Online Deliberation: Design, Research, and Practice

Can new technology enhance local, national, and global democracy? Online Deliberation is the first book that attempts to sample the full range of work on online deliberation, forging new connections between academic research, web designers, and practitioners. Since the most exciting innovations in deliberation have occurred outside of traditional institutions, and those involved have often worked in relative isolation from each other, research conducted on this growing field has to this point neglected the full perspective of online participation. This volume, an essential read for those working at the crossroads of computer and social science, illuminates the collaborative world of deliberation by examining diverse clusters of Internet communities.

Todd Davies is associate director and lecturer in the Symbolic Systems program at Stanford University. Seeta Peña Gangadharan was a Ph.D candidate in the Department of Communication at Stanford University, studying public participation in communication policymaking in the United States at the time of this publication.

Contributors ix
Preface xv
Introduction: The Blossoming Field of Online Deliberation 1
Todd Davies

Part I Prospects for Online Civic Engagement

1 Virtual Public Consultation: Prospects for Internet Deliberative Democracy 23
James S. Fishkin
2 Citizens Deliberating Online: Theory and Some Evidence 37
Vincent Price
3 Can Online Deliberation Improve Politics? Scientific Foundations for Success 59
Arthur Lupia
4 Deliberative Democracy, Online Discussion, and Project PICOLA (Public Informed Citizen Online Assembly) 71
Robert Cavalier with Miso Kim and Zachary Sam Zaiss

Part II Online Dialogue in the Wild

5 Friends, Foes, and Fringe: Norms and Structure in Political Discussion Networks 83
John Kelly, Danyel Fisher, and Marc Smith
6 Searching the Net for Differences of Opinion 95
Warren Sack, John Kelly, and Michael Dale
7 Happy Accidents: Deliberation and Online Exposure to Opposing Views 105
Azi Lev-On and Bernard Manin
8 Rethinking Local Conversations on the Web 123
Sameer Ahuja, Manuel Pérez-Quiñones, and Andrea Kavanaugh

Part III Online Public Consultation

9 Deliberation in E-Rulemaking? The Problem of Mass Participation 133
David Schlosberg, Steve Zavestoski, and Stuart Shulman
10 Turning GOLD into EPG: Lessons from Low-Tech Democratic Experimentalism for Electronic Rulemaking and Other Ventures in Cyberdemocracy 149
Peter M. Shane
11 Baudrillard and the Virtual Cow: Simulation Games and Citizen Participation 163
Hélène Michel and Dominique Kreziak
12 Using Web-Based Group Support Systems to Enhance Procedural Fairness in Administrative Decision Making in South Africa 167
Hossana Twinomurinzi and Jackie Phahlamohlaka
13 Citizen Participation Is Critical: An Example from Sweden 171
Tomas Ohlin

Part IV Online Deliberation in Organizations

14 Online Deliberation in the Government of Canada: Organizing the Back Office 177
Elisabeth Richard
15 Political Action and Organization Building: An Internet-Based Engagement Model 193
Mark Cooper
16 Wiki Collaboration Within Political Parties: Benefits and Challenges 203
Kate Raynes-Goldie and David Fono
17 Debian's Democracy 207
Gunnar Ristroph
18 Software Support for Face-to-Face Parliamentary Procedure 213
Dana Dahlstrom and Bayle Shanks

Part V Online Facilitation

19 Deliberation on the Net: Lessons from a Field Experiment 223
June Woong Rhee and Eun-Mee Kim
20 The Role of the Moderator: Problems and Possibilities for Government-Run Online Discussion Forums 233
Scott Wright
21 Silencing the Clatter: Removing Anonymity from a Corporate Online Community 243
Gilly Leshed
22 Facilitation and Inclusive Deliberation 253
Matthias Trénel
23 Rethinking the 'Informed' Participant: Precautions and Recommendations for the Design of Online Deliberation 259
Kevin S. Ramsey and Matthew W. Wilson
24 PerlNomic: Rule Making and Enforcement in Digital Shared Spaces 269
Mark E. Phair and Adam Bliss

Part VI Design of Deliberation Tools

25 An Online Environment for Democratic Deliberation: Motivations, Principles, and Design 275
Todd Davies, Brendan O'Connor, Alex Cochran, Jonathan J. Effrat, Andrew Parker, Benjamin Newman, and Aaron Tam
26 Online Civic Deliberation with E-Liberate 293
Douglas Schuler
27 Parliament: A Module for Parliamentary Procedure Software 303
Bayle Shanks and Dana Dahlstrom
28 Decision Structure: A New Approach to Three Problems in Deliberation 309
Raymond J. Pingree
29 Design Requirements of Argument Mapping Software for Teaching Deliberation 317
Matthew W. Easterday, Jordan S. Kanarek, and Maralee Harrell
30 Email-Embedded Voting with eVote/Clerk 325
Marilyn Davis
Epilogue: Understanding Diversity in the Field of Online Deliberation 329
Seeta Peña Gangadharan

Name Index 359
Subject Index 369

November 2009

Online Deliberation

Contents