SoCS: The Fourth Party: Improving Computer-Mediated Deliberation through Cognitive, Social and Emotional Support

该项目将开发和评估软件，以支持人们参与在线社会讨论，特别是与争议解决和协作调查有关的讨论。当人们在合作或参与解决争端时，该软件将对审议过程技能进行建模和监控。应用程序将在三个已经支持在线对话的领域：1)在线争议解决（例如，eBay和美国国家调解委员会）；2)开放式探究学习环境下的协作学习；3)就公民和道德问题进行对话和审议。该项目将构建情境，增加结构或关注社会过程，支持个人技能的提高，并促进群体智慧，使参与者能够产生改进的结果。该项目涉及五个系的教师：法律研究、心理学、政治学、计算机科学和教育。知识价值。本研究推进了社会问题（协作、争议解决和批判性思维）和计算技术（在线争议解决、论证和协作）。它进一步研究建立社会社区，探索指导和协作的问题，并开发评估工具来衡量在线支持的效果。更广泛的社会影响。这个项目促进了对在线人际交流的理解。它将使更多人能够使用社会协商工具，促进更多人对讨论的兴趣，提高在线争议和合作的质量。该项目为在线社区中更智能的交流奠定了基础，创造了对协作复杂性的新理解，并产生了协同在线讨论的新模式。

This project will develop and evaluate software to support people engaged in online social deliberation, especially as it relates to dispute resolution and collaborative inquiry. The software will model and monitor deliberative processes skills while people are either in collaboration or involved in settling disputes. Applications will be in three domains that already support online conversations: 1) online dispute resolution (e.g., eBay and the U.S. National Mediation Board); 2) collaborative learning in open-ended inquiry learning environments; and 3) dialog and deliberation on civic and ethical issues. The project will scaffold situations, adding structure or focusing attention on social processes, support improvement of individual skills, and facilitate a. Wisdom of crowds that enables participants to produce improved results. This project involves faculty across five departments: legal studies, psychology, political science, computer science and education.Intellectual Merit. This research advances social issues (collaboration, dispute resolution, and critical thinking) and computation techniques (online dispute resolution, argumentation and collaboration). It furthers research into building social communities, explores issues of coaching and collaboration and develops evaluation tools for measuring the effect of online support.Broader Societal Impact. This project advances the understanding of online human-human communication. It will enable more people to access social deliberative tools, promote interest in discussion among more people and improve the quality of on-line disputes as well as collaborations. The project lays the groundwork for more intelligent communication in online communities, creates new understandings of the complexities of collaboration and produces new modes of synergistic online discussions.