Transparency

[Bruckner8]

I know DCI tried to hide recaps this summer, but I say they should go into the complete opposite direction: complete transparency.

1) Make all judge tapes available for download to the public.

2) Videotape all critiques and make them available to the public.

To implement this, maybe all judges should wear GoPro-like video recording equipment (with mic, to catch commentary), so we can see their perspective whilst running around the field (or not). Also, the GoPro would be perfect for recording staff behavior in critique. Furthmore, instead of writing anything down after the show, just speak it into the mic, where everyone can hear it (Currently, the judges keep cryptic notes, reminders, number-management chicken scratch...get rid of all of it)

Now, before you say "no judge would ever allow this!" I claim it takes pressure off the judges and puts all of it on the STAFF (where it belongs). After all, if the judge is confident in their process, they'd have nothing to hide. And the real exposure would come whilst watching the staff in critique. (obviously, if the staff knows they're being recorded, the staff might behave better.) I call this win-win for the JUDGES, cuz all of us can hear the performances the same way they heard them, and all of us could see/hear the way the staff talked to them after they got their number!

This would only make the judging better, because a judge could learn from all of the scrutiny. Any judge not willing to do this would probably quit, and that's OK. Staffs would certainly behave better, except for the most-belligerent (they can't even help themselves, let's be real). Maybe this would put an end to critique altogether, and that's OK too.

Wouldn't that be fun? Heck, maybe DCI could sell this as an extra package!

[Lance]

why?

[Kamarag]

1) You're going to run into copyright issues, so this one probably isn't workable.

2) This is a very intriguing idea.

[Bruckner8]

why?

Accountability. (was that really not obvious?)

[wonker]

They could never package and sell or make available due to the current state of licensing and rights issues.

[Tim K]

Judges tapes have been released in the past, and from what I remember what the released tapes sounded like differed greatly from those not released. They tended to sound far more upbeat and encouraging on released tapes than what corps members and staffs reported could be found on tapes meant for the corps only.

Personally, if a corps wants to release judges tapes, fine, but if they do not, it's really not my business. Judges tapes and comments are for the corps' use to make improvements and get stronger.

[ShortAndFast]

I support this 100%. I would personally pay for it, although I suspect I am in a very small minority.

It's hard for me to understand who benefits by keeping DCI judging so opaque. I think most audience members understand that, like figure skating, it's an artistic endeavor judged by complicated criteria. They'd like to better understand what the criteria are, and why they yield the winners that they do.

And it'd be pretty funny to get to watch all the videos of staff behavior in critique!

[LabMaster]

Accountability. (was that really not obvious?)

Accountable to who? You? Me? Again why? As a member of the "public" I have no right to this. The Drums Corps do. The public having it would only be to satisfy nosiness and spur arguments, not sensible debate. Which again is not my business. If it was something that really interested me, I'd go back to teaching. From a corps POV I'd be telling all the armchair quarterbacks to shut the he## up. IMO the publics "need to know...everything" has gotten out of hand. Having a recap after the shows, like there was, is sufficient.

[garfield]

I know DCI tried to hide recaps this summer, but I say they should go into the complete opposite direction: complete transparency.

1) Make all judge tapes available for download to the public.

2) Videotape all critiques and make them available to the public.

To implement this, maybe all judges should wear GoPro-like video recording equipment (with mic, to catch commentary), so we can see their perspective whilst running around the field (or not). Also, the GoPro would be perfect for recording staff behavior in critique. Furthmore, instead of writing anything down after the show, just speak it into the mic, where everyone can hear it (Currently, the judges keep cryptic notes, reminders, number-management chicken scratch...get rid of all of it)

Now, before you say "no judge would ever allow this!" I claim it takes pressure off the judges and puts all of it on the STAFF (where it belongs). After all, if the judge is confident in their process, they'd have nothing to hide. And the real exposure would come whilst watching the staff in critique. (obviously, if the staff knows they're being recorded, the staff might behave better.) I call this win-win for the JUDGES, cuz all of us can hear the performances the same way they heard them, and all of us could see/hear the way the staff talked to them after they got their number!

This would only make the judging better, because a judge could learn from all of the scrutiny. Any judge not willing to do this would probably quit, and that's OK. Staffs would certainly behave better, except for the most-belligerent (they can't even help themselves, let's be real). Maybe this would put an end to critique altogether, and that's OK too.

Wouldn't that be fun? Heck, maybe DCI could sell this as an extra package!

I'm in 100%, and I'd pay for it, too. What a hoot, and magnificent education about judging.

[barigirl78]

The only people the judges need to be accountable and transparent to are the corps. The corps get to see the sheets. The corps get to hear the tapes.

DCI isn't us. DCI is the corps. Since it is the DCI members who vote on these rules, it is they who decide what the public has access to or not.

Why do you think they need to be transparent to you, as a spectator of the activity? From the original note, it sounds like you are trying to discover some hidden controversy or something.