Ethics in Contemporary Ethnographic Research  Changes On Branch 70b1bf0466b0ece4

# Assignment 1: Data Walk

Due date
: April 25, 15:00

The goal of this assignment is to sensitize you to the ways in which data is continually produced in contemporary social settings. In another context we might talk about the *opportunities* this holds for social researchers, many of whom have welcomed the "data deluge" as an opportunity to invent new ways of knowing the social. In the context of this class, however, we will mostly discuss its ethical implications---the ways in which the research process is shot through with ethical concerns when it takes place in data-saturated environments.

Canadian media scholar [Alison Powell](https://www.alisonpowell.ca/?page_id=71) came up with the idea for **data walkshops** with the express purpose of "opening up civic discussions about data and its ethics within urban space." A variation on the ethnographic go-along method, it has been adopted by scholars around the world, including the [Centre for BOLD Cities](https://www.centre-for-bold-cities.nl/projects/data-walks) in our own region.

In this assignment, you will plan, carry out and report on a data walk. Each student will submit **a brief report** (around 600 words) with supporting materials such as maps, photographs and notes taken en route.

During the walk, you will focus on _data hubs_: objects or sites that collect data. Examples include customer loyalty cards, ATMs, traffic cameras, RIFD tracking systems, OV chip card scanners, QR codes, parking meters, air quality meters, but the list could go on and on.

Under "normal circumstances" a data walk would involve a small group of 6--8 people taking on different roles, such as navigator, note-taker or photographer. For the purposes of this assignment, you should only involve one other person, such as a roommate or family member. Plan your walk someplace convenient, for instance in your own neighborhood, and restrict it to about one hour. You may also ride by bike, but we advise not to drive unless you or your participant is unable to be mobile in other ways.

Your report should address the planning, execution and your reflection on the data walk. You may take the following points as a guide as you complete the assignment:

1. **Plan your walking route ahead of time.** Make a map or list some landmarks you intend to pass on your walk.
2. **What will you look for?** Which data hubs do you expect to encounter along the way?
3. **Collect evidence.** Take pictures or bring back objects from your walk.
4. **Tell a story.** Why did you walk where you walked? What was an important thread that you decided to follow? What did you learn about your environment? Did the other participant in your walkshop see things differently?
5. **Discuss the results.** How visible are the data hubs you spotted? What kinds of data do they collect? Who owns the data? Where are they stored? What value might they bring to you or others? What do you think are the "costs" of data collection---in terms of the technology required for its collection, the likely environmental impact, encroachments on privacy, or possible "chilling effects"?

Please write your report in clear and coherent prose. The format should resemble a fieldnote memo rather than an academic paper. Use proper references as needed.

# Assignment 2: Hacking Ethnography

Due date
: May 9, 15:00

Working in groups of up to four students, you will design and produce a contribution to a collection of public-facing resources on the theme of Hacking Ethnography. Your contribution can take one of two forms:

1. A zine (for instance, to provide guidelines for how to protect the identities of your research participants).
2. An instructional video (for instance, to show how to use a certain tool to secure research data).


**You will find a selection of last year's assignments in [this collection](https://www.jboy.space/blog/hacking-ethnography.html).**

Regardless which format you choose, try to create your resource in such a way that it will be useful to others like you wondering what kinds of practices they can adopt in the course of ethnographic research to protect research participants, secure data, and otherwise ensure that their research is ethical. We will discuss possible topics during tutorials in [week 4](../weeks/4.md).

When you have created your resource, [choose a Creative Commons license](https://creativecommons.org/choose/) under which to release your work into the public.









## Zine

Zines are a self-published format with a DIY aesthetic. They usually consist of literally cut-and-pasted texts and graphics, and traditionally they have been reproduced using copying machines. Zines have been associated with a variety of subcultures, such as the punk scene of the seventies and riot grrrl scene of the nineties.

