Public places - public activities?

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Public places - public activities?
Janne Bromseth
SKIKT Researchers Conference 8th April 2002
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Public places - public activities?

• Methodological approaches and ethical dilemmas in
  research on computer-mediated communication
  contexts

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From chaos to order? Developing and negotiating
research strategies for Internet-mediated
contexts

• The cyberspace experiences that can contribute
  to ethical wisdom are just now developing
  Christina Allen 1996
• The Internet from mystified virtual reality to
  common socially intergrated multi-use technology
• Internet research from pioner field to
  establishing guidelines and best practises

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What is new with these electronic public
townsquares ?

• Large scale group communication
• through written text
• storable
• over geographical distance
• as ongoing discursive practises
• often more of a semi-public character, not
  seeking publicity as primary social function
  and goal for communicating - and still being
  highly publically accessible due to its mediated
  forms

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General ethical guidelines leading us where?

• Good general basic tools, but
• what is a public space?
• and what is registration of behaviour using
  technical aids .. that implies that the
  observed material can be stored regarding
  Internet-mediated contexts?

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• ensure freedom and self-determination
  (paragraphs 6, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14 and 19)
• prevent harm and unreasonable strain (paragraphs
  7, 9, 10,11, 12, 15, 17 and 18),
• safeguard private life and close relations
  (paragraphs 12, 13 and 14)' (ibid. 8).

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Public or private? Moving beyond spatial metaphors

• Defining a net-mediated context from the
  outside or theinside?
• What constitutes a place on the net?
• Public accessibility - public activity?
• Social activity and user experience as key tool
  for defining net-mediated space who, why, what
  and how?

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Informed consent, participant observation and
context dilemmas and conflicting issues

• Net-mediated contexts - a Mecca for observation
  without being seen
• but what ethical conflicts can arise when not
  informing?
• Are my definitions of the context the same as
  users, and how would it impact the study if its
  not?
• To what degree can participants privacy be
  protected?

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Like a public town square?Key issues related to
doing qualitative studies of net-mediated group
communication contexts

• Validity and interpretation
• Anonymisation
• Direct quotes and ownership

• Research purpose
• Risks and potential harm of identifying
  participants and groups

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Who is responsible for protecting users privacy
and what methodological consequences do ethical
choices imply?

• Who is responsible for protecting users privacy?
  
  
  
• 1) How will the research purpose be affected in
  informing group members?
• 2) What research strategies would be possible?
• 3) How and can informants' privacy be protected
  and
• 4) What effects on the group as a social unit can
  occur?

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Conclusions

• Future challenges
• Making and improving general and disciplinary
  guidelines that are flexible enough to embrace
  the diverse contexts, but without being totally
  relativistiv, based on our good ethical guidlines
  we have already
• more research on user experience of how they
  perceive their groups we have to learn from
  them
• good researcher training in methodology
• continue the discussions in the research community

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Making Common Ground Methodological and ethical
challenges in internet research

• Nordic interdisciplinary workshop at NTNU, 1. -
  2. of June 2002
• Research course 3. - 6. of June