Ethical+Conundrums+EF

MEMO Ethical Conundrums

I suppose ethical conundrums of any study come up in day one, even within the framing and elucidation of ideas for what is important, what should be conveyed, what research questions to ask, who is important to talk to, who and what is in need of further study, etc. etc. I hope that through keeping my research somewhat loose, it will transform around and because of these issues as they come up, in order to give an interesting and helpful account of what is going on without being so exploitative -- that it may give back to the communities and people it is extracting from and will be a learning/growing experience in a positive light as much for me as for them.

Conundrums will come up even as I chose my field sites and decide what a worthy ‘skill-sharing’ center contains as a fruitful place for work shopping and garnering interviews. This summer will be a big exploration of that dilemma as I categorize and observe various sites available for possible research I can already feel some ethical issues during initial observations at the Troy Makerspace, as I want to help their community and participate as a volunteer and fabricator, but at the same time I need to place myself outside the community in order to observe and keep a (somewhat) full perspective of the dynamics and issues within the place. This bind of being within but having to remain outside or distanced in these community centers may be a difficult space for me to traverse and work within. I want to make friends, and join in and make 'cool' things and utilize the space while contributing to it as a community member, but then is it weird for me to turn around and write about it? As long as I am upfront about my intentions I suppose not, but still -- maybe so. I already have issues trying to figure how best to tell them about my research, to be able to explain what I am doing so that they fully understand the implications and why I want to do this research. That may get tricky.

I want to make some kind of interventions, get involved in the spaces, lead some workshops, but I also want to be respectful of their community, and at the same time I will end up becoming part of the community in some of the places I study--particularly the one that exists in the city I inhabit. I do not want to misrepresent their intentions or be biased in any way, but of course this will happen in some sense – having power through my describing force must be dealt with delicately in communities I inhabit. Even in those I do not inhabit for the sake of all involved.

Very basic, kids might want to be in the spaces making things -- should I discount their contributions? What if they do something really awesome? Then I have to rethink IRB, etc.