Enrolling Mobiles at Kowanyama: Upping the Ant in a Remote Aboriginal Community

Actor Network Theory is used in this paper as an approach to analyzing and interpreting mobile technology adoption in a very remote Aboriginal community in Cape York, Australia. Following the actors and insisting on the principles of generalized symmetry and impartiality towards all actors, the narrative centres on an event in the Wet season when the mobile network ‘fell over’ and all communication by mobile phone and mobile broadband ceased for a time. This extreme weather event acted as a catalyst for residents, business people and service providers to talk about mobile technology in their community and how it impacts on their lives. By setting aside arbitrary distinctions between groups of people in this community, the researchers rejected simplistic notions of cultural difference, and, instead, recognized place and cultural pratices associated with place as determinants of mobile phone behaviour

The ‘Good Life’ in Intercultural Information Ethics: A New Agenda

Current research in Intercultural Information Ethics (IIE) is preoccupied, almost exclusively, by moral and political issues concerning the right and the just (e.g., Hongladarom & Ess 2007; Ess 2008; Capurro 2008) These issues are undeniably important, and with the continuing development and diffusion of ICTs, we can only be sure more moral and political problems of similar kinds are going to emerge in the future. Yet, as important as those problems are, I want to argue that researchers‘ preoccupation with the right and the just are undesirable. I shall argue that IIE has thus far overlooked the issues pertaining to the good life (or, individual‘s well-being). IIE, I claim, should also take into account these issues. Hence, I want to propose a new agenda for IIE, i.e. the good life, in the current paper

What Should We Share? : Understanding the Aim of Intercultural Information Ethics

The aim of Intercultural Information Ethics (IIE), as Ess aptly puts, is to “(a) address both local and global issues evoked by ICTs / CMC, etc., (b) in a ways that both sustain local traditions / values / preference, etc. and (c) provide shared, (quasi-) universal responses to central ethical problems” (Ess 2007a, 102). This formulation of the aim of IIE, however, is not unambiguous. In this paper, I will discuss two different understandings of the aim of IIE, one of which advocates “shared norms, different interpretations” and another proposes “shared norms, different justifications”. I shall argue that the first understanding is untenable, and the second understanding is acceptable only with qualification. Finally, I shall briefly suggest an alternative way to understand the aim of IIE

The time evolution of permutations under random stirring

We consider permutations of $\{1,...,n\}$ obtained by $\lfloor\sqrt{n}t\rfloor$ independent applications of random stirring. In each step the same marked stirring element is transposed with probability $1/n$ with any one of the $n$ elements. Normalizing by $\sqrt{n}$ we describe the asymptotic distribution of the cycle structure of these permutations, for all $t\ge 0$, as $n\to\infty$.Comment: 15 page

Using online blogs to explore positive outcomes after burn injuries

This study uses blog analysis, a new and novel technique, to explore the positive outcomes experienced by burn survivors. This study examined 10 burn survivor blogs to offer a unique, longitudinal insight into burn survivor recovery. Using thematic analysis, three themes emerged: shift in self-perception, enhanced relationships and a change in life outlook. Many of these themes contained stories and experiences unique to a traumatic burn injury, suggesting that standardised trauma scales are not effectively measuring the impact of a burn in this population. Reflections on blog analysis are discussed, along with a recommendation that health researchers utilise the vast amount of data available from online blogs

What’s in a (pseudo)name?: Ethical conundrums for the principles of anonymisation in social media research

Scholars from wide-ranging disciplines are turning to social media platforms as research sites, and as platforms expand their communicative possibilities, they create more spaces for users to enact a multitude of identities. Most platforms allow users to have ‘pseudonymous’ identities; that is, they can engage in practices intended to facilitate nonidentifiable content. But pseudonymity presents a series of unique challenges to the principles of anonymisation in qualitative research. This article explores the slippery nature of dealing with pseudonymous social media users’ personally identifiable data during research, framed around my responses to four questions I was asked when I applied for ethical approval to conduct research with pseudonymous fan communities on social media. The four questions concern: (Q1) changing notions of ‘public’ and ‘private’ forms of data; (Q2) identifying underage and therefore vulnerable participants online; (Q3) changes to the processes of obtaining informed consent from social media users; and (Q4) the risks social media research might bring to those conducting it. This article concludes by calling for qualitative researchers and Ethics Review Boards (ERBs) to engage with institutional ethics review across the duration of a project, or at the very least to advocate for ongoing consent as research progresses, especially for (but certainly not limited to) research involving pseudonymous social media users. The article aims to be useful to other researchers facing similar dilemmas. Indeed, given the popularity of pseudonymity on social media and the growing penetration of platforms across global demographics, a need for ethical discussions of this kind is surely set to increase

A review of research ethics in internet-based research

Internet-based research methods can include; on-line surveys, web page content analysis, videoconferencing for on-line focus groups and/ or interviews, analysis of ‘e’ conversations through social networking sites, email, chat rooms, discussion boards and/ or blogs. Over the last ten years an upsurge in Internet Based Research (IBR) has led to increased interest in IBR and research ethics. Here we present some ethical guidelines for IBR whilst at the same time accepting that it would be unrealistic to expect that any single set of guidelines can cover all ethical situations concerning IBR). There is simply too much diversity across internet cultures, values and modes of operation for that to be the case. Perhaps the most useful solution to the complex challenges of IRB lies with a form of ‘negotiated ethics’, a situated approach grounded in the specifics of the online community, the methodology and the research question(s). This does not mean an ‘anything goes’ relativist approach, rather an open, pluralistic policy in relation to IBR ethical issues (Ess, 2009; AoIR, 2002)