Hi,
There's a whole host of issues here, of course. To pick out a few...
Informed consent - whilst the vast majority of research works on this
model (imported, seemingly, from the medical sciences), you simply can't
get informed consent from everyone if you're doing research in public
spaces. Indeed, some universities have a clause in their ethics policy
which reflects this (as mine did when I did my PhD), allowing you to do
your research without trying to get informed consent from an entire
city. In light of this, we have to ask ourselves whether or not our
photographs can reasonably be expected to cause "harm" to those people
in them, and proceed on that basis. And as Paul Williams just wrote,
whether they may be exploiting the vulnerable. I would say that most of
my research pictures - shots of crowds with some individuals
distinguishable - could not be reasonably expected to cause any harm at
all. I would also argue that if you want to take a picture of an
individual for your research (close-up), then you ought to ask
permission - there's much more likelihood of causing distress there.
The right to withdraw from research - I don't see that this can be
expected to apply to research on public spaces in the same way as other
research. I would say that we have to accept, as a society, that to be
in public means to appear before others (which is different from
accepting state surveillance, which has no mutuality of appearance, a
very different power relation). The only proviso I would add is that I'm
assuming you're not going to be working to identify people in your
pictures without their knowledge. Equally, if someone asks you to delete
a photo, then do so. Whilst you can reasonably expect that photography
won't cause 'distress', if it does, delete the picture and move on.
Of course, the deeper issue here is that of what being "in public"
means, which is perhaps a whole other debate.
I think it's probably unfair to say that you can grab a camera and do
what you like, at least in my experience. These are issues that will
still be raised in the ethics review, with broad rules of behaviour
subsequently set, but I think the best way to deal with them is to be
sensitive to and observant of other's feelings when you're doing the
actual research, on the ground. I've had some quite positive responses
from the general public when taking photos in public space - people
interested in what I'm doing or just happy to see someone taking an
interest. I wonder if this is in part due to the fact that I was mainly
operating outside London. Its levels of paranoia do seem to be markedly
higher than those of other cities. I've actually never had a
confrontation whilst taking pictures in public, and I wouldn't want
others to be put off from it as a research method. I also wouldn't want
to see the mission creep of the ethics boards destroy a valuable
approach to cities and public spaces because it doesn't fit a standard
model. I think as long as we're sane and sensitive about what we're
doing we shouldn't worry.
All the best,
Matt-
On 05/09/11 16:14, David Crouch wrote:
> 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
> ________________________________________
> From: A forum for critical and radical geographers [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Deb Ranjan Sinha [[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: 31 August 2011 10:51
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: photographs in public places in UK
>
> while i am no lawyer, it should be OK according to this guideline:
>
> *Members of the public and the media do not need a permit to film or
> photograph in public places and police have no power to stop them
> filming or photographing incidents or police personnel.*
>
> http://www.met.police.uk/about/photography.htm
>
>
> On Tue, Aug 30, 2011 at 6:40 PM, Adefemi Kingsley Adekunle
> <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> Does this apply to being stoppend and searched by the police? Can you
>> photo an officer who does that to you?
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