Title
The structure of political discussion networks: a model for the analysis of online deliberation
Abstract
This paper shows that online political discussion networks are, on average, wider and deeper than the networks generated by other types of discussions: they engage a larger number of participants and cascade through more levels of nested comments. Using data collected from the Slashdot forum, this paper reconstructs the discussion threads as hierarchical networks and proposes a model for their comparison and classification. In addition to the substantive topic of discussion, which corresponds to the different sections of the forum (such as Developers, Games, or Politics), we classify the threads according to structural features like the maximum number of comments at any level of the network (i.e. the width) and the number of nested layers in the network (i.e. the depth). We find that political discussion networks display a tendency to cluster around the area that corresponds to wider and deeper structures, showing a significant departure from the structure exhibited by other types of discussions. We propose using this model to create a framework that allows the analysis and comparison of different internet technologies for the promotion of political deliberation.
Year
DOI
Venue
2010
10.1057/jit.2010.2
JIT
Keywords
Field
DocType
e-democracy,e-deliberation,political discussions,radial trees,online forums,social networks,slashdot,accounting information systems,social network,data collection,strategic information systems,business model,soft system methodology,information management,information security,management science,business information systems,geographic information systems,information systems management,information science,computer information technology,information system,information technology,computer information systems,management information systems,information systems technology,jit,information management system,health information systems
Deliberation,Social network,Computer science,Information science,Knowledge management,Information and communication technologies for development,Strategic information system,Online deliberation,E-democracy,The Internet
Journal
Volume
Issue
ISSN
25
2
1466-4437
Citations 
PageRank 
References 
26
1.36
12
Authors
3
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Sandra Gonzalez-Bailon136019.33
Andreas Kaltenbrunner261350.64
Rafael E. Banchs356663.64