Tobias Zimmermann (2014): Explaining deliberativeness. The design of readers’ comments. In Olav W Bertelsen, Susanne Bødker, Fiorella de Cindio, Volkmar Pipek (Eds.), International Reports on Socio-Informatics (IRSI), Proceedings of the COOP 2014 Workshop on Collaborative Technologies in Democratic Processes (Vol. 11, Iss. 1, pp. 99-106) (pdf)
Abstract. Great expectations on a vibrant digital public sphere have been articulated since the deliberative turn of democratic theory met the interactive and participatory potential of digital media. Readers’ comments on professional online-news sites provide the chance for deliberation in a visible online environment. This case study discusses the explanatory potential of structural design features for the quality of online-deliberation via readers’ comments. Therefore, this study applies a quantitative content analysis design, which shows limited deliberative potential of a fully analysed debate on a German news site. The findings suggest that structural design features offer useful hints to understand the character of debate that takes place.