PARTICIPANT INFORMATION STATEMENT

PARTICIPANT INFORMATION STATEMENT
Journalism and Governance in Second Life® Research

You are invited to be part of this study into journalism and its relation to governance in Second Life. As a resident of Second Life you may read SL publications like Second Life Herald, Metaverse Messenger, New World Notes, Massively or other blog or news sites about SL. You will also have been affected by changes to the rules or code that ‘govern’ SL, such as the imposition of banking and gambling regulations. Even if you haven’t been affected by these changes or don’t read about SL news, you will have opinions and perceptions about the way in which the SL world is governed and the role the in-world media plays in its development.

It is your knowledge and opinions about these issues that can help us to learn more about the governance of SL and Massively Multiplayer Online Games generally.

The study is being conducted by myself, Annabelle Boyd Jones, Media and Communications student (sljournalismresearch@gmail.com) and will form the basis for an honours degree at The University of Sydney under the supervision of Fiona Martin, Lecturer in Convergent and Online Media. You can contact her on ph: +612 9036 5098 or frmartin@usyd.edu.au.

I would like to use this blog to promote discussions around these topics throughout August 2008. I will be conducting interviews with SL media publishers, journalists, SL administrators, civic figures and SL residents. I will also chart the progress of my research through this blog.

If you participate in this blog, I may approach you afterward to be interviewed privately, if you are interested and at your convenience. The blog will be online at www.SLjournalismresearch.blogspot.com from May 2008 until November 2008. Please be aware that the blog is considered public space and you are contributing to a public conversation. You may use your online pseudonym if you wish to protect your offline identity, however this name will remain attached to your comments. If you would like to make any private comments or communicate privately with me, please feel free to email me at SLjournalismresearch@gmail.com.

Participating in any part of this study is completely voluntary - you are not under any obligation to consent and - if you do consent - you can withdraw at any time without prejudice or penalty.

You may withdraw from the blog and discussions at any time if you do not wish to continue. Your contributions up to that point will be removed from the public domain as far as possible.

However when your comments were given as part of the blog conversation AND your consent was freely given at the time of those comments, these comments will not be withdrawn from the research analysis. Your identity will be kept confidential and the comments designated anonymous. This caveat is because the research is studying public conversation and ideas about participatory journalism – removing one side of the conversation is likely to render that whole conversation non-sensical and redundant. Again I would like to stress that these conversations are considered to take place in public space. Nevertheless I will make every effort to negotiate with you and remove private or sensitive information from these conversations.

The consent form follows this information statement, and becoming a member of this blog constitutes informed consent. Your informed consent is required to participate in the study.

The results of the study will be published online, linked to my blog, publicized in the in-world media and possibly published in academic journals. Only I will have access to any private interview material and any private communications with you.

There are no incentives or payments for taking part in this study. However, you may enjoy engaging in the discussion about journalism and its relationship to the development of SL. Your participation may also aid in our understanding of important governance processes in SL.

For any discussion which takes place within SL, all participants will be expected to abide by the SL Community Standards as laid out by Linden Labs at http://secondlife.com/corporate/cs.php.

You will also be expected to follow the ethical guidelines as laid out in the Bloggers Code of Ethics available at http://blogging.wikia.com/wiki/ Blogger's_Code_of_Conduct.

Anyone found to be breaching these standards may be reported to Linden Labs, if the conduct occurs in SL, and may be asked to leave the research. This is to ensure the safety and wellbeing of all participants.

Please feel free to let other people know about this study, and direct them to the blog to decide if they wish to participate.

If you wish to obtain more information about the research, please visit the blog at www.SLjournalismresearch.blogspot.com or email me at SLjournalismresearch@gmail.com.

Any person with concerns or complaints about the conduct of a research study can contact the Senior Ethics Officer, Ethics Administration, University of Sydney on +612 9351 4811 (Telephone); +612 9351 6706 (Facsimile) or gbriody@usyd.edu.au (Email).

This information sheet is available in printable form on the blog. Please keep a copy for your records.