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debategraph

The global debate map

http://www.debategraph.org/


click to enlarge

Type: Website
Status: Public
Source: Thoughtgraph Ltd.
Difficulty: Easy
Compatibility: N/A
Language: English
Rating:
User rating:

 Our goal is to make the best arguments on all sides of any debate freely available to all and continuously open to challenge and improvement by all.

In pursuit of this goal, Debategraph is:

(1) A wiki debate visualization tool that lets you:

  • present the strongest case on any debate that matters to you;
  • openly engage the opposing arguments;
  • create and reshape debates, make new points, rate and filter the arguments;
  • monitor the evolution of debates via RSS feeds; and,
  • share and reuse the debates on and offline;
(2) A web-based, creative commons project to increase the transparency and rigor of public debate everywhere—by making the collective insight and intelligence of the global community freely available to all.
  • Every debate map is provisional and open to iterative improvement by anyone who participates.
  • Over time, the debate maps will mature into the definitive articulations of each debate.
  • Every change you make—whether correcting a text, adding a new argument, or starting a new debate—contributes towards the fulfilment of this social promise.
  • So be bold as a first time visitor—and safe in the knowledge that a full editing history provides a safety net. And if you are interested in playing a more systematic editorial role in the community, we would love to hear from you.
(3) A global map of all the debates that enables us to visualise and deepen our understanding of the ways in which different debates are semantically interrelated, and ways in which these interrelated debates shape, and are shaped by, each other.

Who for?
  • Anyone is free sign in and start creating, editing, rating and commenting on debates straightaway (once a valid e-mail address is confirmed).
  • NGOs, companies, and all branches of government are free to create and contribute to public debate maps—and to use them to support other forms of consultation and deliberation.
  • Universities and schools are free to use debate maps for research and classroom projects—and to teach and encourage critical thinking skills.


If you see any deficiences in links or information, please let us know in a comment.

Tommaso Venturini    16 Sep 2008    04:11
Rating:

Very, very interesting website. It can be useful both for designing new debate trees that can be opened to the discussion and for exploring the trees that have already be produced (and discussed). The only weak point is the graphic which is very poor in terms of information and interaction design.

François Mélard    2 Mar 2009    07:54
Rating:

I go along the appreciation of Tommaso. DebateGraph maybe a good complementary tool with the risk-cartography plateform. It enables the protoganists to add informations to their controversy in a structurized way. Every changes in the map may be monitored. This very usefull ! We have tested with satisfaction this plateform with our own data on the bee die-off controversy. We would like to go further and test it with the stakeholders themselves...

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