Debate Authors Working Group Founded
Working with Director of Debate Gordon Mitchell, WPDU assistant coaches Matt Brigham and John Rief converted energy from a fall 2005 directed reading project into establishment of a new organization in Pittsburgh, the Schenley Park DAWG (Debate Authors Working Group).
The group aims to provide an intellectual infrastructure for academic debate scholars to collaborate on projects that result in presentation and publication of rigorous work products in scholarly venues.
A common theme in early DAWG discussions was how the co-authorship issue is an important one for debate scholars to tackle, because the disconnect between modes of knowledge production in academic debate (mostly collaborative) and rhetorical scholarship (mostly lone work) is a gulf that makes it difficult for some debaters to make the transition from debater/coach to productive scholar. DAWG co-authorship guidelines respond to that exigence and provide a rigorous framework for debate scholars to publish top-quality academic scholarship in a mode that transcends many of the limitations of solo projects.
The inaugural DAWG meeting was held March 17, 2006, in the friendly confines of the Schenley Park Visitors Center, which borders Pittsburgh's breathtaking Schenley Park, a sprawling, 300-acre municipal park dotted with ponds, walking trails, and even a popular disc golf course.
