Context Matters: Ethical Challenges in Research with Online Communities

Matthew Zent; Stevie Chancellor; Casey Fiesler; Sarah Gilbert; Mohammad Rashidujjaman Rifat; Estelle Smith; Svetlana Yarosh; Seraphina Yong; Michael Zimmer

doi:10.1145/3715070.3748286

Context Matters: Ethical Challenges in Research with Online Communities

Matthew Zent
, Stevie Chancellor
, Casey Fiesler
, Sarah Gilbert
, Mohammad Rashidujjaman Rifat
, Estelle Smith
, Svetlana Yarosh
, Seraphina Yong
, Michael Zimmer

Computer Science and Engineering

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

While online community research is prevalent in CSCW, there are limited ethical principles for conducting research that may affect online communities. At the same time, a growing body of evidence suggests that traditional ethical review focused on research with individuals fails to fully capture the complexities of online community research. To support advancing ethical online community research, we propose a one-day hybrid workshop centered around tensions and challenges in adopting best practices for ethical online community research. This workshop aims to bring together online community researchers to 1) recognize existing approaches for ethical online community research, 2) expose gaps in current practices, and 3) prioritize directions to reconcile these ethical challenges.

Original language	English (US)
Title of host publication	CSCW Companion 2025 - Companion of the Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing
Editors	Aparecido Fabiano Pinatti de Carvalho, Jessica Vitak, Xiaojuan Ma, Xinru Page, Chiara Rossitto, Norman Makoto Su, Louise Barkhuus, Louise Barkhuus, Monica Divitini, Amanda Lee Hughes, Jina Huh-Yoo, Claudia Ignat, Ryan Kelly, Kurt Luther, Scott McCrickard, David McDonald, Jessica Pater, Hilda Tellioglu, Adriana Vivacqua, Hao-Chuan Wang, Jie Cai, Maia Jacobs, Susanne Koch Stigberg
Publisher	Association for Computing Machinery
Pages	106-111
Number of pages	6
ISBN (Electronic)	9798400714801
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1145/3715070.3748286
State	Published - Oct 17 2025
Event	28th ACM Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing, CSCW 2025 - Bergen, Norway Duration: Oct 18 2025 → Oct 22 2025

Publication series

Name	Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work, CSCW

Conference

Conference	28th ACM Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing, CSCW 2025
Country/Territory	Norway
City	Bergen
Period	10/18/25 → 10/22/25

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2025 Copyright held by the owner/author(s).

Keywords

Ethics
internet research
online communities

Publisher link

10.1145/3715070.3748286

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Cite this

Zent, M., Chancellor, S., Fiesler, C., Gilbert, S., Rifat, M. R., Smith, E., Yarosh, S., Yong, S., & Zimmer, M. (2025). Context Matters: Ethical Challenges in Research with Online Communities. In A. F. Pinatti de Carvalho, J. Vitak, X. Ma, X. Page, C. Rossitto, N. M. Su, L. Barkhuus, L. Barkhuus, M. Divitini, A. L. Hughes, J. Huh-Yoo, C. Ignat, R. Kelly, K. Luther, S. McCrickard, D. McDonald, J. Pater, H. Tellioglu, A. Vivacqua, H.-C. Wang, J. Cai, M. Jacobs, ... S. K. Stigberg (Eds.), CSCW Companion 2025 - Companion of the Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing (pp. 106-111). (Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work, CSCW). Association for Computing Machinery. https://doi.org/10.1145/3715070.3748286

Context Matters: Ethical Challenges in Research with Online Communities. / Zent, Matthew; Chancellor, Stevie; Fiesler, Casey et al.
CSCW Companion 2025 - Companion of the Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing. ed. / Aparecido Fabiano Pinatti de Carvalho; Jessica Vitak; Xiaojuan Ma; Xinru Page; Chiara Rossitto; Norman Makoto Su; Louise Barkhuus; Louise Barkhuus; Monica Divitini; Amanda Lee Hughes; Jina Huh-Yoo; Claudia Ignat; Ryan Kelly; Kurt Luther; Scott McCrickard; David McDonald; Jessica Pater; Hilda Tellioglu; Adriana Vivacqua; Hao-Chuan Wang; Jie Cai; Maia Jacobs; Susanne Koch Stigberg. Association for Computing Machinery, 2025. p. 106-111 (Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work, CSCW).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

Zent, M, Chancellor, S, Fiesler, C, Gilbert, S, Rifat, MR, Smith, E, Yarosh, S, Yong, S & Zimmer, M 2025, Context Matters: Ethical Challenges in Research with Online Communities. in AF Pinatti de Carvalho, J Vitak, X Ma, X Page, C Rossitto, NM Su, L Barkhuus, L Barkhuus, M Divitini, AL Hughes, J Huh-Yoo, C Ignat, R Kelly, K Luther, S McCrickard, D McDonald, J Pater, H Tellioglu, A Vivacqua, H-C Wang, J Cai, M Jacobs & SK Stigberg (eds), CSCW Companion 2025 - Companion of the Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing. Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work, CSCW, Association for Computing Machinery, pp. 106-111, 28th ACM Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing, CSCW 2025, Bergen, Norway, 10/18/25. https://doi.org/10.1145/3715070.3748286

Zent M, Chancellor S, Fiesler C, Gilbert S, Rifat MR, Smith E et al. Context Matters: Ethical Challenges in Research with Online Communities. In Pinatti de Carvalho AF, Vitak J, Ma X, Page X, Rossitto C, Su NM, Barkhuus L, Barkhuus L, Divitini M, Hughes AL, Huh-Yoo J, Ignat C, Kelly R, Luther K, McCrickard S, McDonald D, Pater J, Tellioglu H, Vivacqua A, Wang HC, Cai J, Jacobs M, Stigberg SK, editors, CSCW Companion 2025 - Companion of the Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing. Association for Computing Machinery. 2025. p. 106-111. (Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work, CSCW). doi: 10.1145/3715070.3748286

Zent, Matthew ; Chancellor, Stevie ; Fiesler, Casey et al. / Context Matters : Ethical Challenges in Research with Online Communities. CSCW Companion 2025 - Companion of the Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing. editor / Aparecido Fabiano Pinatti de Carvalho ; Jessica Vitak ; Xiaojuan Ma ; Xinru Page ; Chiara Rossitto ; Norman Makoto Su ; Louise Barkhuus ; Louise Barkhuus ; Monica Divitini ; Amanda Lee Hughes ; Jina Huh-Yoo ; Claudia Ignat ; Ryan Kelly ; Kurt Luther ; Scott McCrickard ; David McDonald ; Jessica Pater ; Hilda Tellioglu ; Adriana Vivacqua ; Hao-Chuan Wang ; Jie Cai ; Maia Jacobs ; Susanne Koch Stigberg. Association for Computing Machinery, 2025. pp. 106-111 (Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work, CSCW).

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Context Matters: Ethical Challenges in Research with Online Communities

Abstract

Publication series

Conference

Bibliographical note

Keywords

Publisher link

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