comps.tagb.biz is a part of the TAGB Tournament System which is being used at the 2013 TI World Championships.
 
This news item is to give you, the competitior, spectator, instructor, official, etc an idea of what it can do to enhance your tournament experience. 

TheTournament System itself, consists of 3 parts:
 
Audio: announcements are automatically produced by the system when events are started. The current voice is Master Sergiew. We have other voice packs but having one voice all the time seems to be the most consistent.

Visual: the screens display the allocation of events to areas and the running order. The system updates the screens when events start, finish, are cancelled or are put on hold.

Web: the system can (if we can get an internet connection) send the same information on the screens to a web page and the announcements to Twitter.

The system has other background functions which assist in the tournament management. The system is nothing to do with competitor entries.
 
The Web aspect, comps.tagb.biz and the twitter feed @TAGBCompetition is what is being featured here.
 
The system can (if we can get an internet connection) send the same information that appears on the screens in the arena to a web page, and send the areana announcements to Twitter.

We aim to have the system operational on the morning of the tournament half an hour before the tournament starts. It will cease when the last event has been announced in the arena. The website may remain active for many weeks after a tournament so be advised it may show the previous tournament.

Twitter do have usage limits which equate to a maximum tweet rate for any account (this varies from account to account and from time to time). At the start of a tournament around 20 areas are announced within a few minutes. We queue the twitter feed and pass these to the twitter website at one tweet every 45 seconds. Unfortunately, the twitter feed will always be slower than the screens so it is important to keep listening and checking the screens in the arena.

The tournament is controlled from one main computer and this feeds updates to a web content manager server every 15 seconds. The web content manager will then generate the updated page and send this to the TAGB website. Each page is set to refresh by a variable time (every few minutes or so) to give you a chance to read the page before it refreshes and you lose any zoom applied by your phone. If this is too short, let us know.

We have endeavoured to use HTML5 to ensure that we reach as many platforms as possible in a consistent manner. Using HTML5 is our best approach as the majority of handsets can render the competition web page without any problems. Please let us know if the phone you are using, doesnt work, plus the operating system and the web browser you were using. Obviously, if you cannot get a connection in the arena then there is nothing we can do to help. We do not provide support on individual handsets.

If you are in the arena, and you cannot find your event or the information is wrong, please contact the top table, or the competition entry query table or a technical support official (blue t-shirt). If this is the evening before then please email the website administrator or let us know via facebook, so we can check it out.  

So why bother with web based event lists and results if 3G/4G service is poor?  The results will need to be posted in any case. We feel it best to do it on the day when mistakes can be rectified. This service will also give instructors and fellow students at home some accurate information as to how their team and fellow students are getting on during the competition. For those that can get a signal, they can see where their event is.

We endeavour to get the system up before the tournament starts and advertise this on Facebook and Twitter. So, you will know before you go where you are fighting. We always prioritise the announcements and then the screens in the arena. The website updates, twitter and other channels take second place. We must prioritise what information is necessary to run a tournament.
 
We do hope that you will find this a very useful addition to the TAGB online service.  Please feedback to us via the official TAGB Twitter feed  the facebook group or email the website admin team on - website-admin(AT)tagb.biz


Also see this news item for more info