Effective Online Dialogue

Revision with unchanged content. Dialogue has become a lost art. Most public discourse takes place in the form of unilateral assertions, argument or debate. By contrast, dialogue can foster the co-creation of meaning among participants. Dialogue is therefore both a com­municative and an intensely creative process. Unfortunately, the majority of exis­ting research on dialogue fails to take into account Internet-mediated dia­logue, while conversely most research on Internet-mediated communi­ca­tion focuses on methods of information exchange rather than true dialogue. The present study fulfills two purposes. First, it synthesizes much of the existing research on human dialogue, emphasizing how cognitive styles and cultural values can influence its effectiveness. Second, it relates the results of an analysis of seventeen independent online dialogues and presents a theory of effective Internet-mediated dialogue. This work is addressed to professors and students of communication theory, managers seeking to find better ways of dialoguing with clients online, participants in Internet-mediated commu­ni­ca­tion of any type, and software engineers designing online communication spaces.