I’m still puzzling over the big issue for Internet community research ethics. Is what we see online a virtual identity,which should be treated according to the ethical standards of human subject research, or is it published text, in which case the relevant ethical standards relate to copyright and acknowledgement?

Quentin Jones article on cyber settlements and online comunities perhaps points a way forward here. In an online community people have identities, in a cyber settlement you find artefacts. It’s a subtle distinction, but I think it’s useful.

For example, in ‘my’ conference. If I look at how many people posted attachments in week three, or how many replies there were compared with new threads, I’d be looking at the artefacts of a cyber settlement. If I look at the content of the postings I’m looking at the online community.