Let's be careful about some facile assumptions that are flying around in this conversation, for instance ... 1. That "IRB people" are not "Internet people." Some on this list are both. In fact many on this list are long time AOIR'ers who also serve or have served as IRB members -- like myself, at two different institutions (Purdue, Michigan State). In general I would say that IRB members are usually very "big on nuances," particularly as pertains to human subjects' rights and researchers' responsibilities. Some of them know a fair amount about Internet research. 2. That the private-public distinction is a clearcut one, easily determinable, and that, ergo, ethical decisions can be very clearly and easily made by determining whether the collected date falls into the one category or the other. No, not that clear or simple. Public/Private is not a binary, it's more like a continuum, with many shades and variations of public-ness and private-ness depending on the particular circumstances of the locale (e.g., level of password protectedness), as Michael Zimmer and others on this list have pointed out. 3. That "public" = "published," at least for purposes of research ethics. No again, not that simple. "Published" means much more then simply "displayed or occurring in public." Historically the word also implies (a) some degree of authorial intention, and (b) some degree of editorial review and screening. 4. That all Internet behaviors that occur on "public" sites should be treated, for the purposes of research, as public and published documents. No, not that simple ... see Items #2 and #3 above. (Are game actions the same as "published documents"?) Rather than entering the research enterprise with the above points as assumptions, I would advise researchers to begin the process with these points as questions: For example, Are there members of my institution's IRB who actually have experience with Internet research and who could not only understand my research but actually productively help advise its design? Did the writers of this blog actually *intend* to publish this work for public display and circulation? I would also advise researchers to answer the questions in terms of particular locale, venue, people, texts, behaviors, etc. -- i.e., the particular circumstances and conditions of what they are studying -- rather than in terms of broad generic principles. Best, Jim Porter ------------------------------------ James E. Porter, Professor Department of English and Armstrong Institute for Interactive Media Studies Director of Composition Department of English Bachelor Hall 356A Miami University Oxford, OH 45056 email: porterje@muohio.edu twitter: http://twitter.com/reachjim web: http://www.units.muohio.edu/english/People/Faculty/I_P/PorterJames.html ------------------------------------