Political Discussion Online
Political Discussion Online
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DOI：
10.1002/9781444314861.ch8
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发表时间：
2011-04
期刊：
影响因子：
--
通讯作者：
Jennifer Stromer-Galley;Alexis Wichowski
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Jennifer Stromer-Galley;Alexis Wichowski
In 2002, soon after the US and its allies went to war in Iraq, Nicholas Thompson wrote an opinion column for the Boston Globe on the then current state of online political conversation. The headline of Thompson’s article spoke volumes about his opinion of online talk:“Freedom to Flame. Online Political Chat is an Insult to Democracy.” He argued that online political conversation is “sophomoric,” ranting, full of insults, and “an insult to democracy.” Thompson’s views likely resonate with many who have spent time engaged in online discussions of a political, social, or policy issue. In the US, as in Europe, it is a common view that online talk is far from the ideals of what political conversation should be. Instead of carefully thought out and reasonably argued positions, we see hastily written, irrational, or poorly argued posts. Instead of a willingness to hear the other side, we see a willingness to attack the other side. Why then do academics bother studying online political conversation? In the early days of Internet studies, as the Internet was diffusing, there was great optimism about what this new communication technology could offer. Specifically, the channel characteristics of the Internet–the ability to bridge vast distances, to connect diverse people together, to bring together the like-minded, and to do so quickly and relatively easy–seemed to promise a new means for people to hash through the tough problems facing communities, nation-states, and the globe. The reality, as is usually the case, is starkly different from the hope and the hype. Several studies have been conducted over the years, including some from the first author of this chapter, to help paint a picture of who spends time talking politics online, why they do it, and whether or not such conversations are any good for those who participate and for their societies. The studies provide a complex portrait of people, motives, and quality of conversation. Sometimes it looks exactly as Thompson described in his editorial piece. Sometimes, though, it is better. This chapter details that research and its significance. Before that, however, it is necessary to step back and consider why scholars should even contemplate online political conversation in the first place, and, specifically, why political talk
