Roles of Structures-in-Use in the Outcomes of Online Political Talk

Abstract

Deliberative democratic theorists propose guidelines to ensure that political discussion produces just outcomes; however, they seldom describe the material structures that would encourage participants to take up these procedures. As more interactions are mediated by Internet communication technologies, it is more important that researchers consider how digital design could influence the quality and outcomes of online political debate. I compared two online forums, Reddit and the BioWare Social Network. These sites were selected for their significant differences in site ethos, moderation style, and information architecture. From Reddit, 1,854 comments were analyzed from three posts, each from a different sub-community at the site. From the BioWare Social Network, 1,392 comments were analyzed from three posts in the Dragon Age 2 General Discussion Forum. Comment data were subject to content-analysis and frame analysis. In addition, comment data were used to perform thematic analysis of structures-in-use at each site. Users at the BioWare Social Network were more likely to provide reasons for their arguments versus users at Reddit; however, no users in either group lessened their commitments to their political judgments or formed new political judgments, suggesting that the design of each forum encouraged conservation of judgment and strategic interactions between participants rather than openness to persuasion.