[Air-L] Researchers as new eyes on public data

Ed Lamoureux ell at bumail.bradley.edu
Mon Sep 3 11:29:24 PDT 2007


On Sep 3, 2007, at 7:36 AM, Lois Ann Scheidt wrote:

> So here is my question, how is a researcher more dangerous to online
> content producers in publicly accessible websites than any other
> viewer/reader who has access to their words/multi-media
> presentations/etc?
>
> To make that a less complex sentence, how are researchers more
> dangerous to their online subjects than any other person who might
> access their publicly available site?

Researchers may well do more than merely accessing the information;  
they may interpret it, label it, repackage it, and redistribute it in  
ways that can damage the privacy/reputation, etc. of the poster. It's  
one thing for me to write "I drink a little" (or some such thing) up  
on a blog for the world to see.
It's another if/when a researcher takes that bit then turns it around  
and republishes it in a piece called "irresponsible drinking and the  
internet: the double addiction whammy." If my comment (the data that  
I provided, without informed consent, to the researcher doing  
research) can be tracked to me, the way that the researcher uses the  
data can hurt me worse than did my original presentation of 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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