10.0596 MediaMOO: Ethics of Research

WILLARD MCCARTY (willard.mccarty@kcl.ac.uk)
Wed, 15 Jan 1997 20:26:34 +0000 (GMT)

Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 10, No. 596.
Center for Electronic Texts in the Humanities (Princeton/Rutgers)
Centre for Computing in the Humanities, King's College London
Information at http://www.princeton.edu/~mccarty/humanist/

[1] From: Ian Graham <igraham@IC-UNIX.IC.UTORONTO.CA> (107)
Subject: Re: The Ethics of Research in Virtual Communities
(fwd)

I thought those on this list might be interested.

Ian

--
Ian Graham ................................. ian.graham@utoronto.ca
Information Commons                               Tel: 416-978-4548
University of Toronto                             Fax: 416-978-7705
.................  http://www.utoronto.ca/ian/ .....................

> ***************************************************************************** > > > The Ethics of Research in Virtual Communities > > An Online Symposium > in honor of MediaMOO's Fourth Birthday > > Monday, January 20th > Symposium: 3:00 PM - 4:30 PM ET > Followed by > The Fourth MediaMOO Anniversary Ball: 4:30 - 6:00 PM ET > > To connect to MediaMOO: > telnet mediamoo.media.mit.edu 8888 > Or see http://www.media.mit.edu/~asb/MediaMOO/ > > > THE SYMPOSIUM > > Electronic communications media pose new ethical dilemmas for researchers. > Can a post from a mailing list be quoted without permission? Should the > character names of participants in a MUD be changed before publication? > Under > what circumstances does the researcher need to announce his or her presence > to > the community? Is logging a conversation in a chat room more like > overhearing > something in the park, or going to someone's home with a concealed tape > recorder? To complicate matters, the answers to these sorts of questions are > often contingent on the profession of the researcher--anthropologists, > journalists, and political scientists are all subject to different > professional ethics standards. It's no wonder that participants in such > communities lack shared expectations about when they can expect privacy and > when they are subject to observation. In this online discussion, attendees > will discuss these issues, and evaluate several proposed statements of > professional ethics for research online. > > > FEATURED PANELISTS (in alphabetical order): > > Amy Bruckman is a doctoral candidate at the Media Lab at MIT, where she does > research on virtual communities. She is the founder of MediaMOO (a > text-based > virtual reality environment or "MUD" designed to be a professional community > for media researchers), and MOOSE Crossing (A MUD designed to be a > constructionist learning environment for kids.) MOOSE Crossing includes a > new > programming language, MOOSE, designed to make it easier for kids to learn to > program. Amy received her master's degree from the Media Lab's Interactive > Cinema Group in 1991, and her bachelors in physics from Harvard University in > 1987. More information about her work is available at > http://www.media.mit.edu/~asb/ > > Lynn Cherny is a researcher at AT&T Labs--Research studying electronic > communities. She has an M.Phil. from Cambridge University in Computer > Speech > and Language Processing and a Ph.D. from Stanford in Linguistics. Her > dissertation, forthcoming from CSLI Publications, was an ethnolinguistic > study > of conversation and community in a social MOO. She is the co-editor (with > Elizabeth Reba Weise) of _Wired_Women: Gender and New Realities in > Cyberspace_, a collection of essays about gender and women's experiences in > different Internet communities (Seal Press, 1996). More of her work can be > found at http://akpublic.research.att.com/~cherny/. > > David Jacobson is a professor of social anthropology at Brandeis University > with an interest in virtual ethnography. He is the author of _Reading > Ethnography_ (and other books about urban Africans and nuclear espionage) > and, > more recently, a paper about mooing, "Contexts and Cues in Cyberspace." > > Lee-Ellen Marvin is a graduate student in Folklore and Folklife at the > University of Pennsylvania. She brings to her studies of narrative and > creative speech events, many years of experience as a professional > storyteller and radio producer. She's published one study of MOO culture, > available on-line at: http://shum.huji.ac.il/jcmc/vol1/issue2/marvin.html, > and is working on a second paper to be presented at the Western > Communication Conference in February of this year. > > Malcolm (Mac) Parks is Associate Professor of Speech Communication at the > University of Washington. His primary research line is concerned with the > development of personal relationships and social networks. His recent > work on relationships in computer-mediated settings includes a study of > relationships formed through Usenet newsgroups and an on-going study of > relationships development in MOOs. > > ... and other members of the MediaMOO community. > > > Please join us after the symposium for the annual MediaMOO Anniversary Ball! > > > ABOUT MEDIAMOO > > MediaMOO is a MUD designed to be a professional community for media > researchers. MediaMOO first opened to the public with The MediaMOO Inaugural > Ball on January 20th, 1993. New members are welcome. More information is > available at http://www.media.mit.edu/~asb/MediaMOO/ > > *****************************************************************************