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Texts from Last Night

September 29, 2009

by Abhi Nemani
Texts from Last Night

How much participation is too much? Well we tried to answer that question at Debate Night at the Ath. Not only was the event fully student-driven -- from selecting the topic to presenting the arguments -- but we opened up commenting to everyone in the Athenaeum. Throughout the event, attendants texted in thoughts which were projected onto a big screen behind the speakers. So instead of waiting till the speaker was done to make fun of him, you could text in your witticisms while he talked. And you did. Of me. Thanks. If you missed the event, we're tracking down video, and some reviews will be up shortly. Till then, you can get a taste of the commentary below. Unfortunately, the comments from the first half of the debate were lost ("technical difficulties"), but there's enough here, we hope, for you to either appreciate or wonder, "what the hell happened in the Ath?"


This was the first time we've tried anything like this, so we look forward to hearing what you all thought about it. Useful? Helpful? Annoying? Distracting? (Yes, we know: we are asking for comments on the commenting system.)

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