Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-x4r87 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T17:15:47.637Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Architecture of Political Spaces: Trolls, Digital Media, and Deweyan Democracy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 February 2017

JENNIFER FORESTAL
JENNIFER FORESTAL*
Affiliation:
Stockton University
*
Jennifer Forestal is Assistant Professor, Stockton University, 101 Vera King Farris Drive, Galloway, NJ, 08205–9441 (jennifer.forestal@stockton.edu).
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The problem of trolls exemplifies the challenges of building democratic communities in the digital environment of social media. Distinguishing trolls from activists can be difficult; democratic theorists have yet to adequately address how to prevent the former while remaining open to the latter. In this article, I outline a theory of democratic politics that takes space as a central element in shaping democratic interactions. Using the work of John Dewey, I draw out two key characteristics of democratic space: boundedness and flexibility. Using these criteria, I then evaluate Kinja, Gawker Media's commenting platform, both before and after trolls attacked the site in 2014. I find that in altering its boundaries to successfully protect against trolls, Kinja introduced a new problem: a lack of flexibility that continues to affect the possibility for democratic discourse on the platform. I conclude by suggesting how this theory of democratic space might shape future research.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 111 , Issue 1 , February 2017 , pp. 149 - 161
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

I am grateful to James Farr, Ellen Mutari, Menaka Philips, Chris Sardo, Joel Schlosser, and participants at the Northwestern Political Theory Workshop for their insightful feedback on earlier versions of this article. The article is also much improved thanks to comments from the three anonymous APSR reviewers and the APSR editors.

