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Is This Too Personal? An Autoethnographic Approach to Researching Intimate Archives Online

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Diversity, Divergence, Dialogue (iConference 2021)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNISA,volume 12646))

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Abstract

This short research paper uses a personal research story to explore how autoethnographic methods can provide a guide to navigating the complicated ethics of researching online. Drawing on the author’s personal experience of bereavement and her subsequent research in online grief communities, the paper demonstrates how autoethnography can provide a lens for identifying points of tension, conflict and vulnerability in online research. The paper concludes by advocating for compassionate research [1] and shows how autoethnographic inquiry supports its development.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Information, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z1, Canada

    Jennifer Douglas

Authors
  1. Jennifer Douglas
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Correspondence to Jennifer Douglas .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Humboldt University of Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Katharina Toeppe

  2. Renmin University of China, Beijing, China

    Hui Yan

  3. The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong

    Samuel Kai Wah Chu

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Douglas, J. (2021). Is This Too Personal? An Autoethnographic Approach to Researching Intimate Archives Online. In: Toeppe, K., Yan, H., Chu, S.K.W. (eds) Diversity, Divergence, Dialogue. iConference 2021. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 12646. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-71305-8_24

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-71305-8_24

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-71304-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-71305-8

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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