How does the crowd debate and consent in an open online context? A case study: Reddit - Change My View

Thesis defended on the 14th of December 2020 at 2:00 pm and it held by video conference.

Abstract:

The development of the Internet revolutionized multiple aspects of daily life, and particularly how one communicates with another. From the 1980s and the first newsgroup to today's online social networks, people commonly exchange message online. Different political events over the world, such as the movement of the « Gilets Jaunes » in France, 2018, or the Cambridge Analytica scandal, the same year, highlight the place of Internet such as a powerful expression vector on the political sphere.

Besides, we observe other impacts on the collaboration among individuals, through Internet. Wikipedia, the most popular online encyclopedia, is mainly the result of individual production. It counted at the end of 2018 more than 35 millions of registred users.

All these phenomena highlight the notion of collective intelligence. The purpose of this doctoral work is to study the emergence of collective intelligence within open online fora. The case study Reddit - Change My View, is a forum where an individual exposes his opinion on a subject, and asks to the community to bring him arguments to change his opinion.

This case study allows to analyze the life cycle of online communities. But also the different processes leading to a constructive debate. Third, we study the process of this community to establish a consensus among his members. This last point highlighted a new conept : the Consent of the Crowd;

Mots clés : Democracy, Forum, Collective Intelligence, Network, Online Communauty, Wisdom of crowd     

Composition du jury :