Visualisation of online discussion forums

Abstract

This chapter presents a novel visual approach to data interpretation in online discussion forums. Due to information overload in these forums, it is very difficult to get the right information at the right time, especially when the information is summary in its nature and spread across a big number of posts. The authors propose a tool that enables any visitor of a discussion forum to easily visualise its contents and thus gain an overview of its structure and discussion trends. The tool, which has been deployed on three politically themed pilot forums, also enables the user to receive proactive notifications about interesting topics being posted on the forum. The work presented was performed in the scope of EU co-funded project VIDI and contributed visibly to a better participation of citizens in (local) political life.