Rulemaking is the only online deliberation form that regularly yields actual policy change

Evidence

Web-based participation in rulemaking also goes somewhere; simply put, the process frequently leads to actual changes of agency-enforced rules. Here, a focus on rulemaking differs from other examinations of Web-based discourse. A common critique of online deliberative polling, cyberjuries, or Web-based policy discussions is that the deliberative work often produces few if any tangible or pragmatic results. People spend time and energy working toward consensus, only to see it ignored or rejected politically. This problem of implementation deficit can deplete citizen energy devoted to discourse. Rulemaking requires agencies to respond to substantive public comments. It may be the only form of online deliberation that regularly ends in actual policy implementation. — David Schlosberg, Defining Environmental Justice, 740

Categorization

• XREF: ‘Implementation deficit’ depleting civic energy connects to ch109’s point that advisory participation without policy power reads as inauthentic cooptation. — connects to: Open docket design can counter the Internet’s affinity for like-minded echo chambers — David Schlosberg, Defining Environmental Justice:…, 739