ABC No Rio, a cultural institution in New York that archives zines, has the following [advice](http://www.abcnorio.org/facilities/zine_library.html) for "new zinesters":

> Look at a variety of zines before starting out on one of your own, to really take your time with the layout, and to think about how your zine might be different, depending on where you are in the world: does it have a sense of PLACE? Be specific and descriptive. ... Just to let you know, there are a LOT of punk rock zines out there, so if you're doing one, go the extra mile to make yours stand out. 

You can find lots of examples of zines created through the ages on [archive.org](https://archive.org/details/zines). For additional inspiration, look at the zines created by [Nika Dubrovsky](https://a4kids.org/), [Psaroskala](https://psaroskalazines.gr/zines/), and [Julia Evans](https://wizardzines.com/zines/wizard/). You may also want to build on [a template](https://medium.com/data-feminism-lab-mit/announcing-a-beautiful-open-source-zine-template-76d6279831f4) (though that may not exactly help with standing out).

After choosing a Creative Commons license for your zine, submit it, preferably as a single PDF, through Brightspace. Making hard copies to distribute to your friends is optional but encouraged!

## Instructional Video


Create a video that conveys a useful skill for ethnographers in 4--9 minutes. Aim to make an engaging and concise video that (1) incorporates visual cues highlighting important information, (2) uses minimal text, and (3) has some personality!



Once you have chosen a Creative Commons license for your video, upload it to [archive.org](https://archive.org/create/), the university's [Kaltura site](https://video.leidenuniv.nl/), or a PeerTube instance like [TubEdu](https://tubedu.org). Submit the public link through Brightspace.

# Assignment 3: Essay Questions

Due date
: June 6, 15:00

Self-assessment due date
: June 9, 15:00

This assignment consists of **essay questions** that will be posted to Brightspace in the final week of May. In your answers to these questions, you will have the chance to demonstrate what you have learned about ethical issues contemporary ethnographers face and ways they can respond practically. Successful answers will make connections between the course content (lectures, readings, and discussions in tutorials) and _Dealing in Desire_.

This assignment is **self-assessed**. This means that, after submitting your answers, you will grade your own effort. Here's how that works:

1. We will prepare a "model answer" for each of the essay questions. Read these model answers and the assessment criteria that they are intended to demonstrate. The "model answers" are *not* the definitive answers, and it is possible that a good answer will differ significantly in its content provided it successfully demonstrates understanding and analytical thinking.
2. You will write a brief reflection on your own answers. Think of your reflection as a letter addressed to the instructors in which you explain what you think was successful about your answer, and what, with the benefit of hindsight, you think could have been improved. What did you find challenging about writing your answer? What did you learn as a result of preparing your answer and reviewing it?
3. Finally, you will tell us what grade you would give yourself for the assignment as a whole. (Ideally, we would give everyone the grade they give themselves, but we reserve the right to raise or lower grades as appropriate.)

You will find the self-assessment as a "quiz" on Brightspace after you submit this assignment and the deadline has passed.

# Frequently Anticipated Questions



## How much work is this class?

ECER is a class of 5 EC, which corresponds to 140 hours of work total. That means that, in addition to attending lectures and tutorials, you should plan on spending an average of 12 hours per week on readings, homework, and assignments.

## What will we work on?

Attendance during lectures is voluntary but strongly advised. Participation in tutorials is obligatory. You may miss one session, but your tutorial instructor may ask you to complete an additional assignment to make up for the missed session. Students who miss more than one session without valid reasons will have a penalty of half a grade point applied to their final grade.

## What is my grade based on?

Assessment in this class is based on three assignments:

1. Your [research report](assignments/1.md) on a data walk (40 percent).
2. Your [group contribution](assignments/2.md) to the Hacking Ethnography collection (pass/fail, 10 percent).
3. Your answers to [essay questions](assignments/3.md) relating the course content to _Dealing in Desire_ (50 percent).

We will discuss all three assignments during tutorials.

## Can I redo any of the assignments?

In accordance with Institute and Faculty policies, you can redo an assignment if your overall grade is lower than 5.5. Your revised assignment will need to be a noticeable improvement over your original assignment to be considered for an improved grade. Be sure to incorporate any feedback provided on your first attempt.

