Virtual sounding boards: How deliberative is on‐line political discussion?

Abstract

Emerging forums in cyberspace, accessible using advanced teletechnologies, augur new public and political spaces. A content analysis was conducted of a random sample of postings to Usenet newsgroups, self‐identified as political, to ascertain the extent to which they are being used for democratic deliberation. The results show that these gathering places are, in general, home to an array of overlapping, short‐lived conversations, usually among like‐minded individuals. Sustained deliberation is rare in these forums which means that, as currently designed and used, they may not be effective sounding boards for signalling and expounding issues and problems to be processed by government.

Keywords:

• Deliberation
• democracy
• public discussion
• public sphere
• teledemocracy
• Usenet