the individuals were obvious about their political leanings, and I think it may have created a more "friendly" environment for the candidates than might otherwise have been the case.  It is often difficult to challenge those who are saying the things you want to hear.  I will be interested in seeing how things change in the chatroom when the Republican debate happens.  I think many debaters would be more able to critically examine all that was said instead of only focusing on those things with which one disagrees or which are said by one with whom they disagree.  As educators, this is a great way for us to introduce our debaters into an environment where their strengths can shine and they can make a contribution from their knowledge to the general public.

Benefits to Debaters
On the side of benefits to the debaters themselves, I think the biggest one is being able to use what they have learned in debate in an interactive and public enviornment.  I also think it allows them some informal experience in the area of political analysis and they can see how their views (and points of view) differ from that of the general public.  Although I think it is great that many of our debate graduates currently choose professions in politics and the law, I have also come to the realization that the media plays an incredibly important role in our society.  I have come to the conclusion that without future journalists who are able to detach themselves from their personal views (one of the benefits I see of switch-side debating), really critically examine the information that is given them, and then produce material that allows the public insight into the issues, our society is doomed.  I think this experience may spur some debaters to explore careers in journalism and the media where they can have a huge impact on what the world sees, knows and understands about current events.  We spend so much time in debate looking at and analyzing writing that I think we have unique insight on both the strengths and weaknesses of what is presented to the public.  So, maybe debate educators should start adding journalism and media to the "debate helps prepare you for a successful career in academia, law and politics" pitch that we make to students.  Getting them involved in efforts such as Off the Bus and encouraging them to start blogs that discuss the views and knowledge they have developed in debate may be step one in creating a real "watchdog" function in our media and journalistic outlets.

Sue Peterson
Director of Forensics, CSU Chico
http://www.bk2nocal.wordpre ss.com