Colleagues - We invite you to attend the AoIR Ethics Roundtable Discussion at AoIR2026. Thursday October 15, 2026 1:30pm - 3:00pm in Regency E. https://aoir26.sched.com/event/2ZW4N/aoir-ethics-roundtable-discussion-core-... We will be discussing two draft documents related to our efforts to update the AoIR ethics guides. Email me directly if you would like advance access to these draft documents. Description below: Since their inception, the AoIR Ethics Guidelines have evolved alongside technological and methodological shifts in internet research, emphasizing contextual sensitivity, ethical pluralism, and reflexive engagement. As digital environments grow more complex – marked most recently by generative AI, restricted data access, platform gatekeeping, global regulatory regimes, hostility toward certain research topics, and increasing risks to researchers – the need for both stable ethical foundations and practical, method-sensitive guidance has become more urgent. The AoIR Ethics Working Committee is currently finalizing a AoIR Charter of Ethical Principles for Internet Research, which articulates the enduring normative commitments that underlie AoIR’s approach to research ethics. These principles foreground a process-oriented, practice-embedded understanding of ethics: that methods are ethical acts; that responsibility permeates the entire research lifecycle; that justice, care, pluralism, and cultivated judgment are integral to rigorous scholarship; and that regulatory compliance does not exhaust ethical responsibility. Building on this foundation, the Working Committee is also initiating the development of a companion document: AoIR Guidelines for Ethical Internet Research Practice. While the Charter establishes the normative grounding of AoIR’s ethical framework, the Guidelines for Ethical Internet Research Practice will interpret and translate these commitments into context-sensitive, method-oriented guidance for researchers working across diverse internet research settings. This roundtable discussion will therefore serve two interconnected purposes: - To introduce and discuss the Charter of Core Ethical Principles and Values; and - To gather community input on the structure, scope, and priorities of the AoIR Guidelines for Ethical Internet Research Practice. By explicitly linking foundational principles to their methodological interpretation, this session aims to clarify the next phase of AoIR’s ethical framework. The goal is to ensure that AoIR’s guidance remains principled, actionable, and responsive to the evolving technological, political, and research landscape. ~ Michael -- Michael Zimmer, PhD Director, Center for Data Ethics<https://www.marquette.edu/data-ethics/> Professor, Department of Computer Science Marquette University michael.zimmer@marquette.edu<mailto:michael.zimmer@marquette.edu> www.michaelzimmer.org<http://www.michaelzimmer.org/> :: www.zuckerbergfiles.org<http://www.zuckerbergfiles.org/>