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Journal ArticleDOI

Design Matters! An Empirical Analysis of Online Deliberation on Different News Platforms

Katharina Esau, +2 more
- 01 Sep 2017 - 
- Vol. 9, Iss: 3, pp 321-342
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TLDR
In this article, a comparison between different types of news platforms that differ in terms of design (a news forum, news websites, and Facebook news pages) shows that the news forum yields the most rational and respectful debate.
Abstract
Ever since the Internet has provided easy access to online discussion, advocates of deliberative democracy have hoped for an improved public sphere. This article investigates which particular platform features promote deliberative debate online. We assume that moderation, asynchronous discussion, a well-defined topic, and the availability of information enhance the level of deliberative quality of user comments. A comparison between different types of news platforms that differ in terms of design (a news forum, news websites, and Facebook news pages) shows that deliberation (measured as rationality, reciprocity, respect, and constructiveness) differs significantly between platforms. We find that the news forum yields the most rational and respectful debate. While user comments on news websites are only slightly less deliberative, Facebook comments perform poorly in terms of deliberative quality. However, comments left on news websites and on Facebook show particularly high levels of reciprocity among users.

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Journal ArticleDOI

Of Theory and Practice

TL;DR: The Essay concludes that practitioners theorize, and theorists practice, use these intellectual tools differently because the goals and orientations of theorists and practitioners, and the constraints under which they act, differ.
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Inclusion and democracy.

Journal ArticleDOI

Can the power of platforms be harnessed for governance

TL;DR: In this paper, the central question addressed in this paper is: Can this potentially powerful organizing logic be harnessed for public purposes? Since governance platforms are still largely experimental, we cannot fully settle this question at present.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI

A Coefficient of agreement for nominal Scales

TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a procedure for having two or more judges independently categorize a sample of units and determine the degree, significance, and significance of the units. But they do not discuss the extent to which these judgments are reproducible, i.e., reliable.
MonographDOI

Comparing Media Systems: three models of media and politics

TL;DR: Hallin and Mancini as discussed by the authors proposed a framework for comparative analysis of the relation between the media and the political system, based on a survey of media institutions in eighteen West European and North American democracies.
Book

Between Facts and Norms

TL;DR: In Between Facts and Norms as discussed by the authors, Jurgen Habermas works out the legal and political implications of his Theory of Communicative Action (1981), bringing to fruition the project announced with his publication of The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere in 1962.
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