The Argument Analysis Wall was designed to allow real-time anlaysis of argument structures in broadcast material. The wall is a custom built FTIR touchscreen, 3.2m long, 2.4m high, with rear projection at a resolution of 5760×2160, running a bespoke analysis application which outputs to AIFdb.
As our test case, we analysed episodes of the Moral Maze, broadcast on BBC Radio 4. The audio was transcribed by a stenographic service in London, and arrived with us as a text feed. It was then segmented into argument components by two ‘chunkers’ who take five minutes or so before swapping over (rather like simultaneous translators who typically spread the intense cognitive load). Output from the chunkers was handed on to the AnalysisWall application. A further app injects reconstructed enthymematic components (if, for example, analysts want to make a presumption explicit). Then between five and seven analysts work to tease apart the argumentative structure on the wall.