Examining user comments for deliberative democracy : A corpus-driven analysis of the climate change debate online

Collins, Luke and Nerlich, Brigitte (2015) Examining user comments for deliberative democracy : A corpus-driven analysis of the climate change debate online. Environmental Communication, 9 (2). pp. 189-207. ISSN 1752-4032

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Abstract

The public perception of climate change is characterized by heterogeneity, even polarization. Deliberative discussion is regarded by some as key to overcoming polarization and engaging various publics with the complex issue of climate change. In this context, online engagement with news stories is seen as a space for a new "deliberative democratic potential" to emerge. This article examines aspects of deliberation in user comment threads in response to articles on climate change taken from the Guardian. "Deliberation" is understood through the concepts "reciprocity", "topicality", and "argumentation". We demonstrate how corpus analysis can be used to examine the ways in which online debates around climate change may create or deny opportunities for multiple voices and deliberation. Results show that whilst some aspects of online discourse discourage alternative viewpoints and demonstrate "incivility", user comments also show potential for engaging in dialog, and for high levels of interaction.

Item Type:
Journal Article
Journal or Publication Title:
Environmental Communication
Uncontrolled Keywords:
/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/2300/2301
Subjects:
?? climate changecorpus linguisticsdeliberation; user commentsonline journalismenvironmental science (miscellaneous)management, monitoring, policy and law ??
ID Code:
126849
Deposited By:
Deposited On:
13 Aug 2018 12:36
Refereed?:
Yes
Published?:
Published
Last Modified:
13 Sep 2024 10:28