a few thoughts on opting out of campus research

as a minority on a college campus, i have had people ask me if i would be a subject in their experiement, study, and/or research about my minority.

i run away from these people. i do not exist to be harassed endlessly by some researcher. i used to be pretty tolerant of these folk, because they mean well. but there is a limit to number of times i am willing to be poked and prodded by some well meaning labcoat-wearing-denizen-of-an-ivory-tower.

i log in and find:
Campus: Second Life Classes Enter SL
and
Panda in a petri dish

i really want some way to opt out of dealing with these people.

however, failing that:
- i want to see an official policy statement regarding online research for each of these institutions.
- i want to see the human subjects research approval for each of these classes or equiv (if applicable)
- i want to see a statement of research ethics for each of these institutions
- i want to see a statement or research conduct for each of these institutions
- i want to see proof that the students of these classes are aware of these guidlines and have agreed to uphold them
- i want contact information for the instructors and departments heads and college deans for each of these classes. i want to know who to contact if/when a problem occurs.

stolen from the other thread

This is my reality-check rant for now... I could be completely wrong in everything I type.

People, you're studied without giving permission in nearly everything you do. You're studied inside your own home if you use the internet (yes, even if you disable scripting/cookies/flash and have a firewall,) you're still studied. Many don't know that Pentium processors come with ID numbers... you can disable it and some BIOS's come pre-disabled, but many don't. Even disabled, websites are able to gather some info about your system. If you don't protect your IP address, a website knows which ISP you use. Some ISP's break down their IP address assignments by region... a website knows your ISP, they know your region.

If you use TiVo or digital cable, you're studied and your viewing habits are tracked. TiVo assigns a random number to you, and generally separates stats down to the zip-code level. If you're the sole person in that zip, then they know who you are.

If you use a credit card/debit card, you're tracked. Your purchase preferences are tracked. The credit company gives what they call "aggregate" data to marketers and research firms. This data states preferences, and is one way that research firms know that males like this and females like that, even down to age.

If you use the "loyalty card" at the grocery store... your purchases are tracked. And that gets more personal that the above situations, because you submit to it by using the loyalty card. Those grocery discounts aren't free.

Not to scare you any further, but the US DOT has begun installing a system in major highways to track vehicles... and they're hope is to require carmakers to install boxes into new cars which would interract with the sensors in the roadways, to establish traffic patterns.

In most instances, you're tracked/studied without being personally identified. I believe the same type of study is happening with SL. No one in-world is going to know you're a minority unless you tell them you are. They aren't going to know whether you're male or female, or a 15-year old kid or that kid's grandmother. You are as anonymous as you make yourself online. It's great that SL has disclosed these three study groups, however that doesn't mean that there's not a group studying you without SL's knowledge. A marketing/research firm could easily establish a few accounts, and then procede to build things to see if they are accepted... they could build a club to see how people react to different music.

When you step out of your cave and begin to interact with other people (even if you do so virtually on the internet), you've lost some of your privacy. Though Linden Labs is a private company, being in-world isn't much different than being at a real mall, a real football stadium, or a real club... private venues, but public places. Your privacy is protected only as much as you protect it yourself.

As for posting of chat logs, check your state's/country's laws, but I don't believe it's illegal to post them in most places. In my state, as I was told by a lawyer several years ago, any conversation between two people is not protected.... not a phone call, not a conversation in the bathroom with only two people present, not an internet chat.

Of course, it IS against the LL TOS to post these chat logs on THEIR property - such as these forums or in-world. But, I believe it is NOT illegal to post them on Pitt's own website.

I could care less if someone studies me, as long as they go away when I tell them to just like every other resident does.

Just sexXx00rrr them right up, LOL, U ROXXXXX UR SO HAUGHT!

Darwin, where the hell are you? I can't do this leet-speak without you.

this is true.

however, it is different when a university (or people affliated with a university) does this. they are held to a level of ethics and scientific rigor that at once validates their conclusions and gives their conclusions the weight of authority in the public's eyes. this is a big responsiblity.

also, as an academically involved person, letting unstructured studies happen without proper guidelines tends to "poison the well."

as an academic practice, it is unethical to quote people in any research 1) without their permission, and 2) without proper citation.

