[Air-L] IRB Exemption and Terms of Service - Reddit.com
Charles Tong
charles.t.tong at gmail.com
Fri Oct 26 13:35:09 PDT 2012
Hello Everyone,
Thank you so much for all the information, this is immensely useful, and I
think I know how to navigate this issue now.
Unfortunately, since the majority of my data is not gathered voluntarily,
and volunteers would greatly alter the nature of the network, I am not sure
that is an option. Luckily, I am ensuring that all the usernames will be
hashed to ensure further anonymity.
I also have not met Dr. Namaan but I will be sure to contact him soon as
any personal advice for both my thesis and IRB would be greatly
appreciated. I am aware of vote fuzzing as well, and thus am trying to put
greater emphasis on replies as surefire way to construct a social network.
The use of upvotes and downvotes are accounted for to add a supplemental
measure that may account for lurkers.
Thank you for the suggestions as well about Dr. Rothenbuhler's work. This
looks immensely useful and I will definitely be reading it as soon as
possible.
I have recently submitted my IRB exemption form and I am hoping it works
out well. I am crossing my fingers it will work out well. Thank you very
much for all your help; it is immensely appreciated.
Best Regards
Charles Tong
On Fri, Oct 26, 2012 at 1:11 PM, Tilton, Shane <tiltons at ohio.edu> wrote:
> Charles,
>
> I think the copyright point should be moot based upon the Fair Use
> argument that Kathie referred to earlier. The protection of the
> intellectual property should not be effected by your research.
> As for the IRB, Rutgers is worried about the harm your research is going
> to do to your research pool. AoIR has discussed IRB issues for years. The
> best answer is to fill out the exemption form at
> http://orsp.rutgers.edu/sites/orsp.rutgers.edu/files/irb_forms/IRB%20Exempt%20Appl.doc and
> be as clear as what your research is looking for.
>
> As for previous research, look at Eric Rothenbuhler work on the cult of
> the celebrity and my work on Nanocelebrity.
>
> Shane Tilton
> Sent from my iPhone
>
> On Oct 26, 2012, at 11:25, "Charles Tong" <charles.t.tong at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
> Hello everyone,
>
> Thank you so much for all the help. This is going to be astronomically
> helpful to me. I am currently scheduling an appointment with my
> university's legal services and my university's IRB to sort this further
> out. I will be sure to negotiate something out of this.
>
> I am located in the US, and am currently going to Rutgers University. I
> apologize for not mentioning it in my first e-mail. The information that I
> am specifically gathering includes:
>
> Username who posted (recoded into a number for anonymity)
> Total Karma for post
> Number of Upvotes and Downvotes received
> Number of Replies
> Who the post replied to
> The highest post in a reply hierarchy
> Content of post (if they are a celebrity)
> Whether the post is posted by the topic creator
> If the post is the topic post, the topic post’s content, and the
> topic’s title
>
> Further, these data will be collected for each person listed as a
> “celebrity:” A celebrity is determined by those who receive at least 50
> upvotes or downvotes
>
> Total Karma
> Total Karma for that day (Link and Comment)
> Total Upvotes and Downvotes for that day
> Total posts during the day
> Number of replies received during the day
>
> Does he nature of the information that I'm gathering violate the Copyright
> Act? Please let me know if any more information is needed.
>
> Once again, thank you very much much for helping me with this project.
>
> Best Regards,
> Charles Tong
>
>
> On Thu, Oct 25, 2012 at 7:11 PM, Dan L. Burk <dburk at uci.edu> wrote:
>
> Er -- since we don't know what jurisdiction Charles is in, we can't say
>
> whether fair use applies to him or not (or, for that matter, how
>
> enforceable the Reddit ToS is against him).
>
>
> It sounds like he might be located in the U.S. but that's a guess.
>
>
> I also don't think we know enough about his research to say very much
>
> about copyright/fair use. There are a lot of moving parts there. Just as
>
> an example, it's not clear to me from his post what kind of data he is
>
> gathering -- but the copyright in the "influential posts" he wants to
>
> analyze may very well lie with the authors, not with Reddit.