Revised assignments will be due within two weeks after the grades for assignment 3 have been published. If you decide to redo an assignment at that point, please let the course coordinator know which one you intend to redo.

## How should I format my assignments?

Assignments 1 and 3 should follow the Institute's Style Guide, employ consistent references, and include a list of works cited. Aim to write clear prose, using paragraphs and subheadings to organize your writing. Use your creativity in assignment 2---no formal criteria apply (though you should still make sure to credit your sources!).

## Your question here!

Got more questions? [Contact us](index.md#instructors) and we'll do our best to clear everything up!

[course listing]: https://studiegids.universiteitleiden.nl/en/courses/108877

: Semester 2, Block 2

## Instructors

| Name                                    | Email                                   |
|-----------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------|
| [John Boy, PhD](https://www.jboy.space) | <j.d.boy@fsw.leidenuniv.nl>             |
| Anna Notsu                              | <a.notsu@fsw.leidenuniv.nl>             |
| Irene Moretti                           | <i.moretti@fsw.leidenuniv.nl>           |
| Marit Hiemstra                          | <m.c.j.hiemstra@fsw.leidenuniv.nl>      |
| Ruben Reus                              | <r.t.reus@fsw.leidenuniv.nl>            |
| Tim van de Meerendonk                   | <t.van.de.meerendonk@fsw.leidenuniv.nl> |

| Willem van Wijk                         | <w.l.van.wijk@fsw.leidenuniv.nl>        |

## Dates

|      week       | theme                                       | lecture             | tutorials  | due                              |
|:---------------:|---------------------------------------------|---------------------|------------|----------------------------------|
| [1](weeks/1.md) | Contemporary Challenges to Ethical Research | Apr 14, 9:15--11:00 | **none**   |                                  |
| [2](weeks/2.md) | Data, Data Everywhere                       | Apr 21, 9:15--11:00 | Apr 21--22 | [Assignment 1](assignments/1.md) |
| [3](weeks/3.md) | Hacking Ethnography                         | Apr 28, 9:15--11:00 | Apr 28--29 |                                  |
| [4](weeks/4.md) | The Ethics of Ethnography in Industry       | May 12, 9:15--11:00 | **none**   | [Assignment 2](assignments/2.md) |
| [5](weeks/5.md) | Metrics, Impact and Academic Audit Cultures | May 19, 9:15--11:00 | May 19--20 |                                  |
| [6](weeks/6.md) | The Open Imperative                         | Jun  2, 9:15--11:00 | Jun 2      | [Assignment 3](assignments/3.md) |

Please consult [MyTimetable 🐓][rooster] for the schedule of your tutorial sessions.

*All times CEST unless otherwise noted.*

## Readings

We will refer **all suspected violations** of these regulations to the examination committee. Be careful to **properly cite** all works you draw on in your assignments. The University Library offers [tutorials and advice][lib-tutorials] on what and how to cite.

## Changes

This syllabus is a living document and may be adapted as the course progresses. You can keep track of changes in the [timeline][].

[rooster]: https://rooster.universiteitleiden.nl
[readings-link]: https://surfdrive.surf.nl/files/index.php/s/hAn2GFKRE2yvT05
[plagiarism-rules]: https://www.organisatiegids.universiteitleiden.nl/en/regulations/general/plagiarism
[lib-tutorials]: https://www.library.universiteitleiden.nl/students/citing
[timeline]: https://code.jboy.space/ecer/timeline

# Week 1

## Lecture

Readings
: - Le Guin (1973)
- Mutaru (2018)

Contemporary ethnographic research continues the tradition of ethnographic inquiry in anthropology and sociology, but has some distinguishing characteristics. We will discuss the past and present of ethnographic research and how at every stage it involves decisions where ethical concerns are at stake, forcing us to ask what "the good" is in society and how we are meant to act. Further, we will cover the current research ethics regime, where it comes from, what it entails, and why it is at times contested.

