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The Internet

I would like to discuss something that was brought up a few weeks ago but 
was never really pursued;  the use of evidence gathered from cyberspace, 
the internet, you know, electronic cards.  This is just my opinion but I 
see a real deterioration in evidence quality and a research nightmare if 
this is pursued.  Initially, doesn't it seem pretty regressive that 
basically anyone would be able to be "published" on the net, and thus 
have their possibly unsubstantiated claims taken at face value?  I know 
that theoretically (and this has been an argument I've supported) source 
qualifications can be debated in the round, and that it is the 
responsibility of the debaters to filter through the hacks, but that 
isn't really feasible anymore.  With thirty cards a speech the average 
these days and source cites limited to "Feldstein 93," (both of which I 
have no problem with) it becomes really tricky to check out all those 
cards without sucking up all your prep.  Of the three possible solutions 
to this problem--slower debate and full cites, more prep, or limiting the 
use of electronic evidence--I'd rather we had the latter than anything.  

Also, it seems to me we would hurt evidence quality a lot more than help 
it.  What benefits could we really gain from widespread use of electronic 
evidence?  Research is already emphasized a lot (which is great!) and 
there are plenty of sources to glean the evidence from.  We have books 
and magazines and newspapers and don't forget Lexis/Nexis and...it's 
tough to keep up on the prevailing literature on anything, let alone 
topics as broad as the military or crime, and with the advent of internet 
evidence it will be impossible to keep up.

Which brings up the fairness issue.  It seems pretty random that some 
schools will have access to certain evidence other schools don't...but 
that's a part of this game or any other, and I accept that.  The 
difference between internet evidence and other stuff, though, is that 
(at least hypothetically) if someone else reads a realy good card, you 
can get the cite and go get that sucker.  But 1)  Not everybody will have 
access to the same news and 2) internet stuff is temporary, right?  So if 
you aren't logged on lots and lots, you might miss a great card and have 
it disappear on you.  There are some of us (guilty) who are evidence 
junkies already, and I shudder to think what the computer labs of my 
school and many others will look like before, say, Heart.

Anyway, that's my impression of and concerns about the issue.  I'd love 
to hear some discussion about it on the L.  Maybe somebody can enlighten 
me;  my roommates tell me I'm the original Luddite.

Jeff Shaw
Lewis & Clark  
"When civilization falls in its grave, technology throws on the dirt."
--Mould '85 (Bob, Philosopher, Husker Du:  Candy Apple Grey, Track #1)
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Archive created by Jonathan Stanton (jonathan@cs.jhu.edu)
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