The number of digital discussions has taken off in recent years — pushed by more powerful technology, the popularity of social networking sites, the rush by publishers and businesses to engage their audiences and clients, and the general migration of formerly offline activities to online platforms.

But does more = better? Does the content, organization, and tone of Internet conversations — particularly open ones — meet the needs of participants and potential participants? Or, is it working best for early adopters, technologists and spammers?

More to the point, what can or should we do to encourage useful conversations?

We’ll work all this out at Wednesday’s 4:15 – 5 pm sessions in Storer Auditorium, or at least hear some good questions from you and valuable takes from a fine panel: Steve Arend, Mark Jones, Rob Miller and Chris Tolles.

Arend, VP of Digital Services for CMP, develops customized interactive environments for businesses — including virtual trade fairs and company outposts on the Second Life. One of his challenges: Helping his clients achieve their business goals (for example, telling customers about a new product) without the technology becoming a distraction. “Let’s say you want to present an animated experience within a factory,” he says. “You want to optimize the emotion, the experience, but you also want the customer to interact with the product.”

Jones convenes conversations on current issues as Reuters’ Global Community Editor, including Voices Without Votes, where bloggers from around the world discuss the US elections. Sometimes the conversations bear little resemblance to a Reuters news story: for example, when some Muslim bloggers write that Barack Obama is indisputably a Muslim because his father was a Muslim. In the eyes of some, that calls into question Reuters’ hard-won reputation for accuracy and fairness. “We make it clear that this is what the rest of the world is saying, but that may not solve the problem for some people,” Jones says.

For Rob Miller, editor-in-chief of SourceForge, Inc., limiting conversations is out of the question — his sites, including Slashdot, get most of their content from users. Instead, he tries to ensure that his platforms’ technology allows users to choose what they want to see and offer opinions on it that others can use to shape their own browsing experience. Keeping the technology up-to-date is a constant part of his job. “It’s continuous evolution, we’ve been at it for 10 years,” he says. (And he suggests that smaller sites with spam problems check out akismet.)

And for Chris Tolles, CEO of Topix, the key is volume. He believes that if communities become large enough and active enough, they’ll achieve the level of conversation they want. Trying to “moderate” posts will only drive users elsewhere. “I’m of the camp that it’s the destiny of the Internet to empower the populace, and take an optimistic view around a less controlled, more freewheeling future,” he says. He’s posted more on the subject here.