Can online discussions be relevant? How can the quality of online discourse be raised? Here's an interesting article about the problem from the Boston Globe, and another one from the New York Times. And here are some notable efforts to change things.

Bodies Electric
Their Unchat product allows users in an online discussion to establish rules and refer to content, improving the quality of the conversation.

Civic Exchange
A project of the Yale Law School Information Society Project and the Rutgers Walt Whitman Center to facilitate online political discussions.

WebLab
This nonprofit produces fruitful online discussions by employing strategies such as breaking large groups into smaller ones.

The Well
By eliminating anonymity and adding moderation, The Well's substantive discussions have become the stuff of legend.

Slashdot
Slashdot's system of self-moderation has sparked numerous imitations.

Metalinker
This handy bit of Javascript lets blogs dynamically link to other blogs discussing the same topic.

Email me if you have any suggestions. Also check out the page about the inverse problem, deriving coherent information from existing online comments.

� 2002 Kushal Dave

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