Assignment 8: MUN is FUN (Kyle Barron)

This weekend, I was chairing for the Iraq 2003 committee for the Cornell Model United Nations Conference. Chairing involved banging gavels and yelling decorum while high school students started yelling and debate got out of hand. While I was not moderating debate, I was typing up resolutions for the delegates. The delegates would gather during an unmoderated caucus and draft resolutions to solve the issues that have been tabled. These resolutions are often hand-written since most delegates do not have laptops, and the hand writing is virtually illegible since they are written hastily. Therefore, when I am handed a resolution to type up to display on the projector, the delegates must crowd around my laptop and make sure that was is projected is what they mean. This involves going over formatting, grammar, spelling, etc.

According to Scott et al. (2003), there are eight guidelines that a tabletop technology must have. Although we were not collaborating using a tabletop technology, we can apply some of the theories and concepts to the situation. One of the guidelines is that the technology must support transitions between collaboration and external work. As I mentioned before, the process of going from the hand-written resolution to a typed version was often tedious. However, once the resolution was typed up, it was very easy for delegates to see it since it was projected on an overhead screen. After that, the delegates could then review the resolutions, refer to it during debate, and draft amendments.

Another issue that Scott mentions is that the technology must support simultaneous user actions. This was not the case in this system. While I was typing the resolutions, the delegates had to shout out instructions to me, and sometimes it became quite hectic. One solution could have been to create a Google Doc and share it with a delegate with a computer, that way we could simultaneously edit the document. The problem was that most delegates did not have laptops, so I had to type the resolutions while taking instructions.

The final issue Scott defines is that the system must support transitions between personal and group work. Resolutions were never solo projects; they were collaborative efforts between multiple delegates. Usually their ideas were discussed in the unmoderated caucuses, then the resolution was drafted, then brought to me to type. However, when discussing amendments or other edits to the resolution, this system was quite efficient. If someone had a point or suggestion, they can present it to the committee, then the other sponsors could agree or disagree in real time since all the delegates were co-located.

Overall, the process of typing up resolutions for the MUN conference met the standards laid out by Scott et al., even though there were some parts which did not comply, such as simultaneous editing.