Science Olympiad at MIT Invitational 2019

[nicholasmaurer]

Probably not for a while unfortunately. Over the past few years especially, MIT has not been very good with updating their website much at all.

I’m sure they have many other aspects of the tournament to be worrying about besides updating their website in addition to the responsibilities they have in the classroom as students.

While I understand this perspective, I have two problems with it in this case. 1) If the delay is because they have yet to select teams through their lottery system, it is on them to generate that in a timely fashion, as they put that responsibility on themselves by installing a complex lottery system for team selection. 2) If they already have a selection of teams, it does not take very much effort to put the list, or a link to the list, on the website.

Having been a college student myself, I realize that college takes up a lot of time. But by the same token, part of running a successful tournament is pre-tournament communication, and a website is a big part of that. It's vital, especially in the first scenario above, for MIT to communicate to its teams so they have adequate time to plan for what is likely to be a pretty important and involved trip.

Based on my interactions with the MIT leadership in the past, I am sure the lottery system was conducted in a timely fashion, even if it seems unnecessarily complex to many of us. However, I agree that getting a list of registered teams posted would require only a few minutes of work and would be welcomed by both participants and outside observers.

[Unome]

I’m sure they have many other aspects of the tournament to be worrying about besides updating their website in addition to the responsibilities they have in the classroom as students.

While I understand this perspective, I have two problems with it in this case. 1) If the delay is because they have yet to select teams through their lottery system, it is on them to generate that in a timely fashion, as they put that responsibility on themselves by installing a complex lottery system for team selection. 2) If they already have a selection of teams, it does not take very much effort to put the list, or a link to the list, on the website.

Having been a college student myself, I realize that college takes up a lot of time. But by the same token, part of running a successful tournament is pre-tournament communication, and a website is a big part of that. It's vital, especially in the first scenario above, for MIT to communicate to its teams so they have adequate time to plan for what is likely to be a pretty important and involved trip.

Based on my interactions with the MIT leadership in the past, I am sure the lottery system was conducted in a timely fashion, even if it seems unnecessarily complex to many of us. However, I agree that getting a list of registered teams posted would require only a few minutes of work and would be welcomed by both participants and outside observers.

In the past, it seems like they did not post the list early because they didn't have a final capacity determined - they accepted as many teams as they were certain they could hold, and added more as they got rooms booked. I am not sure whether that is still the case. (actually I'm pretty certain I know whether or not that is still the case, but the applicable context has not yet been made public so I won't comment on that)

Regarding the website, it seems to have become progressively less well-maintained over the years. The only page that has 2019 info so far seems to be the registration post - everything else, including the actual registration page, is still on 2018 info.

[pikachu4919]

While I understand this perspective, I have two problems with it in this case. 1) If the delay is because they have yet to select teams through their lottery system, it is on them to generate that in a timely fashion, as they put that responsibility on themselves by installing a complex lottery system for team selection. 2) If they already have a selection of teams, it does not take very much effort to put the list, or a link to the list, on the website.

Having been a college student myself, I realize that college takes up a lot of time. But by the same token, part of running a successful tournament is pre-tournament communication, and a website is a big part of that. It's vital, especially in the first scenario above, for MIT to communicate to its teams so they have adequate time to plan for what is likely to be a pretty important and involved trip.

Based on my interactions with the MIT leadership in the past, I am sure the lottery system was conducted in a timely fashion, even if it seems unnecessarily complex to many of us. However, I agree that getting a list of registered teams posted would require only a few minutes of work and would be welcomed by both participants and outside observers.

In the past, it seems like they did not post the list early because they didn't have a final capacity determined - they accepted as many teams as they were certain they could hold, and added more as they got rooms booked. I am not sure whether that is still the case. (actually I'm pretty certain I know whether or not that is still the case, but the applicable context has not yet been made public so I won't comment on that)

Regarding the website, it seems to have become progressively less well-maintained over the years. The only page that has 2019 info so far seems to be the registration post - everything else, including the actual registration page, is still on 2018 info.

I'm good friends (former teammates actually) with the tournament webmaster and he's currently working on a new site. Honestly, he's quite busy with other more important tournament logistics and is also swamped with other obligations, so its release has been delayed, but it's in progress. I hope you understand that he gets that y'all are getting a lil more impatient at this moment, but he's working on it and that he'll come through with it. Trust me, I know because I know the guy and how he is.

[EastStroudsburg13]

In that case I definitely recommend delegation. In general it is a good idea to not leave a responsibility like creating an entirely new site (not just updating an old site) to one single person, especially if that person is busy.

[Unome]

In that case I definitely recommend delegation. In general it is a good idea to not leave a responsibility like creating an entirely new site (not just updating an old site) to one single person, especially if that person is busy.

Delegation necessitates others willing to do the job. Hopefully MIT has some, but as large as they are, I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't.

[EastStroudsburg13]

In that case I definitely recommend delegation. In general it is a good idea to not leave a responsibility like creating an entirely new site (not just updating an old site) to one single person, especially if that person is busy.

Delegation necessitates others willing to do the job. Hopefully MIT has some, but as large as they are, I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't.

Eh... if there aren't people to delegate to, I wouldn't recommend undertaking a large project like making a new site. In high school you can conceivably do major things like this yourself; the independence you have in college puts a damper on that.

[bearasauras]

In that case I definitely recommend delegation. In general it is a good idea to not leave a responsibility like creating an entirely new site (not just updating an old site) to one single person, especially if that person is busy.

Delegation necessitates others willing to do the job. Hopefully MIT has some, but as large as they are, I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't.

Caltech's a much smaller place but there's no shortage of people willing to support every aspect of Science Olympiad. But that's probably just another reason why Caltech >> MIT.

[pikachu4919]

In that case I definitely recommend delegation. In general it is a good idea to not leave a responsibility like creating an entirely new site (not just updating an old site) to one single person, especially if that person is busy.

Delegation necessitates others willing to do the job. Hopefully MIT has some, but as large as they are, I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't.

Caltech's a much smaller place but there's no shortage of people willing to support every aspect of Science Olympiad. But that's probably just another reason why Caltech >> MIT.

Chill...they're allowed to run their organization however they want. Y'all can talk about all the issues ya want, but they can choose to do what they want to do about it, not us.

[EastStroudsburg13]

Delegation necessitates others willing to do the job. Hopefully MIT has some, but as large as they are, I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't.

Caltech's a much smaller place but there's no shortage of people willing to support every aspect of Science Olympiad. But that's probably just another reason why Caltech >> MIT.

Chill...they're allowed to run their organization however they want. Y'all can talk about all the issues ya want, but they can choose to do what they want to do about it, not us.

Pika... of course they are allowed to run their organization how they want. But establishing yourself as maybe the nation's top tournament outside of nationals invites this sort of scrutiny. You cannot fault the tournament organizers for taking time to update their website, but you also cannot fault prospective teams and participants from wanting to have up-to-date information available.

[Unome]

Caltech's a much smaller place but there's no shortage of people willing to support every aspect of Science Olympiad. But that's probably just another reason why Caltech >> MIT.

I'm going to go deep into the realm of speculation and assert that the reason Caltech has lots of people relative to their school size is because they've been around longer.

The fact that we are talking about such relatively minor issues is indicative of how good the tournament as a whole is.