Thanks for raising the issue of privacy, ethics and audio Michael. This is an issue for Australian researchers as much as British ones. I recently undertook some audio recording with a colleague in a public place in Melbourne. We debated the ethics of this at the time. I'd be interested to know what others think about the extent to which an audible voice in a soundscape, recorded without permission, contravenes principles of ethical research.
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From: A forum for critical and radical geographers [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of Michael Gallagher [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 06 September 2011 20:54
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: photographs in public places in UK
In response to David's comments, I think it might be helpful to
distinguish between legality and ethics. The two are by no means
equivalent. When it comes to research practice, the most commonly
invoked principles - consent, anonymity etc - are principles of research
ethics, not laws. Legally, in the UK, as long as you respect data
protection law with the data you gather, you can 'do what you like' with
interviews, ethnography etc much as you can with photography.
Journalists, for example, routinely use interviews in ways that are
legal but would be seen as ethically dubious by many social researchers.
I understood the original question to be specifically about what is
legal in the UK. The ethics of photography seems like a different, much
more open ended, debate to get into.
While we're on the subject, does anyone know the legal position on audio
recording in public in th UK?
Michael Gallagher
On 06/09/2011 00:00, CRIT-GEOG-FORUM automatic digest system wrote:
> Date: Mon, 5 Sep 2011 16:14:01 +0100
> From: David Crouch<[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Re: photographs in public places in UK
>
> Hi
>
> in view of the manic ethical procedures for research practie in every other field [largely a v good thing] it is astounding that you can grab a camers and do what you like.
>
> interesting, worrying, worth a good debate- at least I`d hope professional-crit geographers would exercise good ethics
> David
--
Dr. Michael Gallagher
Postdoctoral Research Associate
University of Glasgow
School of Geographical and Earth Sciences
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Email: [log in to unmask]
Web: http://www.michaelgallagher.co.uk
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