The editor would like to stress that this is not an article geared towards newer players
Abstract:
The author of this paper urges the reader to ponder, "what is quizbowl," and "what should quizbowl be?" As a game nearly ubiquitously characterized by introducing its players to the new in addition to the trope of "testing knowledge," perhaps quizbowl and its multifacted community could seek to also expand and be inventive in how questions can be asked and ideas be shared and knowledge tested. In a market oversaturated with people competing towards achieving some sort of singular platonic ideal of quizbowl, it is also relevant to consider the benefits of attempting different philosophies. Normalizing unconventional distributions has the potential to better serve sharing the ideas the reader and their team may think the world needs to hear and strengthen the praised grassroots community of quizbowl, provided certain guidelines of quality are met. This project will in all likelihood not be revolutionary, but the author considers the value of thinking more progressively towards what has shaped quizbowl into what it is today and what it could be tomorrow to be worthwhile still. The following will introduce some goals and ideas proposed by the author of this paper for an experiment to be conducted in the following months.
Hypothesis:
Distro:
Humanities (11/11)
1/1 Modern Human Customs & Cultural Geography
1/1 Music
1/1 Historical Analysis; Historiography and Archaeology
1/1 Documenting the World
1/1 Historical Human Customs & Historical Geography
2/2 Western Classics and Literary Analysis
1/1 Visual Arts and Aesthetics
1/1 Religious Customs and Literature
1/1 American History
1/1 Other Social Sciences
Sciences (6/6)
1/1 Physical Geography and Earth Sciences
1/1 Mathematics
1/1 Computer Science
1/1 Physics
1/1 Biology
1/1 Chemistry
Other (3/3)
1/1 Pop Culture/Trash
1/1 General Knowledge
1/1 Current Events
Preliminary Data
*the following questions are not intended to be played
Tossup 1
Questions on this topic historically favor testing more passive recitation of repertoire while overlooking more recent developments in its technology and modern culture as well as more active aspects of its technique and theory. This topics' association with traditional classical western ensembles also typically hinders its accessibility with novices outside of orchestra. For 10 points, name this general class of auditory arts.
ANSWER: Music (prompt on fine arts)
Tossup 2
This field has been traditionally underrepresented in quizbowl distributions despite its ubiquitous applications in the sciences and analytics. Some difficulties include the expanding limited size of its curriculum's canon and well executed incorporation of this field's vital aspect of problem solving skills for proofs and general thinking without resorting to unhealthy computational questions. For 10 points, name this field of STEM.
ANSWER: Mathematics
Tossup 3
Since the demographic of quizbowl players is overwhelmingly skewed geographically, this topic is naturally crucial for understanding the current state of our home. Questions in this topic should stress critical thinking in regards to past programs and events, and emphasize analysis on their underlying causes and impact on our country today. Questions on this topic should also stress a wider range of topics across demographics. For 10 points, name this study of America's past.
ANSWER: American History
Tossup 4
Writings and institutions of these systems have long been among the chief ideologies dictating the pace of history and cultures. Questions on these systems should not only be objective and highlight modern practices, but should also emphasize the origins and effects of customs and scripture across cultures and time periods. For 10 points, name these systems characterized by faith and spiritual belief.
ANSWER: Religion (Religious Customs and Literature)
Tossup 5
Questions on this field often heavily underrepresent its presence in college and careers due to difficulties in finding sufficient content in appropriate difficulty for high school. Questions on this field could aim for better using steps of problem solving or expanding into other related areas such as semiconductor technology or electrical engineering beyond just programming. For 10 points, name this field of science concerned with machines of the information era.
ANSWER: Computer Science
Tossup 6
Questions on this topic should be fun to write and play and highlight some of the interests of the writers in entertainment. However, questions on this topic should also contain enough diversity to appeal to some extent to everyone playing and stray away from material that's particularly graphic or quirky to show off how le connisieur the writer thinks they are. For 10 points, name this group of miscellaneous topics that are popular in mainstream media at any given time.
ANSWER: Trash (accept pop culture and sports)
Tossup 7
Works used for this topic sometimes tend to be intentionally obscure to increase difficulty, which is bad for both accessibility and properly reflecting higher level study of this topic. Questions on this topic should emphasize analysis of aspects such as themes and social commentary present through the plot over testing knowledge of the plot itself. For 10 points, name this canon of written works typically taught in school and authored by western writers.
ANSWER: Literature (accept Western Classics and Literary Analysis)
Tossup 8
Questions on this study often focus too much on recalling events which can tend to miss rewarding interpretation of the bigger picture. Much of this study relies on analysis of primary texts and documents, so there should be an attempt to emulate this better in quizbowl. This study is derived through analysis in its subfields like archaeology and historiography. For 10 points, name this general study of the past.
ANSWER: History (accept Historiography and archaeology before mention)
Tossup 9
Just as historical knowledge is crucial for understanding society, knowledge of this field is necessary for understanding the natural world. Better understanding of natural resources and nature in this study allows for better responsibility and awareness for helping mitigate environmental degradation and climate change. For 10 points, name these sciences concerned with the study of the earth.
