Importance - Revision history

Fred Morlan: the # of its release in Lamar's discography is less important to this discussion than the year of its release

2023-08-01T21:38:48Z

the # of its release in Lamar's discography is less important to this discussion than the year of its release

Kevin Wang at 02:42, 1 August 2023

2023-08-01T02:42:30Z

Kevin Wang at 14:24, 11 March 2023

2023-03-11T14:24:06Z

Kevin Wang at 21:28, 1 February 2023

2023-02-01T21:28:42Z

Kevin Wang at 22:10, 30 January 2023

2023-01-30T22:10:34Z

Kevin Wang at 21:36, 26 January 2023

2023-01-26T21:36:01Z

Kevin Wang: /* Examples */

2023-01-26T19:51:36Z

Examples

Kevin Wang: Created page with ""'''Importance'''" is an abstract concept with no formal definition that nevertheless is used as a key factor in distinguishing facts which can be incorporated in quiz bowl qu..."

2023-01-26T19:39:35Z

Created page with ""'''Importance'''" is an abstract concept with no formal definition that nevertheless is used as a key factor in distinguishing facts which can be incorporated in quiz bowl qu..."

New page

"'''Importance'''" is an abstract concept with no formal definition that nevertheless is used as a key factor in distinguishing facts which can be incorporated in quiz bowl questions ("[[knowledge]]") and those which are not suitable ("[[trivia]]"). A fact is "'''important'''" if it has qualities which justify its inclusion in questions.

There are varied criteria which can be used to determine if a piece of information is "important":
#in the colloquial meaning, it is marked by or indicative of significance worth or consequence;<ref>https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/important</ref> this could include as much as "everything that is discussed in quiz bowl" or as little as "nothing", depending on one's personal leanings
#it is known by many people in the general population
#it is known by many people in quiz bowl
#it is studied in academia
#it is encountered in academic settings
#it does not involve rote memorization
#it requires engagement with the material
#it is interesting

The practical definition of "importance" within the community is some mixture of these, as individual [[editors]] and [[writers]] will shift their [[clue]] choice and [[distribution]]s to align with their personal beliefs. These deliberate differences often arise from a desire to [[reward]] different knowledge bases, especially those that are outside the accepted norm.

Generally speaking, quiz bowl tends to limit its scope to [[academic]] subjects - however, the criteria of importance can (and often is) applied to topics in [[pop culture]]-specific tournaments. Arguments in favor of increasing or decreasing any given [[category]]'s distribution are inevitably couched in discussions of their "importance" relative to one's preferred categories.

==Examples==
Here are a few hypothetical topics and some examples of how they align with the sample criteria provided above.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
!
! the political history of Paraguay
! a Rice Krispies Treat<sup>TM</sup>
! Francis Ford Coppola's 1972 film ''The Godfather''
! Season 6 of ''Friends''
|-
! it is known by many people in the general population
| style="background: pink" | No
| style="background: lightgreen"| Yes
| style="background: lightgreen"| Yes
| style="background: lightgreen"| Yes
|-
! it is known by many people in quiz bowl
| style="background: lightgreen"| Yes
| style="background: lightgreen"| Yes
| style="background: lightgreen"| Yes
| style="background: yellow" | Depends on demographics really
|-
! it is studied in academia
| style="background: lightgreen"| Yes
| style="background: pink" | Very rarely
| colspan=2 style="background: yellow" | Yes, but not in the fields of academia that quiz bowl typically chooses to represent
|-
! it is encountered in academic settings
| style="background: lightgreen"| Yes
| style="background: pink" | Perhaps as a snack
| colspan=2 style="background: yellow" | Yes, but not in the fields of academia that quiz bowl typically chooses to represent
|-
! it requires engagement with the material
| style="background: lightgreen"| Yes*
| style="background: pink" | No
| style="background: lightgreen"| Yes
| style="background: lightgreen"| Yes
|-
! it is interesting
| colspan=4 style="background: yellow" | Subjective
|-
! colspan=5 |
|-
! "Important" for quiz bowl
| style="background: lightgreen"| Yes
| style="background: pink" | No
| style="background: yellow" | Typically
| style="background: yellow" | Only in pop culture sets
|-
! "Important" for other formats
| style="background: lightgreen"| Yes
| style="background: pink" | Hopefully not
| style="background: lightgreen"| Yes
| style="background: lightgreen"| Yes
|}

<nowiki>*</nowiki> - It's something of a Catch-22 that, because this topic is already part of the mainstream canon, one can avoid direct engagement with the material. For more discussion of this topic, see "[[real knowledge]]".

==Other formats==
Many [[trivia format]]s have a practical definition of "importance" which diverges greatly from that of quiz bowl; it is unclear whether they have formalized this concept at all.

Many of the things which trivia formats include that quiz bowl does not can be viewed as consequences of these differences.

