<fontfamily><param>Times_New_Roman</param><bigger><bigger>Call for papers to <bold><bigger>Making Common Ground: Methodological and Ethical issues in doing Internet research </bigger></bold>Nordic interdisciplinary conference and workshop at NTNU (Norwegian University of Science and Technology), Trondheim, Norway, 1. - 2. of June 2002 After a good decade of humanistic and social scientific research on Internet-mediated contexts, the first phase of 'trying and failing' has established valuable knowledge not only in relation to the medium and its users, but parallell to this, on'doing internet research: methodological issues related to the research processes themselves. We are just now developing and negotiating an understanding of 'best practises', based on the experiences from the growing number of studies carried out. An important issue related to these processes is research ethical perspectives of diverse approaches to studying the Internet and its social activities: are our existing ethical guidelines adaptable to researching the new mediated 'semi-public' contexts - or are more specified and new ehtical guidelines required? The aim of the conference is to gather primarily nordic researchers and students from the humanistic and social scientific disciplines working with internet-generated material, in order to enlighten and discuss the many methodological and ethical challenges raised by researching the Internet, as well as creating networks. Additionally, <italic>the conference will be followed up by a research course 3. - 6. of June, on the same topics, arranged by Program for applied ethics at NTNU </italic>(more detailed information on both events will follow shortly). The <bold>key-note speakers</bold> are: Dr Charles Ess, Drury University, USA (ethics and technology) </bigger></bigger></fontfamily>http://www.drury.edu/ess/ess.html <fontfamily><param>Times_New_Roman</param><bigger><bigger>Dr Chris Mann, University of Cambridge, England (methodological issues in researching internet contexts): http://www.sps.cam.ac.uk/stafflist/cmann.html Dr Annette Markham, University of Illinois at Chicago, USA (online ethnography and qualitative methodology) Dr Dag Elgesem, University of Bergen, Norway (research ethics and information technology): http://www.hf.uib.no/hi/webkultur/elgesem.htm They will during the plenary sessions adress both principal as well as the practical implications of researching net-mediated contexts, with our existing ethical guidelines as a point of departure, to look at e.g: how can informants´ privacy be protected? When is it necessary to obtain consent for researching net-mediated group interaction, and how can it be done? How can net-mediated spheres be defined, are they public or private, and what methodological and ethical consequences do a certain definiton imply? Several of the speakers are members of the ethical board of the international and interdisciplinary organisation Association of Internet Researchers (AoIR.) The empirical experience posessed by researchers in this field is crucial to discussing its principle sides, and because this will be a unique opportunity to meet and learn from other collegues, a <italic>big part of the conference is organized as topic divided work-shops</italic>. The work-shops will, out from the submitted abstracts of presentations, focus on discussion rather than the more traditonal forms of paper-presentation. Participants are asked to specify the work-shop they would like to participate in, and if and what they would like to present about. Short summaries will be distributed to the other participants in the group. The group discussions will be lead by an experienced researcher in the field that additionally will prepare comments to each presentation. Dependent on the respons, work-shop topics may be altered. <bold>Please specify the work-shop you would like participate in, as well as attaching an abstract on approximately 350 words</bold> describing the main issue you would like to present upon and contact information (e-mail, phone, post adress). Deadline for submission of abstracts is <bold>April 15th 2002. Workshop alternatives: </bold>1) Online etnography and participant observation 2) Conducting interviews and doing surveys online 3) Documentary analysis: Studying web-archives and web-pages Abstracts and questions can be sent to Janne Bromseth (<underline><color><param>0000,0000,00FF</param>bromseth@uic.edu</color></underline>) or Dag Elgesem (<underline><color><param>0000,0000,00FF</param>dag.elgesem@hedb.uib.no</color></underline>) The conference is sponsored by the University of Bergen, Department of Interdisciplinary Studies of Culture, NTNU and NESH (The National Committee for Research Ethics in the Social Sciences and the Humanities in Norway) and arranged in cooperation with Program for applied ethics, NTNU. Welcome! <bold><bigger>_________________ </bigger></bold>Program <bold>Saturday June 1st: </bold>10.00 - 10.15: Welcome 10.15 - 11.15: Plenary session: Dr Charles Ess, Philosophy and Religion Department, Drury University and leader of Ethical Board of AoIR: <italic> Internet studies and new ethical challenges - making common ground in the international resarcher society? </italic>11.15 - 11.30: Break 11.30 - 12.45: Plenary session: Dr Chris Mann, University of Cambridge: <italic>Internet Communication and Internet Research </italic>12.45 - 13.30: Lunch break 13.30 - 14.45: Parallell workshops: 1) Online etnography 2) Conducting interviews and doing surveys online 4) Documentary analysis: Studying web-archives and web-pages 14.45 - 15.00: Break 15.00 - 16.15: Workshops continued 16.15 - 16.30: Coffee break 16.30 - 17.30: Dr Anette Markham, Department of Communication,University of Illinois at Chicago<italic>: Changing with the times: Context Sensitivity, flexible Adaptation, and reflexive design in ethnographic inquiry. </italic>Kl. 20.00: Dinner <bold>Sunday 2nd of June: </bold>10.15 - 11.30: Plenary session: Dr Dag Elgesem, University of Bergen and former member of NESH: <italic>Ethics revisited: Traditional research ethics and new ethical challenges in reseraching internet contexts </italic>11.30 - 11.45: Break 11.45 - 13.00: Workshops continued 13.00 - 13.45: Lunch break 13.45 - 15.00: Workshops continued 15.00 - 15.15: Break 15.15 - 16.30: Plenary session, panel debate: <italic>Internet research and ethical perspectives in Nordic cultural contexts. Introductory presentations from researchers from Nordic countries with following debate. </italic>Dr Malin Sveningsson, Viktoria Institutet, Sverige, og medlem av Ethical Committee of AoIR PhD student Helge Ridderstroem, stipendiat, NTNU, Norge PhD student Janne Bromseth, stipendiat, NTNU, Norge 16.30 - 17.00: Closing session: reports from workshops and future challenges </bigger></bigger></fontfamily> Janne C.H.Bromseth Department of Communication, UiC 1007 W Harrison St, Chicago,IL 60607 312-4135497 (w) 773-9290977 (h) URL: http://www.hf.ntnu.no/itk/kv_bromseth/bromseth-index.htm Janne C.H.Bromseth Department of Communication, UiC 1007 W Harrison St, Chicago,IL 60607 312-4135497 (w) 773-9290977 (h) URL: http://www.hf.ntnu.no/itk/kv_bromseth/bromseth-index.htm Janne C.H.Bromseth Department of Communication, UiC 1007 W Harrison St, Chicago,IL 60607 312-4135497 (w) 773-9290977 (h) URL: http://www.hf.ntnu.no/itk/kv_bromseth/bromseth-index.htm