>
>
> (In which case, if his IRB wants informed consent from the participants,
>
> he might end up with their authorization to copy the material as well.)
>
>
> DLB
>
>
>
> Charles,
>
>
> You've got two separate issues here: copyright and IRB.
>
>
> According to my understanding you should be able to use the data you're
>
> collecting under the Fair Use clause. The TOS you copied below
>
> specifically mentions commercial or unauthorized uses under copyright.
>
> The
>
> Fair Use clause states: "...the fair use of a copyrighted work, including
>
> such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means
>
> specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news
>
> reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use),
>
> scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright." You need
>
> to understand though that fair use is not a right, it's a "defensible
>
> position", meaning that it is an acceptable defense in any legal action;
>
> however, you would have to prove that your use of the material falls
>
> under
>
> the fair use clause in a courtroom if the company decides to challenge
>
> your use of their data--it doesn't automatically negate the possibility
>
> of
>
> legal action.
>
>
> There are a couple of things I'd suggest. First, you need to find out
>
> what
>
> your advisor will approve. They are directing your thesis and you need to
>
> make sure any data you use meets with their approval. Second, most
>
> university legal departments have some statement about what constitutes
>
> fair use on their campus, so I'd check with them (but I'd say only if
>
> your
>
> advisor requires it--many universities actually have much stricter
>
> policies on paper than are required under the Fair Use clause). Third,
>
> I'd
>
> look at the Ethics Guide from AOIR
>
> (http://aoir.org/documents/ethics-guide/) and make sure you're working
>
> within those guidelines. They've been developed by scholars who regularly
>
> work with the type of data you're using, so you should make sure your
>
> study works within those guidelines.
>
>
> Regarding IRB, I agree with Charles. You should contact your university
>
> IRB and find out what requirements they may have for exempt or non-exempt
>
> status. Often departments or colleges within universities will have an
>
> IRB
>
> specialist that you can work with and who will help you fill out the
>
> appropriate applications.
>
>
> Good luck,
>
> Kathie
>
>
>
> On Oct 25, 2012, at 3:22 PM, Charles Tong wrote:
>
>
> Hello AoIR,
>
>
> My name is Charles Tong and I currently working on my undergraduate
>
> thesis in Sociology. Specifically, I am trying to construct a social
>
> network based on reddit.com by data-mining posts and comments from day
>
> to day. I am specifically looking to identify how consistent influence
>
> and power is created on the website. I hope to do this by constructing
>
> multiple networks from day to day of specific sub-forums and
>
> differentiating between those who are one-time stars and consistent
>
> stars. Then I will perform a content analysis of certain influential
>
> posts to determine what makes someone consistently powerful or not and
>
> in what ways they are influential.
>
>
> Unfortunately, I am unsure of how this will pass under IRB exemption.
>
> I am hoping that anyone on the AoIR mailing list may have some insight
>
> that may help. I have attempted to e-mail and get in contact with the
>
> website numerous times, but each time, they have not responded. I
>
> understand that I will have to send reddit.com’s user agreement.
>
>
> The user agreement states the following:
>
> “You may not in any way make commercial or other unauthorized use, by
>
> publication, re-transmission, distribution, performance, caching, or
>
> otherwise, of material obtained through the Website, including without
>
> limitation the Assets or Website Content, except as permitted by the
>
> Copyright Act or other law or as expressly permitted in writing by
>
> this Agreement, Service Provider or the Website.”
>
>
> I was wondering if anyone knows how to approach this specific issue. I
>
> understand that Fair Use might permit this research under the
>
> Copyright Act, but I am not sure of its nature.
>
>
> Thank you very much in advance for your help. Let me know if any
>
> additional information should be provided.
>
>
> Best Regards,
>
> Charles Tong
>
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>
> --
>
> School of Law
>
> University of California, Irvine
>
> 4500 Berkeley Place
>
> Irvine, CA 92697-8000
>
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