Wikipedia, Critical Social Theory, and the Possibility of Rational Discourse
The Information Society
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Critical social theorists often emphasize the control and surveillance aspects of information systems, building upon a characterization of information technology as a tool for increased rationalization. The emancipatory potential of information systems is often overlooked. In this paper, we apply the Habermasian ideal of rational discourse to Wikipedia as an illustration of the emancipatory potential of information systems. We conclude that Wikipedia does embody an approximation of rational discourse, while several challenges remain.