**No tutorials yet this week.**

Homework
: - Find the ethics code of an anthropological or sociological association in your home country or region and read it with Mutaru (2018) at the back of your mind.

- Ask yourself: How well do you think the code could guide you when dealing with emerging ethical dilemmas? Jot down some notes.

# Week 2

## Lecture

Readings
: - Bratich (2017)
- Thomas-Hébert (2019)
- Mejias and Couldry (2019)

Whether we like it or not, we live in data-saturated environments. The lecture will present concepts for thinking about this situation, introduce cases that illustrate risks that result for individuals and groups, and discuss some implications for the conduct of ethnographic research.

## Tutorial

Homework
: - Read Powell (2018) and think about how to put the ideas discussed in the interview into practice.
- Find a news article about a recent data breach, or visit the [GDPR Enforcement Tracker](https://www.enforcementtracker.com/) and read about the details of at least one violation that was sanctioned by authorities in the Netherlands, your home country (if GDPR applies there), or another country of your choice. Come prepared to discuss the details of the case you read about.

During tutorials, you will discuss and plan the [first assignment](../assignments/1.md).

# Week 3

## Lecture

Readings
: - Markham (2012)
- De Seta (2020)

We have discussed challenges we face as we want to conduct ethnographic research in an ethical manner in today's world. But what can we do as researchers to put ethical principles into practice? How can we avoid causing harm and protect those in the field, ourselves included? We will draw on a range of practices and literatures to think through ways of "hacking" ethnography.

## Tutorial

Homework
: - Come up with a fictional ethnographic research project and complete the [EFF risk assessment](https://ssd.eff.org/en/module/your-security-plan) for that hypothetical scenario. Think about what skills or tools you would need to mitigate the risks you identified.
- Browse some of the following resources and write down a few ideas for what you would like to work on for your second assignment:
    - <https://defendourmovements.org/resources/>
    - <https://myshadow.org/>
    - <https://securityinabox.org/en/>
    - <https://totem-project.org/>

During tutorials, you will discuss and plan the [second assignment](../assignments/2.md). This will require forming groups with two or three other students in your tutorial group and coming up with a contribution to the Hacking Ethnography collection.

# Week 4

## Lecture

Readings
: - TK

In this lecture, we will be joined by **Danny Spitzberg**, a user researcher.

**No tutorials this week.**

Homework





: - Learn about the Crisis Text Line scandal by reading McNeil (2022) and at least one additional source of your own choice.
- Take some notes to prepare for a discussion in next week's tutorials.

# Week 5

## Lecture



Readings
: - Wouters (2017)
- [Leiden Manifesto](http://www.leidenmanifesto.org/) (2015)

For this session we are honored to welcome Professor **Paul Wouters**, Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences, who will speak from his vantage point about the ethics and politics of scientific knowledge production. Dean Wouters was a driving force behind the Leiden Manifesto on Research Metrics and, as a scholar of science and technology, he has studied important trends such as open science and mixed-methods research. He will also talk to us about issues that are unique to the Dutch social sciences and our own Faculty.

## Tutorial

Homework
: - Watch the [teaser video](https://pardoguerra.org/quantifiedscholar/) for Juan Pablo Pardo-Guerra's _The Quantified Scholar_.
- Read [Letters of Recommendation](https://africasacountry.com/2022/02/letters-of-recommendation/) by Sean Jacobs.

Tutorials will be an occasion to discuss specific cases and think through ethical implications of research both inside and outside of academic settings.

# Week 6

## Lecture

Readings
: - Fassin (2013) 
- Reyes (2017)
- Dilger et al. (2018)
- De Koning et al. (2019)

Researchers have a responsibility to address issues of public concern, and critical scholars in particular have the ambition of making public interventions. This requires finding formats for scholarly communication that can reach the public, but also resisting tendencies that enclose scholarly knowledge behind paywalls or within proprietary systems. In that sense, ethnographers are champions of opening up our work. The demand to be "open" can also be a challenge to those conducting critical research, particularly for ethnographers who are unable to share their data or be totally transparent about their research process. We will discuss a variety of ethical issues that are at stake in this tension.

