Online deliberation is a term associated with an emerging body of practice, research, and software dedicated to fostering serious, purposive discussion over the Internet. It overlaps with, but is not identical to, e-democracy. E-democracy (a neologism and contraction of electronic democracy) is the utilization of electronic communications technologies, such as the Internet, in enhancing democratic processes within a democratic republic or representative democracy. ...

Online deliberation is very interdisciplinary, and includes practices such as online consultation, online deliberative polling, online facilitation, interactive e-learning, civic dialogue in Internet forums and online chat, and group decision making that utilizes collaborative software and other forms of computer-mediated communication. Work in all these endeavors is tied together by the challenge of using electronic media in a way that deepens thinking and improves mutual understanding. Online consultations or e-consultations refer to an exchange between government and citizens using the Internet. ... The deliberative opinion poll is a form of Opinion poll that incorporates the principles of Deliberative democracy. ... Typical Managed Learning Environment with a navigation menu and online community building tools. ... An Internet forum, also known as a message board or discussion board, is a web application that provides for online discussions, and is the modern descendant of the bulletin board systems and existing Usenet news systems that were widespread in the 1980s and 1990s. ... Online chat is a generic term for what are now mostly known as instant messaging applications—computer programs that enable two-way typing to connect users to each other. ... Collaborative software, also known as groupware, is application software that integrates work on a single project by several concurrent users at separated workstations (see also computer supported cooperative work). ... Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) is any form of communication between two or more individual people who interact and/or influence each other via separate computers through the Internet or a network connection - using social software. ...

Open international conferences on online deliberation were held at Carnegie Mellon University in 2003 and at Stanford University in 2005. Attendees of the 2005 conference voted to create an international society for online deliberation. A task force created jointly with the Online Deliberative Democracy Consortium in June 2005 is expected to make a proposal for next steps in 2006. Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University is a private research university located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. ... For other meanings of Stanford, see Stanford (disambiguation). ...

See also

• Collaborative software
• Computer-mediated communication
• Deliberative democracy
• E-democracy
• Online consultation

Collaborative software, also known as groupware, is application software that integrates work on a single project by several concurrent users at separated workstations (see also computer supported cooperative work). ... Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC) is any form of communication between two or more individual people who interact and/or influence each other via separate computers through the Internet or a network connection - using social software. ... Deliberative democracy, also sometimes called discursive democracy, is a term used by political theorists, e. ... E-democracy (a neologism and contraction of electronic democracy) is the utilization of electronic communications technologies, such as the Internet, in enhancing democratic processes within a democratic republic or representative democracy. ... Online consultations or e-consultations refer to an exchange between government and citizens using the Internet. ...

External Links

• Developing and Using Online Tools for Deliberative Democracy - the first conference on online deliberation, Carnegie Mellon University (June 2003)
• Online Deliberation 2005 / DIAC-2005 - the Second Conference on Online Deliberation: Design, Research, and Practice, Stanford University (May 2005)
• Deepening Online Deliberation - invitational workshop sponsored by the Online Deliberative Democracy Consortium, University of Minnesota (June 2005)