Civil Debate Wall website wins national recognition

May 8, 2012

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The Bob Graham Center for Public Service’s Civil Debate Wall website — www.civildebatewall.com — has won one of the nation’s most prestigious communication awards, a 2012 Communicator Award.

The awards are presented by the International Academy of Visual Arts, also known as IAVA, an organization of leading professionals from various disciplines of the visual arts dedicated to embracing progress and the evolving nature of traditional and interactive media. Those members include Condè Nast, Disney, HBO, Monster.com, MTV, Wired, Yahoo! and many others.

Designed to provide remote access to the new interactive tool based in the University of Florida’s Pugh Hall, “The Wall” website is being honored visual appeal and civic intentions with an Award of Distinction in the website category.

Unveiled in January, The Wall is made up of five large interactive touch screens. Questions dealing with current events and pressing social issues are posted on The Wall weekly, and students are encouraged to post their opinions and engage in debate. Users can gain access to The Wall through the touch-screen kiosks in Pugh Hall or through The Wall’s website.

“We have seen several recent examples of digital media being used as a powerful tool for grassroots organizing,” former Gov. and U.S. Sen. Bob Graham said. “The Civil Debate Wall is an experiment to determine if digital media can also be used to engage people in constructive dialogue around the most important issues of the day.”

Funded by a $3 million grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, The Wall’s cutting-edge technology was created by Local Projects’ award-winning interactive media designer Jake Barton, who is perhaps best known as the designer of StoryCorps and interactive programs at The National September 11th Memorial and Museum at the World Trade Center. Barton worked with students at the Bob Graham Center over several months to create a new form of media to engage a generation that has been raised on the Internet, smartphones, sophisticated games and continually evolving forms of social media.

“There’s a strong sense out there that the many forms of social media are driving people to extreme points of views,” Barton said. “The Wall is an answer to that: this is a new form of social media that’s out in public, that’s designed to foster constructive dialogue. This is for people who may disagree, but who have rational and reasonable approaches to difficult subjects.”

Since its inception, some of the nation’s leading figures — like former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, philosopher Cornell West, and TV show host Tavis Smiley — have either viewed or participated in the debate in Pugh Hall.