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Deliberation and Decision Making Online: Evaluating Platform Design King, M

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Deliberation and Decision Making Online: Evaluating Platform Design King, M WestminsterResearch http://www.westminster.ac.uk/westminsterresearch Deliberation and Decision Making Online: Evaluating Platform Design King, M. This is an electronic version of a PhD thesis awarded by the University of Westminster. © Mr Martin King, 2018. The WestminsterResearch online digital archive at the University of Westminster aims to make the research output of the University available to a wider audience. Copyright and Moral Rights remain with the authors and/or copyright owners. Whilst further distribution of specific materials from within this archive is forbidden, you may freely distribute the URL of WestminsterResearch: ((http://westminsterresearch.wmin.ac.uk/). In case of abuse or copyright appearing without permission e-mail [email protected] Deliberation and Decision Making Online: Evaluating Platform Design Thesis submitted in accordance with the requirements of the University of Westminster for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy By Martin King August 2018 1 Abstract This thesis explores the potential of ICT and online communication to deepen democracy and support large scale online deliberation. It draws together the most promising current practices in online deliberation, presenting a theoretical and empirical exploration of innovative online deliberation platforms. ICT and online communication is increasingly sophisticated and ubiquitous in public life yet its democratic impact is ambiguous. Online engagement is characterised by low quality, disorganised deliberation. Experimental platforms have emerged which utilise novel design, argument visualisation, and machine learning to support large scale deliberation. The fields of informal logic and collective intelligence have been influential on the developments of these platforms. But the platforms and the perspectives that influence them have been neglected by wider research into online deliberation. The thesis seeks to address the question: to what extent can developments in informal logic and collective intelligence address problems in the theory and practice of online deliberation? The theoretical analysis explores the insights that emerge from a comparison of the approaches of informal logic, collective intelligence and deliberative democratic theory. Models of argumentation and reasonableness from collective intelligence and informal logic reveal ways in which deliberative theory is under-defined, as well as providing techniques to structure, support and analyse deliberative processes. The empirical element draws together and analyses the experiences of online deliberation practitioners to provide a deeper understanding of the opportunities and challenges ICT presents for democracy. These novel technologies indicate how challenges associated with knowledge coordination, participant behaviour and information overload can be ameliorated. Yet analysis of the platforms also identifies resourcing, recruitment, collective attention and the application of AI as barriers to developing effective online deliberative spaces. 2 Table of Contents Deliberation and Decision Making Online: Evaluating Platform Design ................. 1 Introduction ........................................................................................................ 7 Chapter 1: Online Deliberation Literature Review .............................................. 18 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 18 The Development of the Field of Online Deliberation ................................................ 21 The Early History of Online Deliberation ....................................................................... 21 Approaches to the Study of Online Deliberation .......................................................... 25 Online Deliberation Research Themes and Findings .................................................. 30 Variety in Online Communication and ICT: Research and Findings .............................. 31 Themes and Challenges in Online Deliberation ............................................................ 47 Experimental Online Deliberation Platforms and the Role of Design .......................... 60 Participant Engagement ................................................................................................ 64 Participant Behaviour and Citizen Capacity .................................................................. 66 Information Representation and Management ............................................................ 67 Feasibility and Scale ...................................................................................................... 69 Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 70 Chapter 2: Informal Logic ................................................................................... 73 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 73 Concepts and Themes in Informal Logic .................................................................... 75 The Limitations of Formal Logic .................................................................................... 75 The Development of informal logic and Scope of the Research ................................... 77 Toulmin ......................................................................................................................... 80 Johnson and Blair’s Logical Self Defence and the RSA Criteria ..................................... 82 Errors of Reasoning: Fallacies and Bias ......................................................................... 83 Non Verbal Arguments .................................................................................................. 87 Emotion and Modes of Argument ................................................................................. 90 Pragma-Dialectics .......................................................................................................... 95 Walton, Dialogue Types and Argumentation Schemes and Critical Questions .......... 100 Informal Logic and the Challenges of Online Deliberation ........................................ 104 3 Informal Logic and Deliberative Theory ...................................................................... 105 Participant Behaviour and Citizen Capacity ................................................................ 116 Deliberation and Decision Making: Knowledge Representation and Management ... 120 Conclusion ............................................................................................................. 129 Chapter 3: Collective Intelligence ..................................................................... 131 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 131 Concepts and Themes in Collective Intelligence....................................................... 134 Collective Intelligence in Groups and Organisations................................................... 134 Collective Intelligence, Social Psychology and Cognitive Bias ..................................... 143 Collective Intelligence: Methods, Techniques and Tools ............................................ 150 Collective Intelligence and the Challenges of Online Deliberation ............................ 166 Collective Intelligence and Deliberative Theory.......................................................... 166 Participant Engagement .............................................................................................. 173 Participant Behaviour and Citizen Capacity ................................................................ 175 Information Representation and Management .......................................................... 177 Conclusion ............................................................................................................. 181 Chapter 4: Online Deliberation in Practice: Methodology ................................. 182 Introduction ........................................................................................................... 182 Methodology ......................................................................................................... 183 Selecting Cases ............................................................................................................ 187 Analysis of Cases and Interview Method .................................................................... 192 Outline of Case Study Platforms ............................................................................. 195 @Stake ........................................................................................................................ 196 Arvina and Ova ............................................................................................................ 200 BCisive/Rationale ........................................................................................................ 204 Climate CoLab .............................................................................................................. 208 Cohere/Evidence Hub ................................................................................................. 212 Consider It ................................................................................................................... 214 Debategraph ...............................................................................................................
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