Par-delà la dichotomie public/privé : la mise en visibilité des pratiques numériques et ses enjeux éthiques

• Published in: Tic & société Vol. 7; no. Vol. 7, N° 2
• Main Authors: Latzko-Toth, Guillaume, PASTINELLI, Madeleine
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English; French
• Published: Association de Recherche en Technologies de l’Information et de la Communication 01.05.2019
• Subjects: degree of publicity; digital practices; public/private dichotomy; research ethics; visibility
• ISSN: 1961-9510; 1961-9510
• DOI: 10.4000/ticetsociete.1591

The private or public status of data is in the midst of debates and discussions about ethical issues raised by research on digital practices. In the context of an increasingly stringent regulation of research in social sciences and humanities, but also in order to provide tools to researchers looking for clearer guidelines in online research ethics, it seemed necessary to question the grounds of normative discourses that are based on the public/private dichotomy. We argue that it is hardly suited to conceptualize digital practices and issues related to the well-being of social subjects involved in the research. Instead, we propose to consider the degree of publicity of collected data, and to be concerned with the harm that an amplification of that publicity can generate, be it caused by researchers, involved actors, or third parties. In so doing, this paper takes on the task of proposing a common conceptual framework to think practices of both actors and researchers.