In the same vein, what opportunities do you think technology, especially online interaction, can offer for developing the “conversational commons” that you propose as a means for public journalism to be more effective?
I think that online interaction can offer an incredible means of furthering the idea of a “conversational commons.” Through online interaction, public journalists would be able to solicit a wide spectrum of citizen voices, offer citizens opportunities to elaborate on issues of particular concern to them, and encourage citizens to deliberate about those issues with others. The challenge, however, is to moderate those online interactions in such a way that they do not disintegrate into brute shouting matches – to ensure that citizens genuinely listen to one another rather than merely “shout” their own views as loud as possible. We know from the vast literature on computer-mediated interaction more generally that the anonymous nature of online encounters does not always bring out the best in people. Put differently, the challenge for public journalists would be to ensure that citizens’ online interactions resemble as much as possible the best of offline encounters. Here public journalists could find much inspiration in the many offline encounters that have been organized over the years in the form of focus groups, roundtable discussions, and town hall meetings.
Online interactions do offer exciting possibilities for conversation about community but they require a different skill set (and tool set) than most traditional journalists possess. The qualities that make for a successful journalist, for example, don't necessarily prepare the same person to be a successful moderator of a vibrant online community.
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