Corpus 2

[TokyoBouncyBall]

A summary would be good and I might do one later but Aston, data scraping, astonishing lack of contrition…

'The data will be obtained through a manual search of the Mumsnet website using the appropriate criteria needed for each thread. The entire thread - both the original posts and the comments underneath it- will be collated into a text file.

There were two factors I needed to consider when measuring whether informed consent must be gathered for the purpose of this project: the first is how much contact I will have with the Mumsnet posters, and the second is the level of privacy afforded by Mumsnet fora (Eysenbach and Till, 2001). I will carry out a ‘passive’ (Eysenbach and Till, 2001:1103) analysis of the linguistic data, meaning that I will not be directly involved with the Mumsnet posters. Instead, I will analyse linguistic data that already exists on the website. According to Roberts (2015), this usually means that informed consent is not required.

8 | P a g e

To establish whether the data on Mumsnet was ‘public’, and therefore not requiring informed consent, I used the three-step framework established in Eysenbach and Till (2001). The first measure is ‘the perceived level of privacy’ (Eysenbach and Till, 2001: 1104) of the community, such as if the community requires registration to access it. Mumsnet is not a ‘password-protected’ (Roberts, 2015:317) space, meaning that
it is public, which reinforces that informed consent will not be needed for the purposes of the research. The second measure is the ‘number of…users’ (Eysenbach and Till, 2001:1104) in the discourse community, with a smaller community being more private than one with a larger volume (e.g., hundreds or thousands) of users. As each of the 18 corpora will contain approximately 150 Mumsnet posters’ comments, there will be approximately 2,700 total Mumsnet posters’ comments used in the research, making the sample of the community used large. The wider Mumsnet community is larger still, with more than 10 million users on the site (Livingston, 2018). Therefore, the large Mumsnet community makes the site ‘public’ (Eysenbach and Till, 2001: 1104), and its public nature contributes to whether informed consent should be gathered.

Due to the size of the dataset, it is impractical and unattainable to obtain consent for the thousands of total participants, posting within a 15-year timeframe. Because Mumsnet posters comment anonymously, this would require sending a direct message to every poster individually, many of whom will have deactivated or otherwise abandoned their accounts. Lastly, Eysenbach and Till (2001) suggest that rules established in an online community also contribute to its privacy. Mumsnet (2023) acknowledges in its FAQ section that text may be extracted from the website and used for external purposes, and identifies the site as an ‘open’ forum. Because they outline this explicitly to their users, it reinforces that the data taken from Mumsnet in this project will be public.

Therefore, because the analysis was identified as ‘passive’ (Eysenbach and Till, 2001:1103) and because all three of Eysenbach and Till’s (2001) criteria identified the data as public, informed consent will not be gathered from the Mumsnet posters nor Mumsnet for the purpose of the research. '

Sorry about the formatting glitches, I can't seem to fix them.

Eden, what a lot of shite.

'A key will also be created of Mumsnet usernames to quantify the number of posters in each thread, which will give me a number of participants overall. This will be done by copying and pasting each username on each thread into a spreadsheet for each corpus, and cross-referencing how many threads feature posters with the same name. This will also allow me to assign pseudonyms to participants if needed, and to track which pseudonym belongs to each user. This key will be deleted after the redaction
has taken place. '

So you are quite happy to create a 'key' of usernames and cross reference them, but there are so many usernames you just can't be fucked seeking consent. I see.

Aston University haven't given a single solitary shiny shit about the posters and owners of mumsnet, the people that actually hold the copyright to the information that Aston University have stolen wholesale from the site in massive, humongous quantities explicitly against the terms and conditions of the site.

Aston University if you are reading this, and by god you should be, you are so unethical I don't even have the words to describe how unethical you are.

You should be thoroughly ashamed of yourselves.

Arabella, that why i stopped I was having to reformat!

'There is a very small risk of potential loss of anonymity of posters. Though the analysis of language in this project is corpus-based, focusing on large bodies of texts at once rather than one thread or comment, the nature of the project focuses on the precise language used by Mumsnet members, meaning the analysis will not be adequately explained in its entirety with paraphrased quotes. Verbatim strings will need to be reproduced. Nevertheless, personal information of a Mumsnet account holder is not accessible via the site -so even if strings were searched online, the username does not link to an identifiable individual.
Additionally, usernames on Mumsnet are described in Pedersen and Lupton (2018:59) as ‘pseudonyms’, often containing no identifiable information, specifically for the purpose of ‘maintaining anonymity’. Therefore, both pseudonymous usernames and, in likely rare occasions, usernames containing potentially
revealing information will both be anonymized, and verbatim strings will only be used for users with pseudonymous usernames. Where usernames are potentially identifiable, verbatim strings will not be used from that member. Whether a Mumsnet member’s language may be quoted verbatim or not will be included during my own pseudonymisation process. The pseudonyms that I give will end in a ‘Q’ for ‘quotable’ if their username contains no identifying information, and is thus able to be quoted verbatim.
This information will also be included in the key produced for the total of Mumsnet members. Discourse surrounding revealing information such as locations will be redacted, alongside names of figures not in the public eye. '