ANSWER: Earth Sciences (accept physical geography and earth sciences)
Tossup 10
Questions in this distro seek to reflect the fact that primary documents and future history are being created in the modern day as well. Questions in this distro will reflect content on more recent works after the 20th century that uncover the human condition and condition of the world including world literature, cinematography, documentaries and journalism. For 10 points, name this humanities distro introduced above.
ANSWER: Documenting the World
Tossup 11
Questions in this field should seek to better replicate thinking in practical lab experiments more representative of skills required on both AP tests and in the "real" field. Bonuses on this field should allow for some amount of basic computational parts in order to better reflect the thinking needed for more theoretical lab or experiment based questions. For 10 points, name this field of science which includes e&m, mechanics and more.
ANSWER: Physics
Tossup 12
Students in this field in school often hate it because of the large amount of brute memorization required, so in quizbowl questions on this field should attempt to incorporate more practical lab based questions as well. Questions in this field should also attempt covering more material on the recent or ongoing research that draws many to the field in the first place. Questions in this field should have less protein bowl. For 10 points, name this field of life sciences.
ANSWER: Biology
Tossup 13
This field should probably also be more engaging with more experiment based questions. Questions in this field should also have less element bowl. For 10 points, name this field concerned with chemicals.
ANSWER: Chemistry
Tossup 14
Categories in quizbowl are often intentionally restrictive for purely academic content, but this distro should still exist for academic content harder to classify as well as unacademic content still important for informed citizens. Questions in this distro will include material related to things relevant to high schoolers such as personal finance, first aid, and mental health awareness. For 10 points, name this catch all distro on material not covered by other distros.
ANSWER: General Knowledge
Tossup 15
This distro attempts to expand the role of geography and current events in bringing awareness to global studies. Questions in this distro seek to reward awareness of diverse people and places around the world for good global citizens. Questions in this distro will also include culture oriented geography, but will largely avoid current events. For 10 points, name this distro on the culture of people in the present day.
ANSWER: Modern Human Customs
Tossup 16
This distro attempts to expand the role of history distros in highlighting the peoples of history contrary to the "great man" theory. Questions in this distro will attempt to make better use of historical analysis in explaining the modern day. Questions in this distro will include some related content on mythology and historical geography. For 10 points, name this distro on the culture and customs of people throughout history.
ANSWER: Historical Human Customs
Tossup 17
People who work in this field do so with the intent of delivering messages to contemplate, but that aspect of this field is difficult to convey effectively in quizbowl. Questions on this field should limit description of features of works in this field without bringing up why they are impactful to the messages the artist is trying to convey. Questions in this field may also include aesthetics and performance related fields. For 10 points, name this field of fine arts you can see.
ANSWER: Visual Arts
Tossup 18
Questions in this field often serve as barriers for novices due to unfamiliarity with its content while typically unrewarding for newer players due to the limited size of its canon. As a result, questions in this general field disproportionately reward name and binary association more so than familiarity with concepts. A distro on "other" topics in this field not covered in other distros will include economics, psychology, linguistics, and philosophy. For 10 points, name this general field of humanities studying humanity.
ANSWER: Social Science
Tossup 19
While interpretation and conveying the "bigger picture" of content on this topic is crucial, question writers must be careful to not inject their own biases at all or that of others without making it clear. In addition, questions on this topic should be concerned with awareness of important "positive" and "negative" developments both domestically and especially abroad for rewarding informed global citizens. For 10 points, name this topic concerned with topically relevant news.
ANSWER: Current Events
Tossup 20
Although multiple writers are helping produce this work, the author of this document is the sole editor for the time being. This set will attempt to incorporate the prior ideas listed above into its questions, but in doing so, will still prioritize question quality enjoyment of those who play it foremost, and will contain at least 12 packets, maintain conventional pyramidal tossup and easy-medium-hard bonus structure, a character count of between roughly 550 and 600, and will be going through playtesting. This set will be free to mirror but is experimental in nature and not intended for tournaments wishing to use it for regional or nationals qualifying competitions. For 10 points, name this set.
ANSWER: TAPIR II
Results:
Aimed for release by April - May 2021.
Conclusion:
The author would like to stress that none of the prior implies that quizbowl in its current form is subpar and needs to be replaced, nor that the distribution, focuses and philosophies listed should be followed by others. Leaving away with that thought would be contrary to the intent of the paper. There is a necessity for a standardized market for the existing framework of national competitions that is already fun, challenging, and exciting. The question raised for future trials is whether or not this standard should be ubiquitous, especially as more and more writing projects arise all competing for the same purpose (a topic long covered in other dissertations). As the game grows in the number and diversity of people who play and write, there is no need to limit ourselves into the boxes most convenient for people in the past. The author urges everyone with stories to share to begin re-imagining their projects and the precedent of conformity.
10/3/2020
Nicholas Zhang