Dear AoIR-ists, I was privileged to serve as a resource person for an IRB training event yesterday at Case Western Reserve University (Cleveland, Ohio), as organized by their Office for Research Compliance (thanks to Denise Turso and Christian LaMantia for their kind invitation). In open-source style, I've now posted the obligatory PowerPoint slides as well as a references/resource list on the web - to be found at <http://www.drury.edu/ess/CASEWR/IRB.htm> If you have time and interest in browsing through, you'll see some familiar names - including our very own Caroline Haythornthwaite, Jeremy Hunsinger, Elizabeth Buchanan, Mark Johns - even Steve Jones! Beyond the quotable quotes from Mark and Steve - Elizabeth Buchanan was kind enough to share a sample protocol for IRBs looking at Internet research, and Caroline Haythornthwaite was equally generous with elements from her forthcoming article (co-authored with Susan Shoemaker) in the second AoIR Research Annual. As always, comments and suggestions welcome. in particular, I was struck by one of the comments made by IRB members vis-à-vis my characterization of human subjects protections as pursued in the States as focusing solely on individual subjects - in contrast with the Norwegian guidelines which require protection of confidentiality, anonymity, etc., for both the research subject _and_ his/her web of close relationships. They were insistent that they as IRB members likewise worried about the latter. Any comments and suggestions on pursuing that aspect of IRB review? Thanks to everyone, especially the AoIR ethics working committee (past and present), for their work and contributions - I hope I have re-presented this here in a way that is both faithful to your intentions and insights and useful to IRB members struggling to understand the various ethical dimensions of Internet research. cheers, Charles Ess 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