References

REFERENCES

“About Reddit.” 2014. http://www.reddit.com/about.Google Scholar
Ackerman, Bruce, and Fishkin, James. 2003. Deliberation Day. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Adams, Tim. 2011. “How the Internet Created an Age of Rage.” The Guardian. http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2011/jul/24/internet-anonymity-trolling-tim-adams.Google Scholar
Andersson, Krister P. 2004. “Who Talks with Whom? The Role of Repeated Interactions in Decentralized Forest Governance.” World Development 32 (2): 233–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Asen, Robert. 2003. “The Multiple Mr. Dewey: Multiple Publics and Permeable Borders in John Dewey's Theory of the Public Sphere.” Argumentation and Advocacy 39 (3): 174–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Asen, Robert, and Brouwer, Daniel C.. 2003. “Introduction: John Dewey and the Public Sphere.” Argumentation and Advocacy 39 (3): 157–60.Google Scholar
Barber, Benjamin. 1984. Strong Democracy: Participatory Politics for a New Age. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
BauHaus, Lil. 2013. “Welcome to What's Next.” Jalopnik. http://jalopnik.com/welcome-to-what-s-next-73787938.Google Scholar
Benton, Joshua. 2015. “Gawker Media's Independent Kinja Posts Apparently Aren't Generating a Ton of Traffic.” NiemanLab. http://www.niemanlab.org/2015/01/gawker-medias-independent-kinja-posts-apparently-arent-generating-a-ton-of-traffic/.Google Scholar
Bertolini, Lauren. 2014. “(Re)Introducing Pending Replies.” Product. http://product.kinja.com/re-introducing-pending-replies-1621601466.Google Scholar
Bimber, Bruce. 2014. “Digital Media in the Obama Campaigns of 2008 and 2012: Adaptation to the Personalized Political Communication Environment.” Journal of Information Technology and Politics 11 (2): 130–50.Google Scholar
Bode, Leticia. 2012. “Facebooking It to the Polls: A Study in Online Social Networking and Political Behavior.” Journal of Information Technology and Politics 9 (4): 352–69.Google Scholar
Bond, Robert M., Fariss, Christopher J., Jones, Jason J., Kramer, Adam D. I., Marlow, Cameron, Settle, Jaime E., and Fowler, James H.. 2012. “A 61-Million-Person Experiment in Social Influence and Political Mobilization.” Nature 489: 295–98.Google Scholar
Boyd, Danah. 2012. “The Politics of ‘Real Names.’” Communications of the ACM 55 (8): 29–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carlisle, Juliet E., and Patton, Robert C.. 2013. “Is Social Media Changing How We Understand Political Engagement? An Analysis of Facebook and the 2008 Presidential Election.” Political Research Quarterly 66 (4): 883–95.Google Scholar
Cohen, Cathy J., Kahne, Joseph, Bowyer, Benjamin, Middaugh, Ellen, and Rogowski, Jon. 2012. Participatory Politics: New Media and Youth Political Action. Oakland, CA. http://ypp.dmlcentral.net/sites/default/files/publications/Participatory_Politics_New_Media_and_Youth_Political_Action.2012.pdf.Google Scholar
Crick, Nathan. 2009. “The Search for a Purveyor of News: The Dewey/Lippmann Debate in an Internet Age.” Critical Studies in Media Communication 26 (5): 480–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Daulerio, A. J. 2012a. “Greetings, Today's the Day All Starred Commenters Will Die.” Gawker. http://gawker.com/5902688/greetings-todays-the-day-all-starred-commenters-will-die.Google Scholar
Daulerio, A. J. 2012b. “Hello, and Welcome to Gawker's New Commenting System.” Gawker. http://gawker.com/5905316/hello-and-welcome-to-gawkers-new-commenting-system.Google Scholar
Davis, Noah. 2012. “Can Gawker's New Commenting System Improve Quality Without Creating Chaos?” Fast Company. http://www.fastcompany.com/1839263/can-gawkers-new-commenting-system-improve-quality-without-creating-chaos.Google Scholar
Denton, Nick. 2014. “Introducing Group Chats in Kinja.” Kinja: Product. http://product.kinja.com/introducing-group-chats-in-kinja-1517330082.Google Scholar
Dewey, John. 1916. “Democracy and Education.” In John Dewey: The Middle Works, Volume 9: 1916, ed. Boydston, Jo Ann. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press.Google Scholar
Dewey, John. 1939. Freedom and Culture. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books.Google Scholar
Dewey, John. 1946. The Public and Its Problems: An Essay in Political Inquiry. Chicago: Gateway Books.Google Scholar
Dewey, John. 2008a. “Education and New Social Ideals.” In The Later Works of John Dewey, Volume 11: 1935-1937, ed. Boydston, Jo Ann. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press, 167–70.Google Scholar
Dewey, John. 2008b. “Education, the Foundation for Social Organization.” In The Later Works of John Dewey, Volume 11: 1935-1937, ed. Boydston, Jo Ann. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press, 226–37.Google Scholar
Dewey, John. 2008c. “Ethics.” In The Middle Works of John Dewey, Volume 5: 1908, ed. Boydston, Jo Ann. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press.Google Scholar
Dewey, John. 2008d. “The School and Society.” In The Middle Works of John Dewey, Volume 1: 1899-1901, ed. Boydston, Jo Ann. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press, 1–112.Google Scholar
Dewey, John. 2008e. “The School as Social Centre.” In The Middle Works of John Dewey, Volume 2: 1899-1924, ed. Boydston, Jo Ann. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press, 80–94.Google Scholar
Doig, Will. 2008. “Homophobosphere.” The Advocate. http://www.advocate.com/news/2008/01/25/homophobosphere.Google Scholar
Donath, Judith S. 2014. “We Need Online Alter Egos Now More Than Ever.” Wired. http://www.wired.com/2014/04/why-we-need-online-alter-egos-now-more-than-ever/.Google Scholar
Ellickson, Robert. 1994. Order without Law: How Neighbors Settle Disputes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Gutmann, Amy, and Thompson, Dennis. 1996. Democracy and Disagreement. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Gutmann, Amy, and Thompson, Dennis. 2012. The Spirit of Compromise: Why Governing Demands It and Campagining Undermines It. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Hénaff, Marcel, and Strong, Tracy B., eds. 2001. Public Space and Democracy. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.Google Scholar
Holmes, Anna. 2009a. “15 Questions–And Answers–About the New Comments.” Jezebel. http://jezebel.com/5318058/15-questions-and-answers-about-the-new-comments.Google Scholar
Holmes, Anna. 2009b. “Fasten Your Seatbelts. . . It's Gonna Be a Bumpy Sight.” Jezebel. http://jezebel.com/5310875/fasten-your-seatbeltsits-gonna-be-a-bumpy-sight.Google Scholar