'Overall, it will be unlikely that posters’ true identities will be accidentally revealed during the project. This has been discussed at length between me and my
supervisors. '

'If it will be necessary for participants to take part in the study without their knowledge and/or full informed consent at the time, please explain why (if you intend to recruit adult participants who
lack capacity to consent, please contact [email protected] before proceeding with this application).
(Covert observations, for example, may be necessary in some settings/contexts and some studies may need to use deception or partial deception upfront to avoid influencing the findings; if these situations apply to your study, please explain them carefully and justify why this approach is necessary)

The data will be taken from publicly available online fora, therefore it is impractical and unattainable to obtain consent for the thousands of total participants, posting within a 15-year timeframe. Due to the anonymous set-up of Mumsnet, this would require sending a direct message to every poster individually, many of whom will have deactivated or otherwise abandoned their accounts. '

Bollocks. Other researchers have managed to conduct research ethically, seeking consent, etc.

Oh, look, lots of directly relevant questions, to which Eden has provied a 'N/A' answer:

17. Could participation cause discomfort (physical and/or psychological – e.g., distressing, sensitive or embarrassing topics), inconvenience and/or danger beyond the risks encountered in normal life? Please indicate the level of risk and plans to address these potential risks. (Please consider if the study might cause a participant physical discomfort (e.g., use of devices/sensors, physical exertion, application of substances, etc.) or require any limitations to activity before/after their participation, psychological discomfort (e.g., questions about mood, mental or physical health, personal behaviours/experiences, etc.) or if by participating in your study an individual could be placed in a compromising position – e.g., an employee could risk their job by participating; please ensure appropriate measures are in place to mitigate such risks – e.g., risk assessment of physical devices/substances, support resources in lace for psychological distress, avoiding running interviews with employees in their workplace and suitable measures to mitigate employer coercion; finally, please document how you will handle disclosures during data collection that would require action on your part – e.g., indication of risk to the individual or someone else)

N/A

18. State the timescales within which participants may withdraw from the study, noting your reasons. (Where data has been collected completely anonymously – e.g., fully anonymised online surveys – it will not typically be possible for participants to withdraw after submission and this needs to be made clear in the PIS; where participants have contributed to the likes of a focus group, they can withdraw their participation and no quotes from them should be used but their data up to the point of withdrawal cannot be fully withdrawn as it has influenced the direction of the group discussion and this needs to be made clear in he PIS; for most other studies, participants should be given a reasonable window within which to withdraw their research data –e.g., 2 weeks from the date of their participation – but if you are holding any personal data (e.g. e-mail addresses of participants for future contact) this should be deleted if the participant requests at any time.

N/A

19. Do you anticipate any power imbalances or dependent relationships, either with participants or with/within the research team? If yes, please explain how you intend to address these? (Power imbalances can lead to coercion or perceived coercion and so it is best to avoid these where possible; examples of such relationships include staff recruiting to studies students they teach/supervise, employers recruiting employees to a study on behalf of a researcher, etc.; as such, consider how you could recruit your participants in such a way as to remove this imbalance or avoid dependent relationships in the recruitment process)

N/A

20. Please give details of any conflicts of interest which need to be considered for your project? (Such conflicts could include power imbalances as noted above, where research is funded by an external, commercial entity which stands to gain directly from the research, where members of the team have vested interest in the outcome of the research, etc; these should be clearly declared and mitigating measures outlined where applicable/possible) ^^ N/A

Eden doesn't give a fuck how her research affects other people.

However, she is keen to consider any effects on her:

'21. What potential risks may exist for the researcher and/or research team? Please indicate plans to address such risks?
(Just as it is important to protect study participants, we need to ensure the safety of our researchers; to this end, please consider where there is potential for risk to members of your research team – such risks might include lone working, exposure to distressing subject matter, conducting the research in some international research locations (which would need submission of travel risk assessment and approval for international travel); support for researchers would include lone worker considerations which should be covered by a risk
assessment, access to support networks related to the topic of study and, in extreme cases, regular professional/psychological assessment to monitor the researchers’ wellbeing, s)

It is likely that I will be somewhat affected by the discourse on Mumsnet. To try and mediate this risk, I will attend regular meetings with my supervisor to discuss any emotional problems that I face and take regular breaks during data collection. I will also meet with my AIFL postgraduate cohort frequently to discuss my research to discuss any challenging aspects with my peers. Psychological support will also be provided by AIFL through clinical supervision. I plan to attend these monthly to discuss the psychological
impact of my research to me. I will also attend group sessions once per semester.

