PHOTO: Delivering the keynote address for the Pedagogy section at the 2006 THINKING AND SPEAKING A BETTER WORLD conference in Koper, Slovenia.

As the curtain comes down on the year 2006, it seems appropriate to summarize the first year in the blogosphere for the GLOBAL DEBATE BLOG. It has been an adventure and I have found it enjoyable. Here are some thoughts and comments about year one.

This project started on March 24 2006. Since then there have been 271 blog posts to this site. There have been 126 debate related videos posted to the VideoBlog section. I have also posted 158 radio programs from WRUV-FM radio to the site. To me, this all represents a substantial commitment to the project and an indication that it needs to continue. If I can keep this up for five years or more I can really begin to generate some content that others can use, especially the videos.

<== With Loke Wing Fatt in Korea

I have been pleased by the number of people visiting this site. When a principal in a school I visit for the first time mentions it, when a member of the World Schools council suggests that others read it, when high school students in Asia have the podcast videos on their iPods, when I upload it overnight and there are emails waiting for me when I wake up about the new content, when Asian students write a story and submit it for publication, when people tell me they check it to keep track of my adventures and in many other circumstances people mention it or it seems to have an impact (including the number of people complaining about this or that), I know that it is getting noticed. That is what I want.

<== With Will Baker at CEDA Nationals in Dallas, Texas

Some people have asked me, “Why are you doing this?” Well, I will be quite honest. I am doing it to document a new global debating community that has come into being in the last few years. Debating is experiencing explosive growth in all parts of the world, and I want to document that. People don’t know there is a global debating community until they can see it. My goal is to make the existence of global debate a reality that everyone can see.

<== With Korean debaters in Seoul

I have been grateful to the increasing number of people who send me news and reports of events. I can only be in one place at a time and I can only gather so much information on my own. I need your first-hand accounts of tournaments, workshops, trainings, media events, organizational changes and various news from around the world. I want to specifically thank two great debate evangelists for their help, Loke Wing Fatt of Singapore and Jason Jarvis of Korea. You two are really making a difference, not just to me because of the news that you send, but because of the way you are taking debate to new places and in new ways. I also want to thank debate webmasters around the world for doing their jobs so well that I can alert people to your good work and the way you are publicizing debating.  I always credit your work and your photos and hope that many of my visitors go to your websites to learn more.

<== With Martin Glendinning and Sarah Snider at NFL Nationals in Texas

There have been some problems. I often feel like I am preaching in the wilderness, but that is the nature of the web. I don’t know who is reading and why. I just need to have faith. This site has meant that wherever I go the first question I ask about is about wireless web access. I need that because it takes about 4-5 hours to upload the entire website. I am using iWeb (their themes look cool, I have little to do with it ... being aesthetically crippled AND color blind) and I love it, but every time I update I need to upload the entire website over again. That is quite a hassle but it is something I am going to have to live with. The answer for 2007 seems to be to break the 2006 portion away so that I will never have to upload it again and I can just upload the 2007 portion. That will become increasingly difficult as the site grows during 2007 but I am stuck with it until I change my blog software, but for now I love iWeb and plan to continue using it. I am reminded of my struggles in this regard, from choosing hotels in Croatia based on internet access, to waking up early in a hostel in Korea to go downstairs and get hooked up for upload, to my nightly procedure here in Slovenia of making sure it is uploading before I go to sleep. I wish I could just push a button as you can with some blog software, but the striking look of iWeb seems to be well worth it. I hope you agree. Other software would not be able to integrate the video and the music so easily. This has all been a little more difficult because of my being on sabbatical in Europe since early September, but I want to thank Bojana Skrt, my Slovenian host, for putting up with me through all of this (and for having a strong wireless connection). It may be a little easier as I go back to Vermont and true broadband.

<== On my porch in Baja California

Look for some new features in 2007. These should include:

-An updated search page to help you search everything on the site to find what you want.

-New correspondents and new information from new places.

-New videos from the 300+ I have that are not yet available on this site. I will start on that when I get home to Vermont.

-I have deliberated about a new design for the 2007 Blog and I have decided to keep this one. The others either look too plain or are a little too freaky for the debate community. I think this one is just about right, not so boring as most debate blogs but not too distracting either.

-Closer integration with DEBATE CENTRAL (http://debate.uvm.edu ) and DEBATEONEWORLD.ORG (http://debateoneworld.org ) my other two debate websites.

-Closer integration with the WORLD DEBATE INSTITUTE, the training programs I have hosted in Vermont (July-August), Slovenia (November) and Korea (August). I also will continue to do the WDI blog site at http://debate.uvm.edu/wdiblog/wdiblog/Blog/Blog.html .

-Adding new web resources to the site, such as the plans to host David Seikel’s debate history website.

-The chance to host some debates using the videoblog technology I have been advocating. Now I need to find some people who will actually do it. Volunteers are welcome. If you want to be in a debate against someone in another part of the world but don’t want to spend money, please contact me.

-New ideas and new developments I cannot even imagine now.

<== With Misha, Vesna and Bojana in Serbia

Please feel free to join me. I am just interested in promoting debate. If you have news, or ideas or want to be in a videoblog debate, please email me at alfred.snider@uvm.edu . I think I have a good record of working together productively with many different kinds of people over the last 35 years I have been in debate, and I would like you to be one of them.

Please experience a happy and safe new year, at least if you use the particular calendar in question. Otherwise, have a great day!