Jackson, Nicholas. 2014. “Just Kill All of the Comments Already.” Pacific Standard. http://www.psmag.com/nature-and-technology/just-kill-comments-already-88188.Google Scholar
“Jezebel.” Gawker Media. http://advertising.gawker.com/platform/jezebel/.Google Scholar
Karpf, David. 2012. The MoveOn Effect: The Unexpected Transformation of American Political Advocacy. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Kaste, Martin. 2011. “Who Are You, Really? Activists Fight For Pseudonyms.” All Things Considered. http://www.npr.org/2011/09/28/140879480/who-are-you-really-activists-fight-for-pseudonyms.Google Scholar
Kosnoski, Jason. 2005. “Artful Discussion: John Dewey's Classroom as a Model of Deliberative Association.” Political Theory 33 (5): 654–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
LaBarre, Suzanne. 2013. “Why We're Shutting Off Our Comments.” Popular Science. http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2013-09/why-were-shutting-our-comments.Google Scholar
Lamont, Tom. 2014. “Reddit: How to Win the Internet.” The Guardian. http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/feb/07/reddit-how-to-win-the-internet.Google Scholar
Latané, Bibb, Liu, James H., Nowak, Andrzej, Bonevento, Michael, and Zheng, Long. 1995. “Distance Matters: Physical Space and Social Impact.” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 21 (8): 795–805.Google Scholar
Mansbridge, Jane. 1999. “Everyday Talk in the Deliberative System.” In Deliberative Politics: Essays on Democracy and Disagreement, ed. Macedo, Stephen. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 211–39.Google Scholar
Messing, Solomon, and Westwood, Sean J.. 2014. “Selective Exposure in the Age of Social Media: Endorsements Trump Partisan Source Affiliation When Selecting News Online.” Communication research 41 (8): 1042–63. http://crx.sagepub.com/content/41/8/1042.abstract.Google Scholar
Mitchell, Amy, Gottfried, Jeffrey, and Matsa, Katerina Eva. 2015. Millennials and Political News. Washington, DC. http://www.journalism.org/files/2015/06/Millennials-and-News-FINAL-7-27-15.pdf.Google Scholar
Munroe, Randall. 2009. “Reddit's New Comment Sorting System.” reddit blog. http://www.redditblog.com/2009/10/reddits-new-comment-sorting-system.html.Google Scholar
Mutz, Diana C., and Young, Lori. 2011. “Communication and Public Opinion: Plus ca Change?” Public Opinion Quarterly 75 (5): 1018–44.Google Scholar
Newitz, Annalee. 2013. “Check Out io9’s New Design!” io9. http://io9.com/check-out-io9s-new-design-451387032/all.Google Scholar
Ostrom, Elinor, and Ahn, T.K., eds. 2003. Foundations of Social Capital. Northampton, MA. http://www.sidalc.net/cgi-bin/wxis.exe/?IsisScript=SIBE01.xis&method=post&formato=2&cantidad=1&expresion=mfn=028851 (July 14, 2015).Google Scholar
Parkinson, John. 2012. Democracy and Public Space. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Pettigrew, Thomas F. 1998. “Intergroup Contact Theory.” Annual Review of Psychology 49: 65–85.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Phelps, Andrew. 2012. “Gawker: We Want to Elevate the Discourse about Frogs Who Sit like Humans.” NiemanLab. http://www.niemanlab.org/2012/04/gawker-we-want-to-elevate-the-discourse-about-frogs-who-sit-like-humans-chart/.Google Scholar
Putnam, R. D. 1993. Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Read, Max. 2014. “Why Are All My Comments Grey? What Can I Do About It?” Gawker. http://gawker.com/why-are-all-my-comments-grey-what-can-i-do-about-it-1623918007.Google Scholar
Rose, Rebecca. 2014. “About Time: Twitter to Fix Policies After Trolls Attack Zelda Williams.” Jezebel. http://jezebel.com/about-time-twitter-to-fix-polices-after-trolls-attack-1621441474.Google Scholar
Sanders, Lynn M. 1997. “Against Deliberation.” Political Theory 25 (3): 347–76.Google Scholar
Schwartz, Mattathias. 2008. “The Trolls Among Us.” The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/03/magazine/03trolls-t.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0.Google Scholar
Silverman, Matt. 2013. “Reddit: A Beginner's Guide.” Mashable. http://mashable.com/2012/06/06/reddit-for-beginners/.Google Scholar
Snyder, Gabriel. 2009. “Gawker Comments Are Made of Stars.” Gawker. http://gawker.com/5311027/gawker-comments-are-made-of-stars.Google Scholar
Staff, Jezebel. 2014. “We Have a Rape Gif Problem and Gawker Media Won't Do Anything About It.” Jezebel. http://jezebel.com/we-have-a-rape-gif-problem-and-gawker-media-wont-do-any-1619384265.Google Scholar
Sterne, Peter. 2012. “Gawker's New Comment System: Will It Help or Hurt the Site's Young Writers?” Coumbia Journalism Review. http://www.cjr.org/behind_the_news/no_comments.php?page=all.Google Scholar
Stoeffel, Kat. 2012. “Deadliest Klatsch: Nick Denton Gives Gawker's Drive-By Peanut Gallery a Promotion.” New York Observer. http://observer.com/2012/06/deadliest-klatsch-nick-denton-gives-gawkers-drive-by-peanut-gallery-a-promotion/?show=all.Google Scholar
Tufekci, Zeynep, and Wilson, Christopher. 2012. “Social Media and the Decision to Participate in Political Protest: Observations from Tahrir Square.” Journal of Communication 62 (2): 363–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ulbert, Cornelia, and Risse, Thomas. 2005. “Deliberately Changing the Discourse: What Does Make Arguing Effective?” Acta Politica 40 (3): 351–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Warren, Mark E., and Mansbridge, Jane. 2013. “Deliberative Negotiation.” In Negotiating Agreement in Politics, eds. Mansbridge, Jane and Martin, Cathie Jo. Washington, DC: American Political Science Association, 86–120.Google Scholar
“What Names Are Allowed on Facebook?” Facebook Help Center. https://www.facebook.com/help/112146705538576.Google Scholar
Young, Iris Marion. 2000. Inclusion and Democracy. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Young, Iris Marion. 2001. “Activist Challenges to Deliberative Democracy.” Political Theory 29 (5): 670–90.Google Scholar
“Your Name Field.” LinkedIn Help center. https://help.linkedin.com/app/safety/answers/detail/a_id/37229/chapter/unacceptable_name.Google Scholar
Zajonc, R. B. 2001. “Mere Exposure: A Gateway to the Subliminal.” Current Directions in Psychological Science 10 (6): 224–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhang, Weiwu, Johnson, Thomas J., Seltzer, Trent, and Bichard, Shannon L.. 2010. “The Revolution Will Be Networked: The Influence of Social Networking Sites on Political Attitudes and Behavior.” Social Science Computer Review 28 (1): 75–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar