[Air-L] Ethical problem in a Twitter reaserch

[Cormac O'Keeffe]

That's a really good pint Sonia. Thanks!

On Mon, 18 Dec 2017 at 10:59, Charles M. Ess <c.m.ess at media.uio.no> wrote:

> perfect - thanks for the most helpful clarification, Sonia!
> - c.
>
> On 18/12/17 10:35, Livingstone,S wrote:
> > Children cannot legally consent to use of their personal data, precisely
> because they are children. Hence in the US COPPA applies, and in Europe the
> General Data Protection Regulation., both of which require verifiable
> parental consent for the use of children's personal data. Much depends on
> the legal definition of personal data, of course.
> >
> > I would also urge a child-rights approach to research ethics. For
> instance, contrary to what many researchers believe, and contrary to
> companies' T&C, in my research children have told me that they consider
> Facebook to be public and Twitter to be privacy (cf Nissenbaum's contextual
> integrity).  So my understanding is that this is incorrect below, and that
> much social media research is improper....
> >
> > Best, Sonia
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Air-L [mailto:air-l-bounces at listserv.aoir.org] On Behalf Of
> Charles M. Ess
> > Sent: 18 December 2017 08:58
> > To: Lior Beserman <liorbeserman at gmail.com>; air-l at listserv.aoir.org
> > Subject: Re: [Air-L] Ethical problem in a Twitter reaserch
> >
> > Hi,
> >
> > one fairly standard approach is to go ahead and conduct your research -
> though probably with the additional step of setting up a second database
> that assigns random identifiers to the original accounts / profiles.
> >
> > Once you have completed your analyses - then the question becomes what
> you need to include as explicit quotes in the publication / dissemination
> phase.  Typically, these are only a few - i.e., in contrast with 10s if not
> 100s of thousands (if not more) of texts gathered in.
> > Whereas informed consent is impossible for the latter - it is
> considerably more feasible for the former.  So one possibility is to
> contact the writers you want to quote and ask for their permission.
> >
> > Of course, this will not directly address the question as to whether
> they are minors - and you're exactly right that this is a critical ethical
> (and, in many jurisdictions, a legal) issue.
> >
> > At this point, some will argue that this is not your problem - the
> informants have read (well, at least clicked through) the ToS and that such
> posts are by a kind of default public and so don't require anything more
> than acknowledgement (copyright to the author).  If a minor is involved, on
> this view, ethical obligations to vulnerable populations are overridden by
> a kind of legal coverage ostensibly provided by their agreeing to the ToS.
> >
> > Others - especially from deontological and ethics of care perspectives -
> will argue that protection of minors overrides any legal contract
> established in the ToS.  How you directly ascertain the identity of someone
> on Twitter while asking for their permission to use their quote is, of
> course, not unproblematic.  But these days, it's harder to be a dog
> unnoticed as a dog on the Internet and so it might be more straightforward
> than say 10 or certainly 20 years ago.
> >
> > My 2 cents - good luck and looking forward to the discussion!
> >
> > - charles
> >
> > On 18/12/17 07:46, Lior Beserman wrote:
> >> Dear  Air-L Community,
> >>
> >> I have encountered an ethical problem which I am sure I am not the
> >> first to encounter and so would appreciate your say on the matter.
> >> I am doing a discourse analysis on a twitter hashtag and I have no way
> >> to discern that I am not using under age (under 18) users tweets.
> >> As there are completely different questions and guidelines to research
> >> minors from an ethical perspective, I was wondering how other people
> >> have dealt with this problem in their research?
> >>
> >> Thank you,
> >> Lior Beserman Navon,
> >>
> >> Ph.D. Candidate
> >>
> >> The Department of Sociology & Anthropology
> >>
> >> The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
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> >
> > --
> > Professor in Media Studies
> > Department of Media and Communication
> > University of Oslo
> > <http://www.hf.uio.no/imk/english/people/aca/charlees/index.html>
> >
> > Postboks 1093
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> > c.m.ess at media.uio.no
> > _______________________________________________
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> --
> Professor in Media Studies
> Department of Media and Communication
> University of Oslo
> <http://www.hf.uio.no/imk/english/people/aca/charlees/index.html>
>
> Postboks 1093
> Blindern 0317
> Oslo, Norway
> c.m.ess at media.uio.no
> _______________________________________________
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