Do you think there's a realistic chance of an alternative commercial and radical, measured ONLY by TECHNOLOGY, event to happen outside of the realm of ISU?
Depends if this sport is going to be pure sport, or it is still going to be half artistry (I hope for the latter).
If it is pure sport, then yes. Speed, Height, Distance, Trajectory, power, centering, coverage etc in performance should be measured and accounted for with raw data to support human judgement. They should be used as reference points since your speed, power at various part of your program MUST and SHOULD reflect upon the music and choreography intentions. A skater is likely to skate slow during slow sections, fast and sharp under more exciting sections etc.
However as long as the sport has artistry involved, human judgement are absolutely necessary, but it will need to be a transparent process. Ideally the judges need to have an established carefully guarded and respected reputation that is trusted by the general public and skaters, and they need to be able to explained via qualitative terms with proper expert opinon not just via numbers.
Due to the complexity and variability factors in this sport, the COP already implies everything can be broken down, measurable and quantifiable but in reality is
1) Human being are not machines and don't talk in binaries. Behavior sciences indicate they are prone to emotions, cognitive psychology, peer pressures, latency effect with what they believe, vs what they see, national, social and cultural biases and prejudices can affect decision making. Especially when no raw data (e.g speed, height, distance etc.) are available to them.
2) Despite the best of intentions, human error are likely to occur under pressured environment. The fact IJS doesn't allow a chance of correction to iron out any mistakes due to skating order, or mid term inflation is mind boggling.
3) The amount of time is not feasible to make accurate assessment in all aspect of TES and PCS covering all 5 major areas with clarity. Especially without the benefit of replays that is only available via Tech panel.
4) I don't think all 5 categories of PCS should be equal. Are all triples worth the same? IMO, skating skills should worth most out of the 5 in a figure skating competition.
There should be greater justification and recognition for difficulty as part of the PCS marking, for example joy and happiness and excitement are always easier to express than wistful, meditative, reflective type of emotions.
Things like originality and creativity and risk taking should worth more. Something different from last year, and to skate clean, and reach transcendence should worth more as well. (e.g Dai's Japanese Nationals 2013, performed the heck out of a mediocre program, but it is still a great sport achievement)
5) The value of scale need to be reconsidered. GOEs +-3 is that sufficient? PCS scale of 10 is useless when the entire final 2 flights is likely to get between 7-9.5, the difference is not nearly enough consider the effort and skills necessary to earn some of these PCS, or the fact many judges abuses the PCS as place holders.
If a scale of 10 is to be adapted, I much have the one with the worst PCS category in the competition get a 0, and the best at the competition get a 10 for example.
6) Are all judges qualify to appraise in things like musicality and choreograph intentions? How do they get tested, and how much can they remain objective manage to overcome personal prejudices and biases of a European Warhorse vs a African Drum beats?
7) Under conditions of anonymity and lack of accountability, people can succumb to cheating eventually, or at certain major events where they have personal interests. It is the natural order of things.
Under anonymity, lack of transparency and accountability, especially without tech data in support, it fully justify them having these prejudices since they can never be found out, and as long as they have one person on the same panel support their believe, they can fully justify it.