## Tutorial

Homework
: Review your notes and come prepared with questions.

During tutorials, you will discuss [assignment 3](../assignments/3.md).

site_name: Ethics in Contemporary Ethnographic Research
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use_directory_urls: false
nav:
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  edition   = {5},
  address   = {Thousand Oaks, Calif.},
  publisher = {SAGE},
  year      = {2017},
  pages     = {526--545},
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@ARTICLE{Mutaru2018,
  author   = {Saibu Mutaru},
  title    = {Conducting Anthropological Fieldwork in Northern Ghana},
  subtitle = {Emerging Ethical Dilemmas},
  journal  = {Anthropology Southern Africa},
  volume   = {41},
  number   = {3},
  year     = {2018},
  pages    = {185--198},
  doi      = {10.1080/23323256.2018.1465350},
}
@ONLINE{Kell2021,
  author       = {Gretchen Kell},
  title        = {Kroeber {H}all, Honoring Anthropologist Who Symbolizes Exclusion, is Unnamed},
  organization = {Berkeley News},
  url          = {https://news.berkeley.edu/2021/01/26/kroeber-hall-unnamed/},
  date         = {2021-01-26},

  volume   = {15},
  number   = {3},
  year     = {2012},
  pages    = {334--353},
  doi      = {10.1080/1369118x.2011.641993},
}
@ARTICLE{Wouters2017,
  author  = {Paul Wouters},
  title   = {Bridging the Evaluation Gap},
  journal = {Engaging Science, Technology, and Society},
  volume  = {3},
  year    = {2017},
  pages   = {108--118},
  doi     = {10.17351/ests2017.115},
}
@ARTICLE{Reyes2017,
  author   = {Victoria Reyes},
  title    = {Three Models of Transparency in Ethnographic Research},
  subtitle = {Naming Places, Naming People, and Sharing Data},
  journal  = {Ethnography},
  volume   = {19},
  number   = {2},
  year     = {2017},
  pages    = {204--226},
  doi      = {10.1177/1466138117733754},
}
@ARTICLE{deKoning2019,
  author   = {de Koning, Martijn and Birgit Meyer and Annelies Moors and Peter Pels},
  title    = {Guidelines for Anthropological Research},
  subtitle = {Data Management, Ethics, and Integrity},
  journal  = {Ethnography},
  volume   = {20},
  number   = {2},
  year     = {2019},
  pages    = {170--174},
  doi      = {10.1177/1466138119843312},
}
@ARTICLE{ThomasHebert2019,
  author  = {Charlotte Thomas-H{\'e}bert},
  title   = {Conducting Sensitive Research as an Alien Ethnographer in the United States},
  journal = {American Studies Journal},
  volume  = {68},
  year    = {2019},
  doi     = {10.18422/68-07},
}
@ARTICLE{DeSeta2020,
  author  = {De Seta, Gabriele},
  title   = {Three Lies of Digital Ethnography},
  journal = {Journal of Digital Social Research},
  volume  = {2},
  number  = {1},
  year    = {2020},
  pages   = {77--97},
  doi     = {10.33621/jdsr.v2i1.24},
}
@ARTICLE{Mejias2019,
  author  = {Ulises A. Mejias and Nick Couldry},
  title   = {Datafication},
  journal = {Internet Policy Review},
  volume  = {8},
  number  = {4},
  year    = {2019},
  doi     = {10.14763/2019.4.1428},
}
@ARTICLE{McNeil2022,
  author  = {Joanne McNeil},
  title   = {Crisis Text Line and the Silicon Valleyfication of Everything},
  journal = {Motherboard},
  date    = {2022-02-10},
  url     = {https://www.vice.com/en/article/wxdpym/crisis-text-line-and-the-silicon-valleyfication-of-everything},
}