Professor Freymiller

Hannah Parks

Professor Freymiller

CAS 138T

March 18, 2014

Online Deliberation

Online deliberation is extremely different from face to face deliberation. Considering that it was my first time joining in on an online discussion of this kind, there was much for me to learn from this experience. For my online deliberation I went to a website called Reddit, which many people are familiar with, but for me it was my first time using the site. Reddit is a social media site where basically anything that can be talked about has its own tab. There are tabs regarding world news to funny articles, so there is a wide range of conversations to join. Once you find a tab that you’re interested in, you can comment away and join in on the discussions available. After you comment, everyone on Reddit is able to read your comment and they have the choice of replying to it. I have learned that it can be rare for people to reply to your comments, but I was lucky enough to have someone reply directly to me.

After I registered to be a member of Reddit, I searched for a civic issue conversation that I could join in on. I found a video that someone posted a link to from ABC News about missing Flight 370 that has been on the news for the past week. The video talked about how this flight from Malaysia never landed to its destined location in China, and new confirmations about the investigation had been made. The Malaysian Prime Minister established that the missing flight was not an accident and was due to a “deliberate action” taken either by one of the pilots or a hijacker. The authorities suspect sabotage and lethal intent. Whoever was at the controls disabled the data system and the location transmitter/satellite. A pre-programmed left turn that was not part of the original flight path was taken, proving that whoever was at the controls had extensive training and experience in the cockpit. The news report went on to confirm that the search area for the missing flight has increased to a much larger area of 1,200 miles circling into the Indian Ocean and down by Australia, based off of the last satellite message received from the aircraft. There were 293 passengers on the plane, and authorities have hypothesized that opposition from the passengers could have been avoided by the controller depressurizing the cabin. The news reporter interviewed a retired colonel who was a military pilot and he explained that this was only the third time that there was a premeditated action taken in the cockpit of a commercial airliner. The video also went on to explain that there is a small possibility that the flight could have landed undetected somewhere, and the families of the passengers are hoping for the best.

I watched this video a few hours after my flight across the country landed in California. I commented saying “It scares me how easy it is to lose track of a plane of this size, especially with the technology that we have these days. In this case, I don't believe that the pilots should have the ability to turn off all satellite connection. I just landed from a 6-hour flight going across country and watching this was very frightening. We put all of our trust, our lives, in the hands of the pilots. It’s sad that one can make such a huge impact and hinder the way people feel about flying.” It amazes me that in the world that we live in today, that we could lose a flight this large. I do not believe that pilots should have the capability to turn off satellite radar in the best interest of the pilots themselves and the passengers in case of emergency. If anything were to happen, the world needs to know where the flight is to be able to send help in an efficient manner. After I posted my comment, I few hours later username flynavy88 replied to me. They explained how airlines are the safest form of travel compared to any other, and how pilots need to be able to turn off the satellite radar if there were an emergency like a transponder having an electrical fire – which is why there is reason for the surprising allowance of the ability to turn off the radar systems. The staff would need to be able to turn off the transponder in order to stop the fire from being fed.

Others commented on the video as well, but did not reply directly to me. But, the other users comments on the video did match up with what I was saying. I would say that there was a series of disconnected monologues on the post. The other users made comments regarding the pilots and the act of foul play. Flynavy88 responded to my comment in a respectful way with thoughts that I had not considered before posting my comment on the video, so I would consider our exchange a deliberation rather than a debate. It made me think more deeply about the situation and the possibilities of events like missing Flight 370 happening again. Flynavy88’s comment furthered the discussion about the situation, which I would consider a successful deliberation. Even though only one person responded to me, I still felt that my experience was positive considering it was my first time joining in on an online deliberation. I would say that the conversation was slightly productive, since I got a well-thought out response to my comment. It was not as productive as I had wished, but I know that there are several things that I could have done differently to make the deliberation more effective.

My first comment enacted deliberative exchange by stating my controversial opinion on how pilots and staff members should not be able to turn off satellite radar. Flynavy88 responded in disagreement and an explanation of why. I could have furthered the deliberation by responding to them with another opinion or comment, but instead I just agreed with his viewpoint. I was intimidated by the chance that I could upset someone with my opinion or by questioning him or her further. Now that I look back on my actions I wish I had replied with a better, deeper comment – one that more clearly proposed to prompt a response – than what I had. I know that I could have made the discussion more productive if I was able to trigger another response from flynavy88 or another user.

There are several challenges posed by online deliberation, one being intimidation for me like said before. Another would be the response time from users. Compared the Civic Issue Forum that we experienced in class, the online deliberation took much longer. In class, if you were to say something you most likely received and immediate answer or returning statement. Online, I hoped that I would even receive a reply to my comment, and after I few hours I fortunately did. Also, you do not necessarily know whom exactly you are deliberating with. Most of the time you will get responses from complete strangers, with usernames that do not contain their name. A challenge that I faced was the lack of emotion behind the responses. In person, you are able to see and hear the emotion of a person when replying to you, and the emotions aroused from the deliberation can turn the conversation in different directions. You could easily take a comment online in a different way than the user replying to you wanted.

Overall, I am happy to have had this learning experience. I personally prefer to talk to people face to face, but the Internet opens you up to a much larger world and a wider variety of people to converse with. There are many more opportunities to speak to people across the globe, which I see as a blessing. Technology today is able to connect people worldwide and engage them in conversation about civic issues and other topics. Conversations like these, involving a variety of people unlike each other could possibly help solve universal problems and promote change for the better.