Ogatta, a series of questions/answers/discussion overview on weblog research ethics (my own research + practices of other weblog researchers): http://blog.mathemagenic.com/2004/04/27.html#a1188 http://blog.mathemagenic.com/2004/04/29.html#a1191 http://blog.mathemagenic.com/2004/05/16.html#a1209 Once you are there you may want to check comments and "links from other blogs" for these posts. So far my choices are the following: - I do not ask permissions prior to the study (but I study my own blogging community and I blog about it, so most of bloggers I study know it :) - I usually ask permissions for using real names, quotes from weblogs and providing permalinks if I treat weblog content as a data (= to say something about individuals, their relations or interactions). I do not do it when referring to a weblog post as a reference. Of course, there is a grey area in between... One of important reasons to ask for a permission to link to/quote someone's weblog is not the privacy as such (as weblogs are public anyway), but exposing a blogger to a potentially wider audience than it would be without "research spotlight". It could be a case that particular blogger doesn't like such publicity and I'd respect this choice. And, as a side note, I'm working on a document outlining weblog research challenges (ethics is one of them), drop me a line in private if you think that reading draft version could be helpful in your research. Lilia Efimova blog.mathemagenic.com On Tue, 21 Dec 2004 11:18:58 -0500, Oriana Solta Gatta <ogatta1@student.gsu.edu> wrote:
Hello, I am now in the middle of filling out an IRB form for research that I intend to do on blogging practices, and it seems that any research done on "human subjects" must keep personally identifying information confidential. This is a difficult issue, since one's username and blog title would identify an individual, but they may also be understood as published/public information. If anyone has encountered a similar situation and can advise as to how I should proceed or who can offer research references that deal with this issue, that would be much appreciated. Take care, Oriana Gatta Women's Studies M.A. candidate Georgia State University
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