As an academic, let me toss out a few thoughts on this matter.

1. Issues relating to researcher conduct, privacy of human subjects and all that are extremely relevant in my real life.
2. Undergrads conducting "class related research projects" are going to be on the numeric increase, not decrease for the foreseable future if I have any clue about my own field within the social sciences.
3. I don't feel that there is inherently anything wrong with trained researchers conducting observational studies "in the wild" of cyberspace.
4. Undergrads in the classes described are NOT trained researchers.
5. Having run into one of these class members today, #4 and related issues of "being in the petri dish" became extremely obvious. This person was not here to participate, but was here to "study".
6. Since such studies are within my field, and as I have even contributed to the published base of knowledge on this subject, I cannot realistically be studied in this venue in the same way that someone without such background is studied. My "observed interactions" effectively skew the results of the observer - especially untrained ones - as I use my knowledge of the field of cyberspace studies in my interactions, a tool most people do not have.
7. Should I be concerned abou the effect of #6? Yes... it's gonna be reflected in the real world - possibly in publication which I will then have to deal with/dispute/distort/agree with though I know it's a bogus study.
8. Should I simply reveal my real world self in order to opt out? I shouldn't have to make this choice.

I did not pay my good money to participate in any observational study by anyone.
I could, theoretically, run into a professional colleague or student of mine here if such studies are encouraged/allowed.

Participation in observational studies where the observer interacts with the subjects inherently changes two worlds - that of the observed and that of the observer... So there are huge questions of validity of observations made and conclusions drawn on the part of the researcher AND there is a huge potential for mucking up the world/experience of those being observed - read that as ME. You CANNOT refuse to be observed in SL.. unless you flee. Even then, it is possible to be tracked... it has happened to me already without any calling card tracking being involved.

I am not a paranoiod person. I like people, despite being a curmudgeon. However, three classes entering the world without any investment in it is inherently unfair to those of us who are invested here in terms of time, money, blood, sweat and tears - however you care to define any of those things. At the least, I paid for a specific experience... being studied is not one of them.

This is nothing but a problem waiting to be dealt with. Unfortunately, I am going to have to deal with it twice - here and in the real world.

I have to agree with the sentiments as a whole...and if these were grad students I may find myself reacting much like everyone else. But they are not. They are simply freshman who will likely feel a surge of superiority with their newly found academic prowess and tickle their toes in the waters of "research" in order to test the foundations of their knowledge. If I know 18 year olds they will likely either bore with it after a few days or begin to truely enjoy the community.

When I first entered SL, I did so with a leary eye at the current residents. In many ways I "studied" those I met, "researched" avenues of interest and modes of interaction. We are all studying the world. I really doubt that a bunch of undergrads are going to rip the seams out of this virtual planet with exhaustive research and expose any SL shattering insight into the behaviors of Avatars. They will write what they deem to be prolific journal entries somewhere between "What I did this summer" and "The behavioral landscape of the metaverse." Most will end up with the B's and C's needed to pass on to 102 and forget they were ever here.

Well please don't tell em about me. These researchers would go crazy if they had a real live cherub to study. I would be luck to escape without being autopsied.

*steals Devlin's diapers to research the eating habits of Cherubs*

Devlin we would never let outsiders do a job that is ours....But I won't autopsy you...just lop off a wing so you'll fly in circles.

freshmen should be set a good example of how to do research. this is just sloppy, and leaves the impression that science/academia is allowed to be this sloppy. it's not.

Personally, I don't care. If they want to watch me wipe my ass.. so be it, just make sure it's Charmin Ultra.

Research is research... without it, there would be no internet, no space flight, Pop Tarts. It's how we advance.

weeeeeee.

Don't get me wrong, I never implied that this prof conducted his class in the correct manner...I posted elsewhere that I thought he could have remedied the situation without the attacking tones or the posting of online chat. He seems to me like a very young academic who thinks very little of anyone existing outside of his office at the university. But I do not think that it is or has to be a lost cause. Everyone knows who they are now so there is no reason why future endeavors could not work without this sort of problem if conducted in an appropriate/ethical/legal and far less hasty manner.

