m2h blogs by Marcia Hansen

3 Responses to “Blog Ethics”

1. senioritis
   August 3rd, 2005 at 8:53 pm

   

   So what have you & Donna decided? I read Clancy’s post, and to me it would seem nutz to get IRB permission to analyze a published text. Which a blog is. Right? Or am I missing something?

2. Marcia
   August 3rd, 2005 at 11:30 pm

   

   The way we left it is that if I wanted to publish the paper that I am working on then it would be a good idea to run it by them first.
   I’ve been thinking about it more and here are some additional thoughts and questions:
   First, let me note that it’s extremely doubtful that this paper would ever be published in a traditional print journal; however, would I even want to publish/link to it on my blog?
   Probably not. Besides my own insecurity, I haven’t emailed the professor or students to ask permission to review and analyze their blogs. It seems like I should at least give them a courtesy heads up if I were to publish my paper even here on my blog.
   From what I can tell, the students’ blogs that I am reviewing know that their blogs are accessible on the Internet. However, they may not have intended their blogging as a public act in the sense that doing so would invite analysis and criticsm by anyone other than their teacher for a class assignment. Does that matter?
   And, another thing: some of the students’ blogs just list their first names; however, in at least one case, a person’s entire name is linked in a list of course blogs. So the student could have had some measure/expectation of annonymity by only providing his or her first name on their blog, but the instructor linked their entire name in the course list. Did the instructor invade his or her privacy? Did this person have some measure of annonymity and by me perhaps publishing and drawing attention to it, am I invading his or her privacy?

3. senioritis
   August 7th, 2005 at 10:25 am

   

   Tough call. The younger the writers whose blogs you’re studying, the more difficult the issues, somehow. But still, but still. A blog is public. You’re not analyzing the writers but the written, and that shouldn’t require IRB, IMO. Shouldn’t. But does it, anyhow? Perhaps. You’re right to take the side of caution when you’re not sure.