On the academic side, the current issue of the Journal of Public Deliberation includes an article by Francesca Polletta, Pang Ching Bobby Chen, and Christopher Anderson titled “Is Information Good for Deliberation? Link-Posting in an Online Forum.”

The study looks specifically at how link-posting is used in online discussions, but starts with the question:

“Does information improve deliberation? Proponents of online deliberation argue that the availability of the Internet can solve two longstanding problems of citizen decisionmaking: that preexisting inequalities tend to be reproduced rather than minimized in deliberative forums and that citizen decisionmaking sacrifices the benefits of expertise. Because all deliberators online can access information during their discussion, deliberation should be more informed and more equal.”

To cut right to the chase, the authors conclude: “For now, we conclude by siding both with the champions and skeptics of online democratic deliberation. The availability of the web makes for deliberation that is not only more informed but also that is more fully connected to other forms of political action and that combines the virtues of intimacy with those of representativeness. However along with these advantages come dangers. Those who are experienced in using the web have an advantage in accessing information from it. The novelty of the web also accounts for the fact that it is difficult to assess the credibility of online information sources. Information in the Internet age is newly accessible but is also politicized in unfamiliar ways.”

For those using and thinking about online deliberation it is worth checking out the full article to read more about their findings including characteristics of link posting and online discussions.