[Air-L] PhD Workshop on Internet Research and Ethics (March 20-21, Aalborg, DK)

[Michael Zimmer]

Colleagues: I wanted to share this upcoming PhD student workshop on "Internet Research and Ethics", held March 20-21 at Aalborg University. Details below.

-Michael


March 20-21: Internet Research and Ethics
http://www.hcci.hum.aau.dk/index.php?id=9041&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=365&cHash=78c59d117dc13406b40ab6c698b3e3ae

Organisers: Michael Zimmer, Tia Hansen, Thomas Ryberg, Ann Bygholm
Registration to hannepc at hum.aau.dk
Room: 1.40, Nyhavnsgade 14, 9000 Aalborg

Aim of the workshop:

The aim of this workshop is to explore research ethics in general and with a particular focus on Internet Research Ethics and the dilemmas emerging with new grounds for research and data collection.

The workshop will start with introductions to the history and principles of research ethics in general and a focus on non-biomedical areas of research and Human Research Ethic Boards (Tia Hansen, Ann Bygholm). Furthermore, there will be introductions on how to use pilot studies to improve ethics as well as results. The workshop will thus introduce to the work being conducted as part of the doctoral school's Human Research Ethics Board.

Following this the workshop will focus on Internet Research Ethics and the core issues related to internet studies (e.g. data collection and archiving) (Michael Zimmer). Furthermore, we shall explore particular research projects as cases where various research ethical dilemmas and problems emerge.

Format:

The workshop will be highly interactive and include a mixture of presentations, group work, case-exploration, discussion and PhD students’ presentations of own research projects. We therefore ask each student to hand in a short (1-2 pages) description of:

	• Presentation of their research project (case, context, aim)
	• Statement of dilemmas, problems or ethical considerations in relation tothe research project
These presentations should be handed in on Friday March 14 at the latest. The presentations will be collected and made available to all participants.

Preliminary programme (timing to be finally confirmed):

Day 1 – March 20:

8.15 - 9.00 Welcome and introduction

9.00-12.00 Research ethics basics and tools by Tia Hansen and Ann Bygholm - lectures interspersed with “exercises”/discussions in pairs. Themes:

	• History and principles of research ethics in general
	• Non-biomedical areas and Review Boards in particular
	• Don’t launch without a pilot! How to use pilot studies to improve ethics as well as results
12-13 Lunch break

13.00-17.00: Core issues and approaches in Internet Research Ethics- Michael Zimmer – presentations and discussions

Day 2 – March 21:

8.15 - 10.00 Internet ethics - exploring cases: "Tastes, Ties and Time" and “The Blackberry Project”

10.15 – 12.00: PhD Students presenting cases and working in smaller discussion groups with organizers as discussants

12.00 - 13.00 Lunch break

13.00 - 14.30: Continuing work in pairs or smaller groups - preparing for a short summary of the discussions/main issues

14.30 - 16.00: Roundtable finale:

	• Students present main results of revisiting their projects (lists of to do and leftover problems?)
	• Plenum discussion of cases/dilemmas
	• Evaluation, and take-home messages
Readings:

Research Ethics and Basic tools:

Alderson, P., & Morrow, V. (2006). Multidisciplinary research ethics review: is it feasible? International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 9(5), 405-417, doi: 10.1080/13645570500435207

Cozby, P. C. (2003). Ethical research. Chapter 3 in Methods in behavioral research (pp. 34-60). Boston: McGraw-Hill.

Core issues and approaches in Internet Research Ethics:

Buchanan, E., & Zimmer, M. (2012). Internet Research Ethics. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved from plato.stanford.edu/entries/ethics-internet-research/

Markham, A. & Buchanan, E. (2012). Ethical Decision-Making and Internet Research Recommendations from the AoIR Ethics Working Committee (Version 2.0). Retrieved fromaoir.org/documents/ethics-guide/

Secretary's Advisory Committee on Human Research Protections (SACHRP). (2012). Considerations and Recommendations Concerning Internet Research and Human Subjects Research Regulations. Retrieved fromhttp://www.hhs.gov/ohrp/sachrp/mtgings/2013%20March%20Mtg/internet_research.pdf

Internet ethics - exploring cases:

Zimmer, M. (2010). “But the data is already public”: On the ethics of research in Facebook. Ethics and Information Technology, 12(4), 313–325. (http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10676-010-9227-5)

Parry, M. (2011). Harvard Researchers Accused of Breaching Students’ Privacy. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved from chronicle.com/article/Harvards-Privacy-Meltdown/128166/

Underwood, M. K., Rosen, L. H., More, D., Ehrenreich, S. E., & Gentsch, J. K. (2012). The BlackBerry project: Capturing the content of adolescents’ text messaging. Developmental Psychology, 48(2), 295–302.

Hill, K. (2012). A Texas University’s Mind-Boggling Database Of Teens’ Daily Text Messages, Emails, and IMs Over Four Years. Forbes.com. Retrieved fromwww.forbes.com/sites/kashmirhill/2012/04/18/a-texas-universitys-mind-boggling-database-of-teens-daily-text-messages-emails-and-ims-over-four-years/

Practical:

ECTS: 2 Points for attending and for preparation (including handing in 1-2 page description of research project and ethical dilemmas – see above).

For more information about Michael Zimmer:

·         http://www4.uwm.edu/sois/people/profiles/zimmerm.cfm

·         http://www.michaelzimmer.org/about/bio/

For more information about Tia Hansen

·         http://vbn.aau.dk/en/persons/tia-g-b-hansen(ddcf2848-2f9e-4f0a-a87c-bc7b12ac95f3).html

Number of participants: max 15 

Registration to: hannepc at hum.aau.dk no later than March 12

Location: Aalborg University, Aalborg, room not yet confirmed


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