Also, it could be likely that undertaking a close reading of a community in detail about their potentially negative traits may give me unwanted publicity within that community. To try to mediate this risk, I will
undertake a sound study based upon the linguistic data from the Mumsnet threads, which, though focusing on hate speech, will be objective in its initial approach. I understand the risks to myself associated with undertaking this kind of research being made publicly available to those on whose language it focuses, but believe that it is necessary to protect a minority group. My supervisor will be available to provide support and advice should any form of negative publicity about the project occur. '

'Section 2: Supervisor Comments
...
I can confirm that I have had extensive discussions with Eden about this application and the design of the project as a whole. We have talked at great length about the importance of redacting usernames and applying pseudonyms, and destroying the key to pseudonyms as soon as soon as this is completed. While strings of words will remain searchable and discoverable on Mumsnet.com, they will not point to an identifiable individual as this information is not shared on Mumsnet. We have also discussed the importance of researcher welfare and ensured adequate support is in place. '

I'll be honest having read the document I'm more appalled than when this broke! They are literally the polar opposite of ethical.

This is interesting. There were issues flagged up by the Ethics Committee:

'From: BSS Research Ethics Committee

'...there were a few things to flag to you so that we can move this forward quickly for you.

'The first is that your data storage does not appear to be adhering to the Research Data Management Policy (2023) with use of Aston’s Box for your data. This will be an essential as the Chairs will be looking to ensure you’re adhering to all Aston policies and keeping data safe.

The second is just to flag the possibility that any direct quotes you may use (I wasn’t sure if this was a possibility) could be googled and lead back to the Mumsnet user which MAY including identifiable information (as we can’t guarantee pseudonymisation via username e.g. if I was [BLANK SPACE I ASSUME INFO REDACTED - Arabella] , someone could work out it was me!). It would be great if you could discuss how you’re mitigating this a little more to demonstrate that you’ve thought about the possibility (even if remote) and what steps you’re taking to ensure accidental identification doesn’t take place. This might be via paraphrasing quotes instead of direct ones, etc.'

And there the FOI ends. No response from Eden is recorded.

Poor Eden, forcing herself to read things posted on mumsnet. A torture akin to A Clockwork Orange.

The person releasing the info had fucked up. On the pdf they redacted the above information. On the html they didn't redact!!

Oh dear, Aston are a bit shit aren't they? It shouldn't have been possible to 'unredact' s.21 comments as they were hidden on the version I downloaded.Yet here they are making Eden 's personal information freely available.

If as a university they can't even redact both versions of one document how can they be trusted with redacting pertinent information in a thesis?

What a monumental fuck up

There's worse on the html copy as they've also failed to redact Eden's mobile number at the top. Am just going to hope that someone from Aston is reading this and can do something about it.

It does make me wonder about the governance at Aston Universaity that allows such a piss poor fuck up to happen with regards personal data whilst trying to persuade us they are as ethical as ethical can be whilst they unethically steal all our data!

17. Could participation cause discomfort (physical and/or psychological – e.g., distressing, sensitive or embarrassing topics), inconvenience and/or danger beyond the risks encountered in normal life?

Well I find this whole thing extremely threatening psychologivcally in that Aston appear to be acting like the Stasi. Eden is labelling us as people committing 'hate speech'(with no justification for this summary 'burn the witches' judgement) then laughably goes on to claim Edenself will be 'objective'. Hah!

Woman HAVE lost their jobs for being sex realists - remember Maya Forstater, Eden?

FFS, this is piss poor.

Please can some journalists report on this?

Oh god! The poor sod.

Eden get a new mobile number asap. Whilst most people won't be arses, there will be people out there, not us lovely women on mumsnet, that will use that. And also you may wish to put a complaint in yourself about what the University has done to you here. They should have redacted your personal contact details on both copies.

Split screen photos of how the pdf version and html version differ.

I have blanked out Edens' phone number for obvious reasons.

It's laughably incompetent.

'We're soooo super special and great we'll be able to protect people being targeted and abused as a result of our work so we're not going to bother thinking about this' vs

'oops, we appear to have released an employee's phone number to those she has libelled as 'extremist''

Actions speak louder than words, Aston. Your actions are very much failing a GCSE in data protection and ethics let along being worthy of being a University.

Edited to add - yes, the women on MN ARE lovely which is perhaps why they've not bothered so much. I'm guessing if there was any chance of actual extremists obtaining information in this way they'd be a bit more careful. You'd hope anyway.

Aston is not fit for purpose.

Having read how Eden intends to do her phd, and the assumptions she is starting from, plus adding in one poster having maybe even hundreds of usernames, deleted posts, that sometimes just talk about cake, the heavy use of sarcasm on mumsnet etc etc I can't help feel that if Eden does go ahead with this PhD then it truly will be a case of

GARBAGE IN GARBAGE OUT

and she will have spent a good two/three years of her life working on something that isn't worth the paper it's written on

And the last one