Public Debate Platform Now Available Online

Article written by guest writer Kecia Lynn

What’s the Latest Development?

Debate team alums take note: Deeyoon, a new startup, allows you to “debate anybody about anything” — in real-time, using video chat. You can propose a debate topic, participate in an open debate (which the site sets up like a real debate, with opening and closing statements, etc.), and watch other debates, both live and archived. It’s attracting some interesting speakers, most notably Jose Canseco, who debated a user who questioned whether his steroid use disqualified him from the Baseball Hall of Fame.

What’s the Big Idea?

It’s not like debate — of a sort — hasn’t existed on the Internet for a while. According to CEO Joe Kaifa, Deeyoon takes advantage of video technology to create a more-or-less formal structure around them. The company has also created a widget to allow other sites to link to its site, where users who were reading a particular article can begin a debate related to that article. One can only imagine what news sites ranging from CNN to E! News could do with such a widget.

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