What Are Debates
Overview#
Debates summarize the key positions and arguments on climate change in a format that is more compact than the typical online discussion forum.In the current version of the Climate CoLab, debates are structured into two parts
- Debate summary
- Discussion
Debate summary#
A Debates summary is a structured representation that depicts the key arguments in the climate change debate.The Debate summary appears on the left half of the Debates page.
Debate summaries are structured into 4 components:
- issues,
- positions held on those issues,
- arguments in favor of a position,
- arguments against a position.
For more on the rationale behind Debate summaries, see Large scale argumentation.
Discussion#
In the Discussion, users can comment on posts in the Debate summary in an unstructured way.The Discussion appears on the right half of the Debates page.
Contributions to a Discussion can become the basis for posts that are subsequently placed in the structured Debate summary.
