In preparation for
teaching 2nd. Semester freshman English I Googled <deliberative discourse>.
Enter Harvard, explaining:
"From the Athenian Agora
to modern-day chat rooms and newsgroups, political theorists have attempted
to answer the question: 'If a community wants to make decisions that will be embraced by its constituents what are the elements
of a deliberative process necessary to realize that goal?' ...
"The ultimate test of any
deliberative democracy will be its practicality—choosing among the philosophical models can only provide a rough outline
for success. Cyberspace remains a unique venue for deliberation which finds no historical analog—its size, diversity
of membership, and landscape are remarkably different from any populace or public square encountered heretofore. ...
"Reason is the keystone of deliberative discourse. Participants give reasons and expect that
those reasons (and not differences in power or social standing, for example) will shape the outcome of their collective decision. In
the ideal deliberation 'no force except that of the better argument is exercised.'" &c.
http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/projects/deliberation/theory/
...
Enter Susan, quoting
& planning her dissertation:
Caution. Democracy (May Be) in Progress: Deliberative Discourse on the "Information
Superhighway"
To resist electronic technology
is as futile as trying to turn back the tides. It has swept over us in ways we have yet to realize. It is not a question of
whether to accept or reject this new world but of who is going to use it and how. To resist the possibilities . . . is to
leave this extraordinary technology in the hands of others.
--Mark C. Taylor and Esa Saarinen
Virtual communities might be real communities, they might be pseudo communities,
or they might be something entirely new in the realm of social contracts, but I believe they are in part a response to the
hunger for community that has followed the disintegration of traditional communities around the world.
-- Howard Rheingold
Something is wrong online. For all the hype about information highways
and the explosive growth of the Internet, relatively few people are using the online medium for genuine communication.
--
Crawford Kilian
A rebirth of deliberative democracy is needed, where people come together
to learn about pressing issues and make choices about common concerns.
-- Suzanne W. Morse
Convergences. In this essay, I want to make the claim that several "cultural forces" seem
to be converging which suggest that a "rebirth of deliberative democracy" may indeed be possible. …
&c.
http://www.bucks.edu/~darrahs/demo2.htm
...
Harvard responds,
questioning:
What rules and tools would
an online community need in order for it to engage in effective, meaningful debate so that decisions are generally accepted
by its members? Can they produce a better-informed and more responsible constituency? Can online – and increasingly
offline as well – communities govern themselves – online? ...
The promotion of online debate
and decision-making is a problem of governance: how may an online community appropriately rule itself? How does it balance
the freedom to communicate and participate with the maintenance of a productive and encouraging environment that attracts
and retains members?
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