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ProCon.org Distinguished Contributor Award

[EDITOR'S NOTE: DISTINGUISHED CONTRIBUTOR AWARD STOPPED. ProCon.org had a Distinguished Contributor Award program since January 25, 2006. The idea behind having the award was to show special gratitude to special contributors and to demonstrate our interest in reader feedback in hopes of encouraging more.

At all 49 weekly staff meetings since 01/25/06 seven researchers were asked if they had someone to nominate for the award. Of these 343 nominating opportunities, we made 3 nominations. After one year with so few nominations, I thought the program was not working, so I tried to figure out how to make it work or why we should scrap it.

Prior to our 01/09/07 staff meeting, all researchers were asked to bring their best possible candidate for the award. We then discussed each person’s contributions. We had all been dealing with important and high-level people in our research, but no one wanted to nominate their best candidate because:

  1. By nominating one helpful and highly partisan individual, we may appear to favor that person’s side and risk our perception of neutrality and/or risk no longer getting assistance from others who oppose the nominated person’s views.

  2. There is no need. We have already thanked them for their contributions, created a bio to associate them with our website, and our “give us your feedback” is already on many of our web pages.

  3. That person gave helpful information as did dozens of others. Researchers wanted to focus on research not giving public kudos to contributors.

  4. The award certificate itself looks “cheap” and unprofessional, and there may be little pride in ownership.

Researchers voted on whether they wanted to keep the award program as is (A), eliminate the award program (B), or alter the award program (C). 7 of 7 voted for B, eliminating the award program.

Although it was a worthy experiment, we’ve had many more great contributions than we’ve given awards for, highlighting a few individuals over others may suggest bias, and we will always continue to welcome criticism and suggestions from our visitors.]

ProCon.org Distinguished Contributor Award

ProCon.org appreciates the feedback we receive from our visitors. We encourage our readers to send us suggestions, criticisms, resources, and other constructive feedback, so we created the ProCon.org Distinguished Contributor Award to thank you for your efforts.
Former Distinguished Contributor Award Winners:

  1. Susan Hattis Rolef, Ph.D.
  2. Douglas Jones, Ph.D.
  3. Jonathan Tucker, Ph.D.
Each winner received our deep gratitude, a customized award certificate, and recognition on the ProCon.org website (unless they choose to remain anonymous).

Submitted ideas typically result in improvements to the ProCon.org websites. Contributions can range from pointing out typos to recommending a better source for a particular pro or con argument to suggesting new peer-reviewed studies for our Studies charts to any number of possible improvements. All good ideas help further our goals.
ProCon.org bestows the ProCon.org Distinguished Contributor Award whenever we receive a contribution that rises to the award’s expected standard of excellence (as determined by ProCon.org's Managing Editor and President). The individuals below all won the ProCon.org Distinguished Contributor Award for their outstanding contributions.

Please send us your feedback on any aspect of our ProCon.org sites. We’d love to include your name among the award winners.

I. MOST RECENT DISTINGUISHED CONTRIBUTOR AWARD WINNER

Susan Hattis Rolef -- July 2006
ProCon.org Distinguished Contributor Award Recipient
Susan Hattis Rolef, Ph.D., won the ProCon.org Distinguished Contributor Award in July 2006 for her contributions to the Israeli - Palestinian ProCon.org site.

Dr. Rolef is Editor of the Israeli Knesset website and a Senior Researcher in the Knesset Research and Information Center. She has taught International Relations at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem from 1969 to 1975. She also contributed as a regular Columnist at the Jerusalem Post from 1983 to 1994.

Dr. Rolef provided us with her insightful positions on two specific issues regarding Judaism and its relation to democracy and to the state of Israel. Her intellectual contributions have been posted to Israeli-Palestinian ProCon.org in the sections: "Is Judaism compatible with democracy?" and "Is Judaism compatible with the concept of the separation of religion and state?"

Dr. Rolef has written four books about Israeli-Palestinian issues: Political Dictionary of the State of Israel: Supplement 1987-1993 (1993), Israel's Anti-Boycott Policy (1989), Political Dictionary of the Arab World, Pictorial Dictionary of the State of Israel, Co-editor (1988), and The Political Geography of Palestine: A History and Definition (1993).
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II. FORMER DISTINGUISHED CONTRIBUTOR AWARD WINNERS

Douglas Jones -- May 2006
ProCon.org Distinguished Contributor Award Recipient
Doug Jones, Ph.D., won the ProCon.org Distinguished Contributor Award in May 2006 for his contribution to the Voting Machines ProCon.org site.

Dr. Jones is an Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Iowa, a Principal Investigator for the National Science Foundation’s A Center for Correct, Usable, Reliable, Accurate, and Transparent Elections (ACCURATE), and has served on the Iowa Board of Examiners for Voting Machines and Electronic Voting Systems from 1994 to 2004, including a term as Chair from 1999 to 2003.

Dr. Jones provided us with detailed information about twenty-three 19th and 20th century voting technology patents dated from 1848 to 2005. His contribution will be included on the historical timeline of voting system technology at Voting Machines ProCon.org.

As a computer scientist and a former voting machine examiner, Dr. Jones is considered a top expert on electronic voting machines, with a deep understanding of both voting machine technology and the election process. Dr. Jones has written extensively about these subjects, and he has testified before several federal and local government bodies, including the U.S. House of Representatives, U.S. Civil Rights Commission, the Federal Election Commission, and the Election Assistance Commission. His book Who’s Minding the Vote with co-author Barbara Simons will be released in late 2006.
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Jonathan Tucker -- February 2006
ProCon.org Distinguished Contributor Award Recipient
Jonathan Tucker, Ph.D., won the ProCon.org Distinguished Contributor Award in February 2006 for his contributions on the US-Iraq ProCon.org site.

Dr. Tucker, a former weapons inspector in Iraq and a Senior Analyst at the Monterey Institute of International Studies, where he directs the Chemical and Biological Weapons Nonproliferation Program, explained to us that the term “weapon of mass destruction” is problematic for a variety of reasons. He submitted an article from Foreign Affairs journal articulating his point. He also clarified for us that “white phosphorous” should not be considered a weapon of mass destruction although it does qualify as an incendiary weapon.

As a result of Dr. Tucker’s insights, we posted the new question “What is a weapon of mass destruction?” where we included a quote from the Foreign Affairs article he shared with us. We also included a few definitions of “weapons of mass destruction” in our WMD chart so our readers could better understand the data and its context.

Dr. Tucker has written three books: Toxic Terror: Assessing Terrorist Use of Chemical and Biological Weapons (2000), Scourge: The Once and Future Threat of Smallpox (2001), and the 2006 release War of Nerves: Chemical Warfare from World War I & Al-Qaeda.
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