Online Deliberation: Challenges, Affordances, Cases and Possible Advancements

Abstract

Transposition of deliberative principles and ideas online is a real challenge. Online deliberation and the development of online deliberative platforms constitutes literally an interdisciplinary task as it is the research area in which deliberative theory and practice engages with technological features. This combination requires the synergy between more than one disciplines and imposes several dilemmas as online domain and online discourse has its own communication codes. As e-deliberative platforms advance new features provide more sophisticated tools. Much interest has been invested the last years in argumentation tools and in developing design features that speak to deliberative ideals and can satisfy deliberative ethics. As online deliberation can reach easily and at no cost larger publics, governments and policy makers seem eager to adopt online consultation and deliberation in policy initiatives. To this extent there is a growing number of online platforms that aim to engage in deliberation and several paradigms, such as online consultation, e-rulemaking and crowdsourcing, in reaching out policy outcomes. The papers in this panel will examine features, functionalities, procedures and challenges of online deliberation and online participation and the possible cases in which they can be implemented under the scope of deliberative democracy and policy making.

Title	Details
Input – Throughput – Output: How Digitalization Transforms Democratic Political Systems	View Paper Details
Online Deliberation with the Neutral, Unbiased and Artificial Facilitator	View Paper Details
Common Ground for Action (CGA): A Case Study in Design-Build Innovations in Online Deliberation	View Paper Details
Conceptualizations on Citizenship: An Online Deliberation on a Contested Concept	View Paper Details
Facilitating Participation Through Online Platforms: What Do Citizens Want?	View Paper Details