[Air-L] public/private

[Conor Schaefer]

Ed, I'm really enjoying everything you say, and I wanted to say thanks 
again for continuing to participate in this discussion. More to follow, 
naturally. ;)

Ed Lamoureux wrote:
>
> Down the road, you publish the piece in an online journal. That item  
> is SO important to your argument that you publish a nice long quote  
> from the data.
>
> Some readers come along, google the string, and get led back to your  
> subject and write to them, wondering why they are SO damned abnormal,  
> sexually speaking.
>
>   
I think Alex's response to this was quite good, but it didn't mention 
explicitly the dimension that jumped out at me: the subject is not being 
exposed "in person"; rather, a link to the online identity is exposed. I 
know that online identity issues and correlation with real-world 
personas is a whole 'nother can of worms, but that's definitely how I 
see it.

I agree with Alex's analogy about street festivities. This whole "don't 
put it on your MySpace thing or prospective employers will see it!" fear 
is not new. People have been managing identities for as long as they've 
been able to communicate. It's only been a newsworthy trope because it 
was a surprise to some people who are fundamentally uneducated in the 
ways of the web.
> Now . . . I would say that the subject has not been protected. I  
> would say that without their permission, you've exposed their  
> character to personal damage. You've not only used their material  
> without permission and used their material as data for a study,  
> you've also labeled them as abnormal AND drawn people's attention to  
> them as such . . . WITH your university-researcher's authority as an  
> expert, without so much as asking them if they understand what you  
> are up to or it it's ok to use their material.
>
> Gee... I kinda think that's the sort of thing that human subject  
> protection is supposed to stop, isn't it?
>
>
> Edward Lee Lamoureux, Ph. D.
> Associate Professor, Multimedia Program
> and Department of Communication
> Co-Director, New Media Center
> 1501 W. Bradley
> Bradley University
> Peoria IL  61625
> 309-677-2378
> <http://slane.bradley.edu/com/faculty/lamoureux/website2/index.html>
> <http://gcc.bradley.edu/mm/>
> AIM/IM & skype: dredleelam
> Second Life: Professor Beliveau
>
>
>
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