Ethics and Social Media Research conference - Conference announcement and call for papers

Social Media & Social Science Research Ethics

Location: 33 Finsbury Square, London. EC2A 1AG
Date: Monday 21st of March, 2016

The Research Ethics Group of the Academy of Social Sciences and the NSMNSS network invite abstracts and poster/video submissions for a one-day conference that aims to further develop and explore the ethics of social science research using social media. Our purpose is to move the debate forward and provide examples of good practice. Two Keynote speakers will be confirmed shortly.

As Social Media plays an increasing role in Social Science research, the practicalities, benefits and challenges of making legitimate use of it constitute an important arena for ethical reflection and dialogue. This event builds on earlier conferences, workshops and discussions, organised by the Research Ethics Group of the Academy of Social Sciences and, in particular, the common principles of social science research ethics.

We invite abstracts for full papers or posters/videos* from those whose research makes use of social media. The following 4 themes may offer some guidance:

• Ethics & Practicalities: Consent in social media research.
• Privacy, ownership and legal dimensions: The use of social media data for research.
• Blurred lines: Relationships between researchers and participants in social media research.
• Critical ethical reflections: Improving ethical practice.

A copy of our CfA can be found here [.pdf]. 250 word abstracts should be submitted on this form [.docx] and sent to acss.ethics@gmail.com by Friday the 8th of January 2016. There will be a £100 prize for the best poster/ video as well as a number of discounted places and travel bursaries for postgraduate students. Following the conference we aim to produce an e-book of the presented papers.  Any inquiries should be directed to: nsmnss@natcen.ac.uk

Decisions will be made by the end of January 2016.

*We envisage that videos will be the equivalent of posters and should, therefore, not be longer than 2 mins (approx).