==References==
<references/>

@@ Line 26: / Line 26: @@
 ! the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numbat numbat], an insectivorous Australian marsupial
 ! [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Godfather Francis Ford Coppola's 1972 film ''The Godfather'']
-! [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Pimp_a_Butterfly Kendrick Lamar's third studio album ''To Pimp a Butterfly'']
+! [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Pimp_a_Butterfly Kendrick Lamar's 2015 album ''To Pimp a Butterfly'']
 ! [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friends_(season_6) Season 6 of ''Friends'']
 |-

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 "'''Importance'''" is an abstract concept with no formal definition that nevertheless is used as a key factor in distinguishing facts which can be incorporated in quiz bowl questions ("[[knowledge]]") and those which are not suitable ("[[trivia]]"). A fact is "'''important'''" if it has qualities which justify its inclusion in questions, or (more cynically) if knowing it will garner one points.
+</onlyinclude>
 There are varied criteria which can be used to determine if a piece of information is "important":
 #in the colloquial meaning, it is marked by or indicative of significance worth or consequence;<ref>https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/important</ref> this could include as much as "everything that is discussed in quiz bowl" or as little as "nothing", depending on one's personal leanings

← Older revision		Revision as of 21:28, 1 February 2023
Line 86:		Line 86:
	==References==		==References==
	<references/>		<references/>
		+
		+	{{c\|Quizbowl concepts}}
		+	{{c\|Quizbowl lingo}}

← Older revision		Revision as of 22:10, 30 January 2023
Line 1:		Line 1:
−	"'''Importance'''" is an abstract concept with no formal definition that nevertheless is used as a key factor in distinguishing facts which can be incorporated in quiz bowl questions ("[[knowledge]]") and those which are not suitable ("[[trivia]]"). A fact is "'''important'''" if it has qualities which justify its inclusion in questions.	+	"'''Importance'''" is an abstract concept with no formal definition that nevertheless is used as a key factor in distinguishing facts which can be incorporated in quiz bowl questions ("[[knowledge]]") and those which are not suitable ("[[trivia]]"). A fact is "'''important'''" if it has qualities which justify its inclusion in questions, or (more cynically) if knowing it will garner one points.

	There are varied criteria which can be used to determine if a piece of information is "important":		There are varied criteria which can be used to determine if a piece of information is "important":

@@ Line 4: / Line 4: @@
 </onlyinclude>
 There are varied criteria which can be used to determine if a piece of information is "important":
-#in the colloquial meaning, it is marked by or indicative of significance worth or consequence;<ref>https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/important</ref> this could include as much as "everything that is discussed in quiz bowl" or as little as "nothing", depending on one's personal leanings
+#in the colloquial meaning, it is marked by or indicative of significant worth or consequence;<ref>https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/important</ref> this could include as much as "everything that is discussed in quiz bowl" or as little as "nothing", depending on one's personal leanings
 #it is known by many people in the general population
 #it is known by many people in quiz bowl

@@ Line 13: / Line 13: @@
 The practical definition of "importance" within the community is some mixture of these, as individual [[editors]] and [[writers]] will shift their [[clue]] choice and [[distribution]]s to align with their personal beliefs. These deliberate differences often arise from a desire to [[reward]] different knowledge bases, especially those that are outside the accepted norm.
-Generally speaking, quiz bowl tends to limit its scope to [[academic]] subjects - however, the criteria of importance can (and often is) applied to topics in [[pop culture]]-specific tournaments. Arguments in favor of increasing or decreasing any given [[category]]'s distribution are inevitably couched in discussions of their "importance" relative to one's preferred categories.
+Generally speaking, quiz bowl tends to limit its scope to [[academic]] subjects - however, the criteria of "importance" can (and often is) applied to topics in [[pop culture]]-specific tournaments. Arguments in favor of increasing or decreasing any given [[category]]'s distribution are inevitably couched in discussions of their "importance" relative to one's preferred categories.
 ==Examples==

@@ Line 20: / Line 20: @@
 {| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
+!
 ! the political history of Paraguay
-! a Rice Krispies Treat<sup>TM</sup>
+! the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numbat numbat], an insectivorous Australian marsupial
-! Francis Ford Coppola's 1972 film ''The Godfather''
+! [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Godfather Francis Ford Coppola's 1972 film ''The Godfather'']
-! Season 6 of ''Friends''
+! [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Pimp_a_Butterfly Kendrick Lamar's third studio album ''To Pimp a Butterfly'']
 |-
 ! it is known by many people in the general population
 | style="background: pink"      | No
 | style="background: lightgreen"| Yes
@@ Line 33: / Line 37: @@
 ! it is known by many people in quiz bowl
 | style="background: lightgreen"| Yes
 | style="background: lightgreen"| Yes
 | style="background: lightgreen"| Yes
-| style="background: yellow"    | Depends on demographics really
+| style="background: lightgreen"| Yes, but it depends on demographics really
 |-
 ! it is studied in academia
 | style="background: lightgreen"| Yes
-| style="background: pink"      | Very rarely
+| style="background: lightgreen"| Yes
-| colspan=2 style="background: yellow"    | Yes, but not in the fields of academia that quiz bowl typically chooses to represent
+| colspan=3 style="background: yellow"    | Yes, but not in the fields of academia that quiz bowl typically chooses to represent
 |-
 ! it is encountered in academic settings
 | style="background: pink"      | Perhaps as a snack
 | style="background: lightgreen"| Yes
 | style="background: lightgreen"| Yes
 |-
-! it is interesting
+! colspan=7 | Is it "important"?
 |-
-! colspan=5 |
+! Academic quiz bowl
-|-
+| style="background: pink"      | No
-! "Important" for quiz bowl
+| style="background: lightgreen"| Yes
 | style="background: lightgreen"| Yes
 | style="background: pink"      | No
 |-
-! "Important" for other formats
+! Other formats
 | style="background: lightgreen"| Yes
 | style="background: lightgreen"| Yes
 | style="background: lightgreen"| Yes
 |}
-<nowiki>*</nowiki> - It's something of a Catch-22 that, because this topic is already part of the mainstream canon, one can avoid direct engagement with the material. For more discussion of this topic, see "[[real knowledge]]".
+Some key takeaways:
 ==Other formats==