[Air-L] blogs and confidentiality

[Burcu Bakioglu]

Well, I used Google merely as an example. What I meant to say was that if
the site is open access, meaning anyone can stumble upon this site while
browsing one way or another, generally it is considered to be OK to quote
from because technically it has been "published" online. As for password
protection, as far as the IRB is concerned,they don't make any distinctions
between easy-to-register sites versus hard-to-register sites or how many
seconds it takes to register to a site to grant access. If you have to
create an account, then it is behind closed doors, so you would need to use
informed consent to publish any information you retrieve there. I don't
think IRB people are big on nuances nor do they know how the Internet works
really. Only you and I (meaning the Internet people) would make the
distinctions you mention below.

On Sat, Nov 26, 2011 at 6:27 PM, egodard at csun.edu <ellis.godard 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/
>
> --
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> ~Anonymous
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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