Knowledge sharing VS construction in online-conversations: a Debate Dashboard to support distributed decision making through the collaborative construction of shared knowledge representations

Abstract

This study aims at improving argumentation mediation capabilities in order to exploit their inherent advantages and, at the same time, fostering interaction among online users through the implementation of an online Debate Dashboard. Debat Dashboard is made up of a set of visual widgets able to provide feedback about users, interaction process and generated content. Through an empirical study, we tested several hypotheses: i. the impact of visual feedback on Mutual Understanding, ii. the effect of Mutual Understanding on the users’ performances, iii. the impact of feedback on users’ performances. iv. the mediation effects of Mutual Understanding between feedback and users’ performances. The results confirm the expectations. In other words, the provision of visual feedback impacts on users’ mutual understanding and performances, namely quality of collaboration, quality of decision and usability. Practical and theoretical contributions have emerged from this study. First, the findings from the analysis of structural equation model confirm that visual, social and conversational feedback impact on mutual understanding and on users’ performances. Second, the results indicate that mutual understanding has a role of mediator and catalyst among visual feedback and users’ performances. Third, in order to support efficient and effective distributed decision making process, online collaborative tools have to be able both to foster interactions and support knowledge organization. In turns, Socialization and knowledge organization are two crucial condition for supporting deliberation and decision making successfully.