The debates have the potential to generate ongoing, in-depth dialogues about issues that concern everyday people, says Ken Rogerson.

View all the questions and answers at youtube.com/debates

The CNN/YouTube debates tonight and on Sept. 17 have the potential to bring presidential debating out of its slump, says Duke University media technology expert Ken Rogerson.

People have submitted more than 2,500 video questions for tonight’s two-hour debate, featuring eight candidates vying for the Democratic nomination. (The Republican candidates’ debate is scheduled in September.)

“Over the past decade, presidential debates have become boring, with seemingly scripted and spun questions and answers,” said Rogerson, a professor of public policy and chair of the American Political Science Association’s Information Technology and Politics Section. “But the energy of thoughtful YouTube videographers has made some of the posted questions more real than those posed by moderators from past debates.”

In addition, if YouTube posts all the questions and candidate answers for further online discussion as planned, the debates have the potential to generate ongoing, in-depth dialogues about issues that concern everyday people, Rogerson said.

“Not only might we be entertained by the creativity of our fellow citizens, but we may also be moved by their situations and discover that their questions really matter to us,” Rogerson said. “The CNN/YouTube experiment won’t change democratic process in this country, but it could give us perspectives that we haven’t yet seen.”