[Air-L] (International community) and Blogs

[Monica Murero]

Dear Colleagues and AoIR's friends,

This discussion has an interesting value for the AoIR international  
community as well.   What I mean is that  in the majority of countries  
public texts like blogs can be analyzed without asking any permission.  
This is valid for several European, Asian, African and South American  
nations, and in the US, under the conditions others have mentioned.  
Nevertheless,  many of us  tend to contact the bloggers, declare our  
research intents, protect contributes ‘anonymity  in public contexts,  
use pseudonymous, etc . What does this current praxis tell us?  Are  
there different praxis  in the international community of internet  
researchers?  Should we take a case by case approach? What I mean is,  
for example: would our praxis change in case the bog is  run by an  
individual or a commercial company trying to do a  “viral marketing”  
operation, and  promote musical groups among prospect consumers  
visiting the blog?

My main research interests are  in the field of health care , museum  
and art . Like in the majority of countries we do not need to ask for   
formal permissions, but I tend to have a "cautious approach", declare  
my research intentions, etc. In the case of Thomas' students more  
details about the research aims and design should  clarify the issue.  
If it is the case of a simple "text analysis" of a public blog, I   
would declare my intentions. If something else is involved and relates  
to sensible data disclosed in the blog, I would take a  more cautious  
approach. In my experience, it is pretty sad to observe disinhibit  
unregulated behaviors from business oriented  companies that hire  
freelance "bloggers" and social media "promoters" carrying on viral  
marketing  campaigns, particularly when unaware people are dealing  
with  serious illnesses and search for mutual support and info online.

Monica

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Monica Murero , Ph.D.

AoIR Exec, 2003-2009; AoIR Treasurer, 2005-2009
AoIR Lifetime Member
Director E-Life International Institute
Associate Professor in Politics of e-Government
and in Sociology of New Technology
University Federico II, Italy
Consultant, World Health Organization
http://it.linkedin.com/pub/monica-murero-ph-d/16/52/606