Technology : Making a Correct Call

Abstract

　The purpose of this paper is to analyze the items that influence Hawk-Eye, a computer system that has been making line judgements in tennis and other sports since 2006. This technology is different from other judging systems in two ways: Hawk-Eye itself serves as the judge instead of a referee and it provides justification for its judgment.
　Hawk-Eye causes a kind of fetishism. Developers explain the mechanism by which their judging technology functions on their website and indicate that it has an error margin of 2.6 mm; however, the same website shows a picture where Hawk-Eye says, “1 mm IN.” Though such a call is obviously unreliable, even the developer, who knows better than anyone that Hawk-Eye is not perfect, mistakes “1 mm IN” for a correct call and even celebrates it. Such actions are referred to as “Hawk-Eye fetishism” in this paper. Hawk-Eye fetishism came into being because of its 3D video. To know where the footprint of a ball is, only a picture (2D) is necessary. Hawk-Eye’s 3D video is redundant, but its visual abilities can lend it an almost transcendental quality. When watching the 3D video, we are more willing to accept Hawk-Eye’s call as correct.
　To explain another reason why Hawk-Eye is so desirable, this paper introduces the concept of finite games. The goal of a sport as a finite game is to earn a victory and finish the game. A finite game requires not only correct but absolute calls. Only Hawk-Eye can provide this.