Ethics for studying online sociotechnical systems in a big data world

C Fiesler, A Young, T Peyton, AS Bruckman… - Proceedings of the 18th …, 2015 - dl.acm.org
Proceedings of the 18th ACM Conference Companion on Computer Supported …, 2015dl.acm.org
The evolution of social technology and research methods present ongoing challenges to
studying people online. Recent high-profile cases have prompted discussion among both
the research community and the general public about the ethical implications of researching
humans, their information, and their activities in large-scale digital contexts. Examples of
scientific and market research involving Facebook users and OKCupid clients exemplify the
ethical complexities of both studying and manipulating online user behavior. When does …
The evolution of social technology and research methods present ongoing challenges to studying people online. Recent high-profile cases have prompted discussion among both the research community and the general public about the ethical implications of researching humans, their information, and their activities in large-scale digital contexts. Examples of scientific and market research involving Facebook users and OKCupid clients exemplify the ethical complexities of both studying and manipulating online user behavior. When does data science become human subjects research, and what are our obligations to these subjects as researchers' Drawing from previous work around the ethics of digital research, one goal of this workshop is to work towards a set of guiding principles for CSCW scholars doing research online.
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