Introduction: Internet Research Ethics at a Critical Juncture

Abstract

In this issue of JIE, readers will be immersed in an emerging and fascinating research field, a sphere that fits squarely in the larger domains of information and research ethics. Internet Research Ethics (IRE) has been growing steadily since the late 1990s, with many disciplinary examinations of what it means to conduct research-ethically-in online or Internet-based environments. Seminar guidelines, through such influential bodies as the American Association for the Advancement of Science (1999), Association of Internet Researchers Ethics Working Group (2002), and the American Psychological Association's Working Group (2004) (see Kraut, et al.) have been developed; three edited collections appeared in the last few years (Buchanan, 2004a; Johns, Chen, & Hall, 2003; Thorseth, 2003), and a plethora of interdisciplinary and international conversations have occurred in the face of IRE.The issues involved are indeed complex, significant, and truly philosophically robust. Ranging from traditional research ethics notions of informed consent and respect for persons to such legal issues as loss of reputation and liability to larger, more complex issues such as privacy and autonomy, IRE contributes to a wide range of ethical, legal, and policy debates. Multiple layers of difference contribute to the complexity surrounding IRE: disciplinary differences in and to research, from the humanities to social sciences, for instance; national and international laws and policies differing over research ethics and human subjects protections; differences across the continuum of research done online, ranging from simple surveys to in-depth ethnographic studies of online communities, and so on. Much additional scholarship is necessary in this field, as online research is burgeoning while many researchers fall short of fulfilling their ethical responsibilities in online environments, not due to intentional malfeasance but to ignorance. A broader goal of this issue is to shed light on the larger domain of information ethics and how thinking first and foremost about this realm and a global information ethics helps us as researchers in online environments.The articles brought together in this issue come from a range of disciplines and from some of the foremost thinkers in information ethics in general and IRE in particular. First, Herman Tavani sets the stage with a framework for examining moral, legal, and social issues involving cybertechnology-the field he calls cyberethics. Tavani's discussion provides a thorough review of the field, which should help us as researchers in understanding the complexities of information and communications technologies (ICTs) and how researchers fit into this scheme. Whether or not cyber-, information, or Internet research ethics issues are indeed novel, as Tavani questions, IRE often finds itself embedded in the sorts of policy vacuums described. And, as Tavani carefully describes, different modes of ethics, from philosophical to descriptive to professional, inform us on multiple levels, while his methodological framework contributes to a researcher's starting point concerning fundamental ethical issues. We have seen these levels in the emergent IRE debate, and can refer to Tavani's discussion as IRE continues to grow in scope.From Tavani's large-scale discussion, we move more directly into IRE to consider some of its critical aspects. First, Annette Markham, who prominently placed Internet ethnography on the international research agenda with her Life Online: Researching Real Experience in Virtual Space (1998) examines research itself, questioning the concept of ethics and how it dictates method, often resulting in compromised ethics and methods. Markham contextualizes her thoughtful discussion by asking questions of seminal importance to IRE: Who owns online data? Are online communities private or public spaces? How do we gain informed consent? How does one verify the age or vulnerability of participants? …