The Debate Authors Working Group Model for Collaborative Knowledge Production in Forensics Scholarship

Abstract

The disconnect between modes of knowledge production in forensics (mostly collaborative) and academic study in the humanities (mostly solo work) is a chasm that can complicate the transition from tournament competitor to professional scholar. Might arrangements that promote joint authorship help harmonize the two modes of knowledge production and convert creative energy from the forensics setting to the academic publishing enterprise? This essay considers the possibility, reflecting on how efforts to coordinate collaborative knowledge production in debate authors working groups relate to professional development challenges isolated in the 1974 Sedalia Conference, the 1984 National Developmental Conference on Forensics, the 1993 Quail Roost Caucus, and the 2009 National Developmental Conference on Debate. The analysis sheds light on issues of perennial importance for the forensics community and also contributes understanding of how recent technological and sociological trends portend changes in the process of knowledge production for the academy writ large.