WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Is figure skating entertainment or sport? To those watching during the 2002 pairs gold medal scandal, skating seemed more like WWF.

One member of the ISU thinks their New Judging System (yes, that's the official name) can help make it less subjective and more sporting. Perhaps enough to even -- gasp -- attract more male fans.

"I predict the number of viewers will go up," Ted Barton, a former world-level skater, says as he explains the system.

I know what you're thinking, but the ISU let me try out their New Judging System on Wednesday. It's basically one big gadget.

As I take my spot at rink side during the women's qualifying, I see a flat touch screen. Each judge will have one. As the skating starts, video of the performance appears on the screen with an L-shaped wrap around it. On the left side, the skater's moves are fed in immediately after they occur.

Barton talks me through it. The judge touches the bottom portion of the screen with the option to grade the execution of the move in a range of minus 3 to plus 3. Base value is 0. A triple lutz is worth 6.1 points. Oops, a hand touches the ice, push the -2 button. Make a mistake? No problem, you can edit yourself.

On another computer, two technical specialists follow very specific criteria to determine whether it's a triple jump or a double and feed that in to the judges' computers. Degree of difficulty is also selected. (Their screens have no video but many more buttons.)

This is a change from the old system, in which each judge determines for himself or herself whether the jump rotated enough to be a double or a triple. The specialist makes the call, again based on specific criteria, plus there is a backup specialist watching on a headset. And if things go really wrong, they can always replay the video and make the fix.

At this point, I'm wondering what the criteria for each is. It's all there on the computer -- easily accessed. What's expected and how much should be deducted.

Now, the amazing part is that a skater will know exactly how many points his or her program will be worth -- just like diving or freestyle skiing. For example, a layback spin carries less weight than a combination spin. So a skater goes in knowing he or she potentially has a 39-point program before deductions, Barton tells me.

Speaking of spins, as I'm going through the process of scoring -- the girl in sparkly ice blue has good speed but that spin is traveling all over the ice, minus 2. It becomes apparent that this type of scoring won't allow a fall on a jump to overshadow other good technical performances. If you have a killer spiral or the position of your leg on a layback spin makes Dick Button swoon, that will count. Each element is judged on its merit at the time. As judge you don't worry about scoring someone lower early to allow room later in the session. It won't all be about the jumps anymore.

But what about the artistic factor? They've got that covered, too.

After you've scored all the elements there are five artistic areas to consider: skating skills, transition, performance, choreography and interpretation. And up above, for your judging convenience, are explanations of what you're looking for on each one. Again, the judges will be looking for specific things and it won't come as a surprise to the skater. These are on a 10-point scale. At the Worlds level, expect no 3s but some 5.25s and 5.75s for the less-experienced skaters.

Whoops. I'm so busy pondering the potential repercussions of the system that I miss scoring a jump by the next skater.

Good thing this isn't for real. It also answers the question of why judges needed to attend practices in the past. So much is happening at once that it would be difficult to determine if it's a triple and then to score it on merit if you don't have some idea of what's coming up next. Under this new system, the technical specialists might have to attend practices, but the judges wouldn't.

So, the system has some benefits. But now to the big question: Is it cheat-proof?

"We know, based on specific criteria, if you are trying to manipulate it or if you're incompetent," Barton says.

He explains that they hired a Ph.D in mathematics to try and crack the system. She discovered that judges could edge some skaters up or down giving a legitimate excuse in the artistic sections, so they increased the increments.

Plus the top two and bottom two scores are thrown out, leaving only the median scores from 10 judges. So if someone has a bad day judging, it won't affect the competition.

But basically, this system allows officials to see if patterns develop -- either through incompetence or cheating.

And how do you keep the people watching for the patterns from protecting their buddies? Simple, each judge is assigned a number that is kept secret with an independent auditing firm holding the information.

So far, the plan is to continue to keep the judges' voting a secret. But I wonder if the computer system works if will be necessary to maintain the secrecy someday. The fate of the system will be decided on Monday, but the ISU will likely move forward.

If fans embrace it, before you know it you just might be judging figure skating on enhanced TV and talking about the quality of that triple toe loop.

Cynthia Faulkner is the Olympics editor for ESPN.com.