Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
What is important in the privacy debate is that researchers consider their
actionswhenworkingonlineinlightofcurrentsocialnorms.It'susefultoask
yourselfsomequestionssuchas“Isitokaytohaveanykindofidentifierinyour
findings?”or“Whenusingdatafromadatabankisaresearcherresponsiblefor
ensuring that any identifiable information is stripped from the data before
these are used?” We believe it is safe to assume that the responses to these
questionsarenotabsoluteandwillcontinuetoevolveinthepublicconscience.
Political debate, economic behavior, military action, use of the internet, new
technologies that transform our understanding of the internet are all among
thesocialforcesthatwillcontinuetoimpactourthinkingandunderstanding
ofonlineprivacy.Therearemanypermutationstothisdebatetoonumerousto
authorhere.WecommendBuchanan(2004)andMannandStewart(2000)to
youasgoodplacestoseekassistancewhenconsideringprivacyissues.
Public and private spaces
One
difficulty
inonlineresearchisdeterminingwhatisandwhatisn'tapri-
vate or public space. Many people believe that there are no private spaces
online. Others, however, feel that there is a line between public and private
spaces, and that people should respect each other's space. Again, this is a
debatewithshiftingboundaries,likelytocontinueforyearstocome.
As noted by some researchers (e.g. King, 1996), some participants have an
expectation of privacy in online venues that should be honored. Other
researchers(e.g.Herring,1996),ontheotherhand,feelitisacceptabletocon-
sider all computer-mediated communication to be public. We tend to agree
with the former perspective in honoring the expectation of privacy. We
encourageyoutoexercisesomeelementofcareandconsiderationwhenselect-
ingenvironmentsinwhichyouchoosetoconductyourresearchandhowyou
goaboutcollectingdata.Likewise,usethesamecareandthoughtfulnessasyou
considerwhenandhowtoseekinformedconsent.Ultimately,weencourageall
researcherstoexercisejudgmentwhenenteringnewspacesandwhendecid-
ingwhetherornottoconsideranonlinespacepublic.
Ownership
Relatedtopublicandprivatespacesistheissueofownership.Whoownswhatin
theonlineenvironmentcanbeacomplexissueforonlineresearchers.Whileitmay
seemobvioustomanyreaders,wecanassureyouitisnot.Toillustratethepoint,
considerthefollowingresearchexample.Inastudyconductedbyoneofus,apar-
ticipantindicatedthatshe,too,wasaresearcherand,assuch,automaticallywasa
co-researcherandco-authorofanythingproducedfromthestudy.Shebelieved
that since her participation was textual, she had ownership of her words as an
