Internet Research and Ethics 2.0

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。 这个科学，技术和社会项目调查基于互联网的研究伦理。 在过去十年中，在互联网上和通过互联网进行的研究呈指数级增长。跨学科的研究人员经常使用在线调查等工具，参与虚拟世界的参与式观察，并使用社交网站的个人资料来分析行为和沟通模式。 当进行互联网研究时，通常由学术机构审查委员会（IRB）进行审查。在传统的研究环境中，研究人员和IRB承担保护参与者的责任，但在线研究，特别是通过Web 2.0技术进行的研究，混淆了标准的道德模型。当某些类型的数据被收集时，参与者的风险会增加，例如医疗信息，因此需要更大的保护。该项目有三个主要组成部分，以帮助研究人员，研究监管机构和研究参与者进行互联网研究。首先，研究人员正在开发互联网研究伦理文献数字图书馆，这是一个可搜索的在线注释数据库和互联网研究伦理文献资源中心;它将与一个互动资源中心相结合，包括一个协作wiki，以集中和简化制定合理伦理决策的实践任务。第三，它开发了一个在线伦理研究小组，用于共享具有挑战性和紧急的在线研究伦理问题的信息。该项目超越了传统的研究伦理问题，同时提供了良好的资源，坚实的研究基础和专家建议，因为越来越多的研究人员和IRB与互联网研究的复杂性作斗争。 该项目有望对所有学科的互联网研究人员产生广泛的影响，他们的研究伦理实践的基础，以及研究本身在不断连接的信息环境中的性质。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). This Science, Technology, and Society project investigates research ethics for Internet based studies. Research conducted on and through the Internet has expanded exponentially in the last ten years. Researchers across disciplines make frequent use of such tools as online surveys, engage in forms of participant observation of virtual worlds, and use profiles from social networking sites to analyze behavior and communication patterns. When Internet research is conducted, it is typically reviewed by academic institutional review boards (IRBs). In traditional research settings, the researcher and the IRB assume responsibility for protecting the participants, but online research, especially research conducted through Web 2.0 technologies, confounds standard models of ethics. The risks to participants increase when certain types of data are being collected, such as medical information and thus, greater protections are needed.This project has three major components to assist researchers, research regulators, and research participants in Internet research. First, the investigators are developing the Internet Research Ethics Literature Digital Library, a searchable, online, annotated database and resource center on the Internet research ethics literature; it will be coupled with an Interactive Resource Center, including a collaborative wiki, to centralize and simplify the task of developing practices for making sound ethical decisions. Third, it develops an online ethics study group for sharing information on challenging and emergent online research ethics issues. The project goes beyond traditional research ethics issues while providing sound resources, a solid research base, and expert advice as more researchers and IRBs struggle with the complexities of Internet research. The project promises broad impact for Internet researchers from all disciplines, the foundations of their research ethics practices, and nature of research itself in an ever-connected information environment.