----- Forwarded Message ---- From: Rhiannon Bury <rcbury@rogers.com> To: air-l@listserv.aoir.org Sent: Sunday, March 9, 2008 11:42:49 AM Subject: Re: [Air-L] avatar research ethics ----- Original Message ---- From: jcu <jcu@execulink.com> To: air-l@listserv.aoir.org Sent: Saturday, March 8, 2008 8:42:47 PM Subject: Re: [Air-L] avatar research ethics you wrote, "That said, anything said on a forum that does not require special permission or passwords to access is generally fair game in my books." PhD or not, how does this differ from a paparazzi agenda? As long as there are living human beings creating text or speech, in whatever for(u)m, isn't it, at the very least, common decency to simply ask for permission? So my question is, fair game for what? Sounds like research has become target practice to me. Me again: The metaphor I chose was probably not the best; I'm not suggesting that we lurk about in online forums or in SL ready to "pounce" on unsuspecting participants just because we can! Obviously, there has to be a set of research questions that inform the decision to study a particular set of interactions, identities, communities. We don't go through the Ethics Review process to be "decent" to our subjects. It is a quasi-legal process (the legal beagles might want to jump in here) that offers the subjects, the researcher and the institution certain protections and responsibilities. Of course, that doesn't mean we shouldn't be "decent" to our subjects. :) Feminist methodologies are all about addressing unequal power relationships between researcher and researched etc. My point is that not all research that studies online communication involves human subjects in a direct enough way to issue a formal contract. Not all research even constructs the producer of certain utterances as a "human subject". I don't have to ask a published author permission to analyze their writing and copyright law allows me to quote passages directly within limits. I understand that this is not necessary a clear or fixed distinction with CMC. Certainly grad students or people early in their research career shouldn't be making these decisions in isolation. Upthread, Ted offered good advice for that context: ask your board, ask your Chair and ask the internet research community! And for the record, I have no problem with the paparazzi. ;) Rhiannon