Using Social Network Analysis to Support Collective Decision-Making Process

Simon Buckingham Shum, Lorella Cannavacciuolo, Anna De Liddo, Luca Iandoli and Ivana Quinto
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Simon Buckingham Shum: The Open University, UK
Lorella Cannavacciuolo: University of Naples Federico II, Italy
Anna De Liddo: The Open University, UK
Luca Iandoli: University of Naples Federico II, Italy
Ivana Quinto: University of Naples Federico II, Italy

International Journal of Decision Support System Technology (IJDSST), 2011, vol. 3, issue 2, pages 15-31

Abstract: Current traditional technologies, while enabling effective knowledge sharing and accumulation, seem to be less supportive of knowledge organization, use and consensus formation, as well as of collaborative decision making process. To address these limitations and thus to better foster collective decision-making around complex and controversial problems, a new family of tools is emerging able to support more structured knowledge representations known as collaborative argument mapping tools. This paper argues that online collaborative argumentation has the rather unique feature of combining knowledge organization with social mapping and that such a combination can provide interesting insights on the social processes activated within a collaborative decision making initiative. In particular, the authors investigate how Social Network Analysis can be used for the analysis of the collective argumentation process to study the structural properties of the concepts and social networks emerging from users’ interaction. Using Cohere, an online platform designed to support collaborative argumentation, some empirical findings obtained from two use cases are presented.

Date: 2011
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International Journal of Decision Support System Technology (IJDSST) is edited by Pascale Zaraté

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