Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
indicators can be
intrinsic
or
extrinsic
. Intrinsic
indicators can be related to redundancy, signal-
to-noise ratio, presence of fallacious arguments,
and coherence (Lih, 2004; Storrer, 2002; Stvilia
et al., 2005). Extrinsic indicators can be defined in
terms of users satisfaction or judgments by panels
of topic experts through ad hoc surveys.
that the IBIS logic should increase diversity and/
or depth because people will find it much easier
to know whether or not an idea or argument has
been proposed yet, or not. Instead, if there is a
huge corpus of text, like in more traditional text-
based media, people may simply assume that their
point has already been made, because it is too
time-consuming for them to check.
H5:
The deliberatorium will underperform forums
and wikis in the sheer volume of information
effects on group deliberation
H6:
The deliberatorium will outperform forums
and wikis in the volume of non-redundant informa-
tion, in the breadth of problem space exploration,
and will limit off-topic posts and digression
H7:
Compared to wikis and forums the delib-
eratorium is expected to produce less polariza-
tion, more information disclosure and less error
propagation
When assessing the quantity of posted infor-
mation, one should consider several variables: the
sheer volume of posted information, the volume
of non-redundant information, the extent to which
users are able to explore the problem space, and
the level of digression in the discussion. The ra-
tionale for H5 is that posting in forum and wikis
is definitely simpler, so in the short term a larger
amount of contributions can be expected. In the
longer term, as the discussion develops more in
depth and become more specialized, common us-
ers may find it increasingly difficult to contribute
with novel information.
The rationale for H6 is the following. First,
in an argument map multiple posting should be
considerably limited by the fact that a post about a
specific issue will be just published once and pos-
sibly improved by successive revisions. Second,
the IBIS logic should encourage users to explore
the problem space both vertically (in terms of
variety) and horizontally (in terms of depth of
discussion about a given issue or idea), since it is
probable that arguments and ideas can generate
new issues as long as the discussion develops in
depth. Third, since the argument map will provide
a more rational organization of contents and more
focus, it will be easier to identify and marginalize
digressions from the main discussion. We expect
We e x p e c t t h a t t h e d e l i b e r a t o r i u m w i l l c o n t r i b -
ute to improve collective deliberation by reducing
the negative effects of social and informational
pressures that are typical of small scale, co-located
group decision-making. Large scale on-line com-
munities have a set of desirable characteristics
from this perspective:
1.
impersonality:
anonymity or the fact that
members do not know each other can ensure
some protection from social pressure and
higher decisional independence of partici-
pants;
2.
asynchronicity:
people can enter the debate
when they want and are not forced to provide
an answer immediately as in face-to-face
situations. Users may have, as a result, more
time for information search, reflection, and
exploration;
3.
greater information access:
the internet is
a formidable low-cost tool for access to a
large body of information and evidence that
can then immediately being referenced in
the deliberatorium discussion
4.
greater diversity & turnover:
large scale
communities have a higher chance to attract
diverse, independent and heterogeneous per-
spectives, thus preserving diversity; on-line
Search WWH ::
Custom Search