(How) do participants in online discussion forums create ‘echo chambers’?
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Arthur Edwards
Abstract
This chapter examines the proposition advanced by Sunstein (2001) and other scholars that political online forums tend to be characterized by in-group homogeneity and group polarization. The chapter adopts a process view of online forums and examines discussions within a time perspective. Five discussion lines on Climategate.nl (a skeptical Dutch online forum on climate change) are investigated. The research focuses on how participants react to the participation of dissidents and on the resulting processes of inclusion and exclusion. Climategate.nl moved in the direction of an ‘echo chamber’ gradually over time. Nevertheless, the forum was never completely homogeneous. The editors played an active role in the inclusion and exclusion of dissidents. A counter-steering moderation policy is needed to keep group polarization and homogenization within certain limits.
Abstract
This chapter examines the proposition advanced by Sunstein (2001) and other scholars that political online forums tend to be characterized by in-group homogeneity and group polarization. The chapter adopts a process view of online forums and examines discussions within a time perspective. Five discussion lines on Climategate.nl (a skeptical Dutch online forum on climate change) are investigated. The research focuses on how participants react to the participation of dissidents and on the resulting processes of inclusion and exclusion. Climategate.nl moved in the direction of an ‘echo chamber’ gradually over time. Nevertheless, the forum was never completely homogeneous. The editors played an active role in the inclusion and exclusion of dissidents. A counter-steering moderation policy is needed to keep group polarization and homogenization within certain limits.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
-
Articles
- Strategic maneuvering in argumentative discourse in political deliberation 11
- Strategic maneuvering in European Parliamentary Debate 33
- Pursuing multiple goals in European Parliamentary Debates 47
- The place of counter discourse in two methods of public deliberation 75
- Deliberation digitized 101
- (How) do participants in online discussion forums create ‘echo chambers’? 127
- Debating multiple positions in multi-party online deliberation 151
- Subject index 177
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Introduction 1
-
Articles
- Strategic maneuvering in argumentative discourse in political deliberation 11
- Strategic maneuvering in European Parliamentary Debate 33
- Pursuing multiple goals in European Parliamentary Debates 47
- The place of counter discourse in two methods of public deliberation 75
- Deliberation digitized 101
- (How) do participants in online discussion forums create ‘echo chambers’? 127
- Debating multiple positions in multi-party online deliberation 151
- Subject index 177
