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

Gilbert B. Rodman gbrodman at mindspring.com
Mon Sep 3 11:56:48 PDT 2007


Sure, Ed ... but that doesn't get at Lois' question about what (if
anything) is *uniquely* dangerous about researchers in this regard.  The
very same processes of interpreting, labeling, repackaging, and
redistributing, after all, are routinely used by journalists,
politicians, preachers, bloggers, and then some.  And, given the large
discrepancies in audience size between, say, CNN and _New media and
society_, any legitimate fears of possible "repackaging" are probably
better directed at the "repackagers" who reach tens of millions of
people (on a bad day), rather than the ones who reach hundreds (on a
good one).

Ed Lamoureux wrote:
> 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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