Online deliberation
Encyclopedia
Online deliberation is a term associated with an emerging body of practice, research, and software dedicated to fostering serious, purposive discussion over the Internet. It overlaps with, but is not identical to, e-democracy
.
Online deliberation is very interdisciplinary, and includes practices such as online consultation
, e-participation
, online deliberative polling, online facilitation, online research communities, interactive e-learning
, civic dialogue in Internet forums and online chat
, and group decision making that utilizes collaborative software
and other forms of computer-mediated communication
. Work in all these endeavors is tied together by the challenge of using electronic media in a way that deepens thinking and improves mutual understanding.
Open international conferences on online deliberation have been held at Carnegie Mellon University
in 2003, Stanford University
in 2005, and the University of California, Berkeley
in 2008. The most recent conference was held at the University of Leeds
, June 30-July 2, 2010. Attendees of the 2005 conference voted to create an international society for online deliberation, but no formal organization has yet been established. Other events of interest have been sponsored by the Online Deliberative Democracy Consortium.
E-democracy
E-democracy refers to the use of information technologies and communication technologies and strategies in political and governance processes...
.
Online deliberation is very interdisciplinary, and includes practices such as online consultation
Online consultation
Online consultations or e-consultations refer to an exchange between government and citizens using the Internet. They are one form of online deliberation. Further, online consultation consists in using the Internet to ask a group of people their opinion on one or more specific topics, allowing for...
, e-participation
E-participation
e-participation is the generally accepted term referring to "ICT-supported participation in processes involved in government and governance". Processes may concern administration, service delivery, decision making and policy making...
, online deliberative polling, online facilitation, online research communities, interactive e-learning
E-learning
E-learning comprises all forms of electronically supported learning and teaching. The information and communication systems, whether networked learning or not, serve as specific media to implement the learning process...
, civic dialogue in Internet forums and online chat
Online chat
Online chat may refer to any kind of communication over the Internet, that offers an instantaneous transmission of text-based messages from sender to receiver, hence the delay for visual access to the sent message shall not hamper the flow of communications in any of the directions...
, and group decision making that utilizes collaborative software
Collaborative software
Collaborative software is computer software designed to help people involved in a common task achieve goals...
and other forms of computer-mediated communication
Computer-mediated communication
Computer-mediated communication is defined as any communicative transaction that occurs through the use of two or more networked computers...
. Work in all these endeavors is tied together by the challenge of using electronic media in a way that deepens thinking and improves mutual understanding.
Open international conferences on online deliberation have been held at Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States....
in 2003, Stanford University
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
in 2005, and the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
in 2008. The most recent conference was held at the University of Leeds
University of Leeds
The University of Leeds is a British Redbrick university located in the city of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England...
, June 30-July 2, 2010. Attendees of the 2005 conference voted to create an international society for online deliberation, but no formal organization has yet been established. Other events of interest have been sponsored by the Online Deliberative Democracy Consortium.
See also
- Collaborative softwareCollaborative softwareCollaborative software is computer software designed to help people involved in a common task achieve goals...
- Computer-mediated communicationComputer-mediated communicationComputer-mediated communication is defined as any communicative transaction that occurs through the use of two or more networked computers...
- Computer supported cooperative workComputer supported cooperative workThe term computer-supported cooperative work was first coined by Irene Greif and Paul M. Cashman in 1984, at a workshop attended by individuals interested in using technology to support people in their work. At about this same time, in 1987 Dr...
- Deliberative democracyDeliberative democracyDeliberative democracy is a form of democracy in which public deliberation is central to legitimate lawmaking. It adopts elements of both consensus decision-making and majority rule. Deliberative democracy differs from traditional democratic theory in that authentic deliberation, not mere...
- E-democracyE-democracyE-democracy refers to the use of information technologies and communication technologies and strategies in political and governance processes...
- E-participationE-participatione-participation is the generally accepted term referring to "ICT-supported participation in processes involved in government and governance". Processes may concern administration, service delivery, decision making and policy making...
- Group decision support systemsGroup decision support systemsGroup Decision Support Systems are a class of electronic meeting systems, a collaboration technology designed to support meetings and group work...
- Online consultationOnline consultationOnline consultations or e-consultations refer to an exchange between government and citizens using the Internet. They are one form of online deliberation. Further, online consultation consists in using the Internet to ask a group of people their opinion on one or more specific topics, allowing for...
- Online research communities
- Public spherePublic sphereThe public sphere is an area in social life where individuals can come together to freely discuss and identify societal problems, and through that discussion influence political action...
- Web annotationWeb annotationA web annotation is an online annotation associated with a web resource, typically a web page. With a Web annotation system, a user can add, modify or remove information from a Web resource without modifying the resource itself...
External links
- Online Deliberation Resources
- Developing and Using Online Tools for Deliberative Democracy - the first conference on online deliberation, Carnegie Mellon University (June 2003)
- Online Deliberation 2005 / DIAC-2005 - the Second Conference on Online Deliberation: Design, Research, and Practice, Stanford University (May 2005)
- Deepening Online Deliberation - invitational workshop sponsored by the Online Deliberative Democracy Consortium, University of Minnesota (June 2005)
- Tools for Participation: Collaboration, Deliberation, and Decision Support (DIAC-2008/OD2008) - the Third Conference on Online Deliberation, University of California, Berkeley (June 2008)
- The Fourth International Conference on Online Deliberation - University of Leeds (June 30-July 2, 2010)
- Demosphere Project — The wiki & global project to develop a community based e-democracy framework using open sourceOpen sourceThe term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...
and interactive software. (Wikinews article) - Facilitating large-scale online deliberation with collaborative debate mapsDebategraphDebategraph is a web-based, collaborative idea visualization tool, focusing on complex public policy issues.It has been used by the White House, the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office,, the Amanpour series on CNN, and The Independent newspaper and was named as one of the Best Websites for Teaching...
- Allowing all voices and arguments to be represented and weighed transparently in context.