[Air-L] blogs and confidentiality

[Michael Zimmer]

I agree, this "rule of thumb" is fraught with danger, and I suspect far from compliance with federal regulations.

Thinking of the general project, the attempt to use interview pseudonyms to protect subject privacy could easily fail given the small set of subjects & blogs. If, for example, only one of these pseudonymous interviews deals with health risks of gay sex, I can then find which of the blogs also deals with such issues, and make possible reidentification that much easier of your interview subjects. Given there are only 40 blogs and 10 interviews, this isn't too difficult.

I'd take your "traditionalist" advisors advice and bounce this past your IRB. If they decide to give you the exemption, you've only lost a few days in the process.



-- 
Michael Zimmer, PhD
Assistant Professor, School of Information Studies
Co-Director, Center for Information Policy Research
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
e: zimmerm at uwm.edu
w: www.michaelzimmer.org


On Nov 26, 2011, at 6:27 PM, egodard at csun.edu wrote:

> Googling vs password protection is a weak distinction. Not all public sites are crawlable by Google. And many password "protected" sites require no validation, verification, or even confirmation to restrict access, and are therefore "accessible to all" who invest 12 seconds to "register" a password.
> 
> Sent from my Verizon Wireless Phone
> 
> ----- Reply message -----
> From: "Burcu Bakioglu" <bbakiogl at gmail.com>
> To: "jeremy hunsinger" <jhuns at vt.edu>
> Cc: "C Sosnowy" <c_sosnowy at yahoo.com>, "air-l at listserv.aoir.org" <air-l at listserv.aoir.org>
> Subject: [Air-L] blogs and confidentiality
> Date: Sat, Nov 26, 2011 1:20 pm
> 
> 
> The rule of thumb is this: if you can access the same information just by
> Googling, you don't need IRB or any consent. If forum threads are
> accessible by all, it is free game. If the information is on password
> protected sites than you *must* get permission (and IRB).  If online
> discussions are on a closed site, they require permission etc... The fact
> that they are using usernames and their identities are protected only means
> is irrelevant. This only means that IRB will give you an exempt permission,
> that is, they won't have to review the process every other month or so. You
> would get your permission from the IRB regardless and they will be off your
> back till the finish time comes.
> 
> At least that is my understanding and I conducted 3 field works for my
> dissertation. This is what the IRB told me.
> 
> Best.
> 
> On Sat, Nov 26, 2011 at 11:24 AM, jeremy hunsinger <jhuns at vt.edu> wrote:
> 
>> I am confused, you said they weren't public when they were on a closed
>> site.  then you said they were publicly available.  if it is closed, it
>> isn't publicly available without permission.
>> On Nov 26, 2011, at 12:19 PM, C Sosnowy wrote:
>> 
>>> For my dissertation on personal health blogs, I will be conducting a
>> visual content analysis of 40-50 blogs. I will then be conducting an online
>> discussion with 10-12 bloggers on a closed site. Their identity will be
>> protected by a username of their choice, but can I use the real URL and
>> name of their blogs (I would tell them that I'm doing this)? I'm of the
>> opinion that I can because they are publicly-available, but one of my more
>> traditional advisers has doubts. Any thoughts?
>>> 
>>> Thanks,
>>> 
>>> Collette Sosnowy
>>> _______________________________________________
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>> 
>> Jeremy Hunsinger
>> Communication Studies
>> Wilfrid Laurier University
>> Center for Digital Discourse and Culture
>> Virginia Tech
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Imagination is the one weapon in the war against reality.
>> -Jules de Gaultier
>> 
>> () ascii ribbon campaign - against html mail
>> /\ - against microsoft attachments
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
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> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Thanks,
> 
> Burcu S. Bakioglu, Ph.D.
> Postdoctoral Fellow in New Media
> Lawrence University
> 
> http://www.palefirer.com
> http://palefirer.com/blog/
> 
> --
> "Come to the dark side, we have cookies."
> ~Anonymous
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