Hello UX meeting-y people (and I've cc'ed tor-project as well, if anyone wants to give me their two cents): 

I have gotten an unusual request--a researcher wants to observe us. Are there guidelines on this sort of thing? 

My immediate gut reactions is: well, this is technically a public channel but having someone observe us and participating are different. And as a researcher, I know that people being aware that they are being observed cause them to act differently versus when they are unaware anyway (not that he shouldn't have asked for consent, he definitely should have). 

What are your thoughts? 

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: COLLIER Ben <s1263350@sms.ed.ac.uk>
Date: Wed, Apr 12, 2017 at 7:10 AM
Subject: Tor Research - Re: [tor-project] Weekly UX meeting on Jitsi!
To: "linda@torproject.org" <linda@torproject.org>


Dear Linda,


I hope that this finds you well. I'm a doctoral researcher at the University of Edinburgh currently researching the Tor Project and the broader Tor community - in particular my research seeks to explore how antisurveillance tech communities discuss and express values through design processes. I've been conducting some initial interviews with members of the Tor community and I was hoping to carry out some online research - in particular sitting in on a couple of discussions like the one on Jitsi mentioned in your email below. 


In terms of meetings like this one, or on Tor Project's IRC channels, do you think it would be possible for me (with the consent and knowledge of participants) to observe and include these in an anonymised form in the research? If so, I'm very keen to conduct these in a mindful and respectful way, and to minimise any disruption, and would be happy to discuss the best way to do this in this particular case. I would also be very happy to feed back and discuss my findings with participants and the wider community once the research is complete. I'm also absolutely happy to answer any questions or discuss any concerns which you or any other member of the team have about my research.


Very best,


Ben Collier


Twitter: @JohnnyHistone
Scottish Centre for Crime and Criminal Justice Research: http://www.sccjr.ac.uk/about-us/people/ben-collier/
Edinburgh University PhD Student Profile: http://www.law.ed.ac.uk/research/students/viewstudent?ref=339
PhD Blog: https://bencollierblog.wordpress.com/




From: tor-project <tor-project-bounces@lists.torproject.org> on behalf of Linda Naeun Lee <linda@torproject.org>
Sent: 11 April 2017 20:22:14
To: tor-project@lists.torproject.org; ux@lists.torproject.org
Subject: [tor-project] Weekly UX meeting on Jitsi!
 
Hi all, 

We're meeting weekly on https://meet.jit.si/TorUX on Mondays at 15:00 UTC. Currently, it's going to be discussions about redesigning the website. 


Feel free to listen in on what is going on, if you are curious. 

The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in
Scotland, with registration number SC005336.