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Cover Quote: March 2018
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In the analog age, most social research had a relatively limited scale and operated within a set of reasonably clear rules. Social research in the digital age is different. Researchers—often in collaboration with companies and governments—have more power over participants than in the past, and the rules about how that power should be used are not yet clear. By power, I mean simply the ability to do things to people without their consent or even awareness. The kinds of things that researchers can do to people include observing their behavior and enrolling them in experiments. As the power of researchers to observe and perturb is increasing, there has not been an equivalent increase in clarity about how that power should be used. In fact, researchers must decide how to exercise their power based on inconsistent and overlapping rules, laws, and norms. This combination of powerful capabilities and vague guidelines creates difficult situations.
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- Matthew J. Salganik
Bit by Bit, 2018
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