Dear AoIR-ists, Partly as something of a status report on Internet research ethics, and partly as a warm-up for the panel on ethics at AoIR 5.0 next week (Wednesday, 10:30), I forward the following report, originally written for and distributed to the AoIR ethics working committee this summer. For those interested in these matters, I hope these comments will be useful. == "Understanding Internet Research Ethics" took place on June 17-19 in Boulder, Colorado - sponsored and organized by the New Media Center of the School of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Colorado. The conference provided a three-day forum for more in-depth exploration of contemporary issues in Internet Research Ethics, as originally inspired by our discussions of ethical issues as part of the "New Research for New Media: Innovative Research Methods Symposium" held in September 2003 at the University of Minnesota. (See the conference website <http://newmedia.colorado.edu/ethics/> for more details. In particular, additional materials - including video of the final conference discussion - should be available there soon. For the slides of my own presentation, please see <www.drury.edu/ess/UIRE/UIRE.html>.) Special thanks goes especially to Bruce Henderson (University of Colorado, Boulder) and Nora Paul (University of Minnesota) for their energy, organizational skills, and wonderful hospitality. They brought together a group of researchers, ethicists, and other relevant specialists of considerable experience and expertise; they fostered conversations, both formal and informal, over the three days of the conference that proved to be exceptionally insightful and productive. A central feature of the conference was the use of a discussion board for posting cases and issues, followed by responses developed in small groups. These materials are available online: after going to the conference website, click on the link for "Conference Schedule"; at the top of this page, follow the "Link to Discussion Questions." In addition to the specific issues and our responses, I would commend to your reading our general articulation of both the "Working Assumptions" that became more explicit for us as the conference progressed, and the "Where We've Gotten" list that seeks to summarize some of the more general insights and points of emphasis that emerged as well. In particular, I would like to expand on some of the points made in "Where We've Gotten." "It is clear that many researchers are arriving at good ethical practices through applying their own sense of ethics to new forms of research." (CE: The point of this comment is at least three-fold. One, it is consistent with the approaches towards ethics that have shaped the AoIR guidelines - in general, a dialogical approach with roots in Aristotle, Habermas, feminism, Bahktin, and others, that emphasizes that we begin as members of a moral community (rather than as atomistic individuals); as such, we generally develop a strong suite of moral intuitions and judgments that generally serve us well in our daily lives - and serve as the starting points for discussion of those ethical difficulties that are not quickly and easily resolved. This means in turn that while philosophical ethics can be helpful in our exploration of the ethical issues that arise in the _praxis_ of research - having a Ph.D. in ethics is _not_ required for insightful exploration and effective resolution of the difficult ethical issues often encountered by researchers. [This is a good thing for me, because my Ph.D. is _not_ in ethics either.... smile] On the contrary, some of the most insightful and reflective ethicists in this domain include scholars such as Elizabeth Buchanan, whose home field is library science - but whose anthology "Readings in Virtual Research Ethics: Issues and Controversies" is a watershed publication for us. This means in turn that researchers should not be tempted to neglect moral issues just because they are not necessarily experts in ethics. On the contrary, ethical "expertise," as our conference made very clear, is a matter of shared insights, honest debate about disagreements, and the willingness to take responsibility for articulating and defending our specific ethical judgments. ) "In research that involves relationships with those being researched, the ethics involved in relationships in general will apply to how researchers conduct their research." (CE: As Annette Markham effectively reminded us, ethics cannot be separated from methodology - and methodologies such as participant/observation that incorporate humane relationships between researcher and the researched thus further call into play the ethical guidelines and responsibilities of human relationships, not just the basic guidelines and requirements of Human Subjects Protection codes (emphasizing confidentiality, informed consent, etc.). "The second point above represents a perspective shared among several different cultures and subcultures and therefore begins to point the way towards possible broader cross-cultural ethical guidelines." (CE: That is: the ontological/anthropological starting point that human beings emerge as individuals from community first - _contra_ the modernist, especially Hobbesian and Cartesian atomistic understanding of human beings as isolated atoms first - is a view shared by a range of cultures and subcultures, both "West" and "East." Given that the Internet makes possible cross-cultural and intercultural research - it would be useful to have a set of ethical guidelines for Internet research that "work" beyond the cultural boundaries of a single country or cultural domain. This shared ontological/anthropological starting point promises to be a crucial element for such an intercultural / cross-cultural set of guidelines.) "Context(s) are central to everything, including research purposes, research questions, methods, ethics, interpretations, representations, and researchers' understandings." (CE: this is, I hope, delightfully self-explanatory.) "A paradox of internet research: while we might want to approach it from a more grounded, question-driven perspective, legal constraints impinge upon us. Moreover, uncertainty among IRB members has colored our thinking about online research and what is possible. What we're saying is that IRB members ought to be educated about online research so that we are not artificially or unnecessarily restricted in what we do." (CE: On the one hand, it was very gratifying to see that in various ways, the AoIR ethical guidelines seem to "work" pretty well for resolving at least some of the ethical issues encountered by researchers. Further, consistent with informal comments sent in to AoIR and the ethics committee, the AoIR guidelines prove helpful in educating IRB members with regard to the specific issues and challenges of Internet Research. In this direction, there is some sense that we're making progress. On the other hand, however, it remains clear that at least some IRB members tend to be overly restrictive in their review of Internet research because of lack of understanding of the issues and details, and/or because of lack of clarity as to how research ethics and legal requirements might (and might not) apply to online research. In short, there is still work to do. The conference, finally, generated some initial plans for further initiatives in Internet research ethics. Stay tuned! == See ya soon! Charles Ess Fall '04: Fulbright Senior Scholar Universität Trier Fachbereich II Fakultäten der Medienwissenschaft, Sinologie Universitätsring 15 54296 Trier (Germany) Office phone: (49) (0)651-201-3744 Sekretariat: (49) (0)651-201-3203 Distinguished Research Professor, Interdisciplinary Studies Drury University 900 N. Benton Ave. Voice: 417-873-7230 Springfield, MO 65802 USA FAX: 417-873-7435 Home page: http://www.drury.edu/ess/ess.html Co-chair, CATaC: http://www.it.murdoch.edu.au/catac/ Exemplary persons seek harmony, not sameness. -- Analects 13.23 Charles Ess Fall '04: Fulbright Senior Scholar Universität Trier Fachbereich II Fakultäten der Medienwissenschaft, Sinologie Universitätsring 15 54296 Trier (Germany) Office phone: (49) (0)651-201-3744 Sekretariat: (49) (0)651-201-3203 Distinguished Research Professor, Interdisciplinary Studies Drury University 900 N. Benton Ave. Voice: 417-873-7230 Springfield, MO 65802 USA FAX: 417-873-7435 Home page: http://www.drury.edu/ess/ess.html Co-chair, CATaC: http://www.it.murdoch.edu.au/catac/ Exemplary persons seek harmony, not sameness. -- Analects 13.23