An Argument for Sharing.

[robotman]

In the same vein as my post yesterday about giving back to the community, I wanted to address one of the biggest reasons (or excuses) for people not adding information to the wiki or uploading tests and images. The reason I am always hearing is that “If I post my information it takes away my advantage, and I won’t win a medal”. I feel that I can address this issue in a very effective way. So lets take a journey back in time for a second to that age long ago when I was but a mere 8th grader.

As an Eighth grader I competed in a diverse sphere of events, pretty much one of every type. Now one of the things I also started to do as an 8th grader was edit the wiki. When I say I edited the wiki, I edited it voraciously. By the middle of 8th grade (If my memory is serving me correctly), At this same time, there was also a budding school near me that had just started out competing in Science Olympiad. This team decided that they would ask for help in a variety of events in order to get better, and I decided that anyone asking for help deserves the best help that I can give. The one event they asked for help in was one of my favorites Road Scholar. I gave this team all the information I had put up on the wiki, as well as a chance to look through everything I had in my Road Scholar Binder. (By this point I believe that you can see where this story is leading). Regionals rolls around, and I am now competing against the very team that I had been helping prepare, they were now my rivals. But them being my rivals did not stop me from greeting them when I saw them waiting outside of Road Scholar, being my rival did not stop me from sincerely wishing them luck. That team being my rival did not stop me clapping and cheering for them as they won the gold, and I took the silver. The fact that they were another team is irrelevant. They were the best team in that event that day.

Now you are thinking to yourself why does this matter?
It matters because the only thing about competition is how you look at it. There are two viewpoints to what happened, and why this team won. The first being that since I gave them the information and gave them I immediately lost, and it was stupid to give up my advantage I held. The second viewpoint is that no matter the information it is the amount of work and the will of the competitors that sets teams apart. This is the viewpoint I think is in the best spirit of Scioly.org and is why I try so hard to get information up for everyone to have access too. It was not my ownership of the information that let me do great at Road Scholar the year before, it was my drive, it was my desire to win at all costs that made me spend hours practicing in front of poorly printed maps. That drive was not as strong the second year, I was cocky I thought I would have no competition. I was beaten not by my willingness to share, but by the idea that because my information was good, I would be the best.

What I am trying to say is that it is not the quality or quantity of information that matters, it is the will and work you put into your events that sets you apart. So if you really want to be truly the best, to truly be the master of an event at any level, invitational, regional, state or national, be willing to help those around you in order to make Science Olympiad more competitive, and in turn make you a better competitor. There is this idea that winning is the endgame of Science Olympiad, and for some it may be, but the true endgame is getting to the point where you see the value of knowledge, and how working together, across team boundaries can help grow excitement and joy for everyone.