Projects / Programmes
Democratic potentials of electronic public sphere: analysis of computer-mediated discussion forums within the Slovenian context
| Code |
Science |
Field |
Subfield |
| 5.06.00 |
Social sciences |
Political science |
|
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| S170 |
Social sciences |
Political and administrative sciences |
computer-mediated communication, electronic public sphere, democratisation of communication, deliberative forms of public communication, electronic democracy, computer-mediated discussion forums
Researchers (2)
| no. |
Code |
Name and surname |
Research area |
Role |
Period |
No. of publicationsNo. of publications |
| 1. |
16370 |
PhD Tanja Oblak Črnič |
Political science |
Researcher |
2003 - 2004 |
402 |
| 2. |
03661 |
PhD Slavko Splichal |
Political science |
Head |
2003 - 2004 |
721 |
Organisations (1)
Abstract
The main research problem in this project presents the question to what extent the existing forms and ways of new computer-mediated communication contribute to the quality of electronic public sphere. In what way the new communication technologies enrich the electronic public sphere. To what extent their interactive potentials have been actually used. The problem is focused to the general theoretical concepts, such as public sphere, political participation, democratic communication and electronic democracy, but on the practical level it reffers mainly to the analysis of communication flows in computer generated space, cyberspace. Many researchers in social sciences expect a lot from computer-mediated communication; for instance, that it will effectively and more easily connect and therefore reintegrate diverse actors on the national level and also on the level of civil society. However, the results of several empirical studies and different theoretical investigations, which tend to explain the trends in this young and successful research area, do not offer just one single answer to the question, whether the interactive technologies democratise the processes of public opinion expression, discussion and political action. And due to the lack of similar studies within the Slovenian context we are still not able to offer any detailed answer to such dillemas.
In a more narrow sense this research project is focused on the analysis of the integration between public discussion and opinion expression processes with the decision-making process, namely, on the relation and interaction between citizens and their political representatives, and additionally also on their willingness for mutal cooperation. Computer-mediated discussion forums are generated through a specific way of using the interactive technologies, where they enable a direct, mostly unfiltered connection of many users. The research project has therefore five general aims: 1) to generate a typology of computer-mediated communication forms or practices; 2) to evaluate the extent of each communication practice and to evaluate the degree of its interactivity; 3) to describe and explain the main characteristics of computer-mediated discussions about public political issues; 4) to evaluate their deliberative potentials and 5) to elaborate how the main political actors on the one side and their actual participants on the other perceive their role within the democratic society. With the help of several empirical analyses (world wide web surveys with Internet users, case studies of web sites of political institutions on the Internet and content analyses of messages in computer-mediated discussion forums) this project will contribute to our better understanding of computer-mediated communication. On the basis of research findings and given empirical results the main conditions for its democratisation will be defined. The main results will also give helpful grounds for future practical experiments and possible empirical implementations of communication technologies within the existing frameworks of public and political life.
