This discussion has been fascinating. I tend to side with Jeremy in this debate particularly his point of view regarding the analysis of texts as being viewed as different from the analysis of human subjects - though admittedly there are grey areas and this is my own opinion particularly in relation to my research of a blog posting and discussion. I guess my main concern in looking at the very interesting 'conversations' that have been occurring through AOIR in recent days - and it is great that AOIR listserv enables this to take place allowing a cross-fertilization of ideas - is that if extreme views are taken about privacy and ethics and copyright the possibility of conducting very valuable research is severely impeded which is sad from an academic perspective. The Internet is where so much is happening - we shouldn't ignore it and we may be worse off for the lack of it. The problem is finding the right balance ethically and legally and my impression is there is no "one size fits all" answer - almost every situation of research is potentially different. I'm not sure that I have any answers but it does raise the question of whether there can be any protection for Internet researchers that is supported by AOIR? Just my thoughts! Philippa Philippa Smith PhD Candidate Institute of Culture, Discourse & Communication AUT University Auckland NEW ZEALAND
jeremy hunsinger <jhuns@vt.edu> 5/11/2011 5:23 a.m. >>> I tend to put reflexivity in the category of judgment. and no i am not saying this is going to be 'unethical' or that we shouldn't use ethics, what i am saying is that, we should resist the temptation to make public documents into questions of human subjects. But we just need to be as clear as we can in this area as to what the ethical considerations are.
In regards to the twitter example and most 'harm' arguments I find it fruitful to discuss... where the harm began and who is perpetrating it in respect to what. I have a private twitter account and people have used it for research, in what sense is my twitter private, in what sense could i be harmed any more than I actually have consented to by using twitter? On May 10, 2011, at 12:37 PM, Alex Halavais wrote:
I'm glad for the clarification, because now I know I disagree :).
The cases where the published documents ("texts") actually are relevant to human subjects seem to be the area that is most interesting to me. And I suspect that there is not a single published document that does not require the researcher to be ethically reflexive in that regard.
_______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers
http://aoir.org ( http://aoir.org/ )
Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/
-- // // This email is // [x] assumed public and may be blogged / forwarded. // [ ] assumed to be private, please ask before redistributing. // // Alexander C. Halavais, ciberflâneur // http://alex.halavais.net ( http://alex.halavais.net/ ) // _______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org ( http://aoir.org/ ) Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org
Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/
jeremy hunsinger Center for Digital Discourse and Culture Virginia Tech www.tmttlt.com () ascii ribbon campaign - against html mail /\ - against microsoft attachments http://www.stswiki.org/ sts wiki http://transdisciplinarystudies.tmttlt.com/ Transdisciplinary Studies:the book series _______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org ( http://aoir.org/ ) Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/