The International Journal of Internet Research Ethics (IJIRE) seeks
papers from researchers describing best ethical practices in the
investigation of online communities. This special issue, edited by
Aleks Krotoski, aims to create a compendium of case studies and
theoretical frameworks which future scholars will reference when
designing their own analyses of populations and practices in social
networking sites, weblogs, listservs, online games, video sharing
sites, virtual worlds and other Web environments that demonstrate
evidence of community processes.
Topics of particular interest include:
- Vulnerable populations (e.g., youth, medical contexts, extremism)
- Outcomes of challenges to the online community due to research
ethics decisions
- Research design (e.g., how to factor in experimentation that
involves research deception)
- Methodological practices (e.g., data scraping, behavioural
tracking, successful methodological combinations)
- Working with commercial companies
- Negotiating the online-offline identity (both research
participants/subjects and investigator)
- Implications of the community content/framework
- Ecological validity: extrapolating the findings to other
communities and non-Internet conclusions
- International ethics considerations
These are not exclusive topics, and other areas that outline best
practices in the ethical analysis of online communities are welcomed.
The special issue seeks to include submissions that introduce
extensions to existing theories - including new frameworks for
approaching the ethical issues that emerge in online communities and
novel applications of existing offline ethics frameworks - and
examples of best practice - including case studies of successful
ethical solutions, both qualitative and quantitative research
approaches, issues associated with international ethics practices,
and changes to ethical approaches over the short- and the long-term.
While all forms of scholarship and research are welcome, the special
issue will feature theoretically and empirically grounded study in
the social or behavioural sciences.
Submission guidelines:
The special issue is edited by Aleks Krotoski. Please contact the
editor <(atakrotoski /at/ yahoo.htm)>(atakrotoski /at/ yahoo.com) to discuss your
submissions. The editor welcomes contributions from new and
established researchers. Submitted manuscripts will be subject to peer review.
Papers of approximately 6,000 words are encouraged. Critical insight
and strong ethical and theoretical foundations are expected.
International Journal of Research Ethics submission guidelines and
referencing styles will be followed [see
<http://ijire.net/submit.html>http://ijire.net/submit.html].
The guest editor will consider papers received by 18 April 2010.
Fewer than 10 papers will be accepted. The special issue will be
published in October 2010. Please send papers
<(toakrotoski /at/ yahoo.htm)>(toakrotoski /at/ yahoo.com), clearly indicating
that your submission is for the special issue on ethics in online
communities by using the subject heading: 'Submission: IJIRE Special
Issue, Best Ethical Practices in Online Communities'.