It seems that SL was an after thought for him and should have possibly been held over till next semester so that he would have time to get to know the world he was planning to throw a bunch of kids into. In that he was wrong. But I think that he could have created a valid and ethical syllabus for the use of SL in this type of class setting. In many of my art classes and creative writing classes, we would do artist dates and such in order to fill our well for writing topics. In that scenario it would work.
Though I have a tendancy to be incorrect so who knows.

Study this, ya mofos!

*makes very rude gesture in direction of students*

err. Sorry. Go back to your discussion. It was interesting. Really.

I don't wanna opt out, it's shootin' time!

Git off mah land varmints!

In all seriousness, I don't embrace the idea of being someone's lab rat either, but the folks who are conducting this are freshmen and it's not some official university study that will be published. I think we all need to take it as it comes. The blog comments about SLers being losers in RL therefore needing an SL to compensate are not new, just from a different source. We should also bear in mind that people with such opinions generally are a loud minority and usually represent what it is they are stating, in this case that we have no life and are therefore substituting SL. That's cool, someday they will grow up and realize it's not something to be ashamed of.

but they might...

even so, it is the duty of the instructor to guide (and protect) the students. research guidelines, ethics, and codes of conduct exist to protect the researchers as well as subjects. and by proxy these guidelines project the instructor's institution.

if the student or instructor published something (e.g. a log) and the people mentioned there in had a problem with it, then who's going to get slapped with a lawsuit?

the usa is a litiginous society, and while it might not be worthwhile to $ue an individual, but it might be lucrative to $tart a law$uit again$t something like a university.
- who owns the copyright on a log, email, or a private conversation?
- can a person claim defamation of character or harm over a selective edit of a log?

if that's the case, then i'd like that in writing. even if it where in writing, sloppy field work is still sloppy field work. intentional or not.

Agreed. And nice to talk to you again His.. err.. StoneSelf

There are three study groups... they are called study groups, not research groups. They are studying various aspects of this new form of interaction (not that it's new, since it's been around in one form or another since my first encounter with "Worlds Away" back in the early 90's.)

They may study how people interact with each other when they are anonymous. That's a very interesting subject, since many people take on a differently personality while online. The students will observe and interpret. It's better than watching "Gone with the Wind" and writing opinions on southerners afterwards. Or watching "Apocolypse Now" and writing about it. SL is modern, and though it represents a slanted group of people, it's not the final results that matter. The class/professor will more than likely be most interested in the various interpretations the different students make of SL.

Also, there is a Mass.Comm. class. Well, in some mass comm clases, the instructor has the students breakdown Kennedy's speeches, or Reagan's... various Presidential speeches. Well, in the modern world, these students can observe the way real people speak to each other. They can witness the ways in which we try to sell our beliefs in the welcome areas. I'm willing to bet they are loving he debates on the orums on their vary existence in the SL world. They take notes on these forums as well. They want to know who gets their message across more effectively, and how others respond to those messages.

As for the professors seeking out to study Second Life, I'm willing to bet it's the other way around.... Second Life faxed professors all over the country offering the chance to 'play' here. It's the chance to get a student hooked, beyond the study... if the student has several campus friends, then more subscriptions could follow.

*ignore any typos, my keyboard sucks and I don't feel like correcting them right now. As a college instructor told me long ago, spelling, puncuation, gramar are no longer important in the modern world... the only important aspect of communication is getting your point accross. If people know what you mean, then you've succeeded. It seems that our President had the same instructor.

I bet they get farmed for dwell Sure guys come on over the club is a great place to study :nickers::

They could probably get alot more study of how people are in Second Life from reading these forums than ingame where people are gonna put on a show for them.

OMG ASL HOT 30YOM 4 CYBERZ

What makes you think people are going to 'put on a show' for them? What, like the fucktards who just HAVE to wave at a tv camera when a reporter is doing a broadcast or something?

I think the only likely conscious behavioural change that will occur around these jokers (sorry, students) is that people will stfu whenever they come near for fear of being quoted out of context or psycho analysed by some jumped up little snob who thinks we're all sad losers and beneath them.

The only show I'd be putting on for them is showing them what the ejection tools are for

Send Em To Me Im Whorney
Omg Lolzorz Cmere My Liddle Reserch Buni