PHOTO: Jens Fischer (left) of Germany worked on the software; also seen here Sam Nelson, Cornell and Sam Grenland, University of Sydney; photo from International Debate Academy Slovenia 2006.
There has been a crying need for a computer tabulation program that can handle British Parliamentary debating, with four two person teams and then the judge ranks them 1-4 and assigns points.
Jens Fischer jhbfischer@googlemail.com of Germany has been working with some of his colleagues and has produced just such a program, called Tournaman. We used it at the International Debate Academy Slovenia 2006 and it did a very nice job, allowing for tab room flexibility and providing tournament administrators with a lot of options for running the tournament. It did not crash, it accurately tabulated the results and it operated quickly and easily.
While it does not come with a lot of documentation and support, there is some, and experienced tab room types should be able to use it with a little practice.
One nice feature is that it will allow you to emphasize either the current standing of the team or the avoidance of a repeat of team position that can go back a set number of debates that you can choose.
I understand that out in California Danny Cantrell has been working on a program for BP, but until I get a chance to use it and try it (and I am anxious to) I will use this one when I need to. It is far better than the glorified Excel spreadsheets that many people have been using, or the infamous “Dublin Tab” that has crashed and malfunctioned at tournaments (or so I have been told by tab staff).
To download a copy of the zip file, go to
