Privacy and policies in online spaces
Call for research study interview participants!
Northwestern IRB: STU00219666
PIs: Aaron Shaw, Yan Shvartzshnaider
A collaborative research team (Northwestern University, York University) is seeking individuals involved in decentralized online spaces like the Fediverse to participate in interviews for a research study on privacy and policies online (Northwestern IRB #STU00219666).
We would love to schedule a time to talk with you about your experience on your Fediverse instance! The overall purpose of this study is to understand how users see community policies as functioning in their online communities. Our goal is to understand how we can develop better strategies, policies, and tools to protect user rights like privacy.
Participants do NOT need to be familiar with any policies to participate, and no preparation is required. We expect most interviews will run between 50 and 90 minutes. Participants will receive an Amazon eGift card with a value of $20 USD.
If you are interested in participating, please feel free to fill out the screener survey here:
[SCREENER SURVEY LINK]
In order for us to interview you, you must be an adult who is familiar with online communities on the Fediverse and who is willing and able to record an interview in English with a researcher from our team. Interviews will be conducted remotely via voice or video chat depending on your preferences. We will not disclose any identifying information about you. While we may quote you in our study, we take several measures to ensure you cannot be identified through quotes or in any resulting publications.
You can see a full information sheet about the study here:
[LINK TO INFORMATION SHEET]
If you are located in the EU, here is an additional document containing GDPR-compliant information:
[GDPR-COMPLIANT INFO SHEET LINK]
If you are located in China, here is an additional document containing additional PIPL-compliant information:
[PIPL-COMPLIANT INFO SHEET LINK]
contact information
This research is led by PhD student Sohyeon Hwang, in collaboration with PhD student Priyanka Nanayakkara, and head-supervised by Professor Yan Shvartzshnaider. You can find our contact information below:sohyeon hwang | sohyeonhwang [at] u.northwestern.edu | 
priyanka nanayakkara | priyankan [at] u.northwestern.edu |
yan shvartzshnaider | yansh [at] lassonde.yorku.ca |
aaron shaw | aaronshaw [at] northwestern.edu |
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