March 7, 2024
As people increasingly become users of digital technologies, user data collection has surged. With more people using social media apps and websites, platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok have collected more user data than ever before. However, this poses ethical dilemmas for both users and researchers. How should user data collection and usage be managed? What is considered ‘ethical’ data collection and usage? On Feb. 26, these topics were discussed in Social Media Data Ethics, an event part of the Data Ethics Across the Disciplines series sponsored by the University Library System (ULS) and the Research, Ethics and Society Initiative (RESI).
The discussion was led by panelists:
- Lara Putnam, UCIS professor (History), Director of the Global Studies Center, and co-lead for the Civic Resilience Initiative of the Pitt Disinformation Lab
- Elise Silva, postdoctoral associate, Pitt Cyber’s Disinformation Lab and the Western PA Writing Project
- Frances Corry, assistant professor, Department of Information Culture and Data Stewardship
Putnam and Silva began by discussing their work with Pitt Cyber’s Disinformation Lab, which aims to conduct research and frameworks to counteract the spread of disinformation and cultivate ethical networks of information.
“We don't want people to just learn, we want them to participate! Frameworks like these must be interdisciplinary,” said Silva. “Together, with our shared knowledge of ethics within our disciplines, we can discuss how to interact with these datasets considering things like privacy, sustainability, and governance.”
“Social media platforms are a crucial vector of social, cultural, and political dynamics in the modern world. Finding ethical and appropriate methods for research that help us understand these dynamics is a crucial challenge for scholars in the 21st century, and one that requires the kind of multidisciplinary dialogue Pitt’s University Library System has convened in this series,” declared Putnam.
Corry then presented a case study from her book project regarding the data ethics implications in shutting down social media platforms. Corry cited Vine and MySpace as examples of how platforms handle user data amidst shutdowns.
“Through interviews with former employees of platforms that have closed, I observed how there are few known ethical parameters when it comes to data management at a platform’s end of life, and employees really have to fall back on their own values to navigate what to do,” explained Corry. “Working with data is never outside of values, never outside of ethics...so, we may as well think about these issues and talk about them openly, together!”
Rachel Starry, head of Digital Scholarship Services at ULS, organized the event and encourages people to attend future panels in the series.
“We’re hoping these interactive conversations will surface shared concerns and strategies for collecting, using, and sharing different kinds of data at Pitt, as well as help build a community of practitioners who can continue to stay in conversation with each other after the series wraps up,” stated Starry.
Learn more about the Data Ethics Across the Disciplines series and register for an upcoming event here!
--Alyssa Morales