Design stage

From my three original ideas for a website, I realized I liked the second best (a debate website online). However, quick research on Google found that there are already websites like this. Since I don't want to simply be re-creating a website concept, I had to come up with something new. That's when I remembered that I had been looking for an MUN website online a while ago, and didn't find one.

MUN stands for Model United Nations and we hold a "conference" every year at our school. I also recently went to BEIMUN in Beijing and realized that though many of the delegates there love to debate, they don't always get the chance because conference travel fees are high. If I could set up an MUN experience online, this would give teenagers who like MUN a chance to exercise their skills more often. This could also be used as part of our ISU community to help students who have never done MUN before to get a first taste of it. Finally, some people like debating about real-world issues but lack the confidence to talk in front of a crowd. An online MUN could help with that.

Since most conferences are named as an acronym (ISUMUN, BEIMUN, AISMUN...), I decided to call mine one too - WEBMUN. I want the website to offer delegates the opportunity to debate both real-time and delayed times. In no particular order, here are the features I absolutely want in my website:

1. Information on MUN in general (debate procedures, researching tips, helpful links...)
2. Sign-up and login function
3. A number of separate committees with sign-up functions for countries and chair positions
4. Real-time private chatrooms for each committee
5. Private chatroom and inboxing for the drafting of resolutions
6. Discussion pages for each forum with options such as "Speak for this resolution", "Speak against this resolution", "Submit an amendment", "Motion to..." to allow for delayed debating
7. Informal discussion forum for delegates to get to know each other
8. Voting tool on each resolution

Here are the functions that I would like to implement but are not as fundamental, as some of them may be beyond my means:

1. Video chat options
2. Online resolution editor
3. Live newsfeed from the various forums
4. Regularly updated calendar with real MUN conferences