Hi everyone,
Apologies for reviving this thread but my research was mentioned during the course of discussion and I was unable to comment on it as I was in the midst of a trial and could have been held in contempt of court for publicly discussing my situation. As some of you are aware, the case against me and the urban explorers has now been resolved, with 3 of the explorers having their prosecution stayed, 4 more being dismissed and myself and one other receiving a conditional discharge. The judge was clearly not very impressed that the British Transport Police and Crown Prosecution Service had brought this case before her.
The discussions arising from this thread about the limits and boundaries of our research (perhaps in relation to how sociologist, criminologist and anthropologist approach these issues) are more pressing than ever. An honest discussion about what protections institutions and researchers can actually offer project participants (in the real world, not on paper) is also long overdue. Where these threads dovetail, I would like to start thinking about what we need to do to change legislation in the UK so that researchers can offer the same level of protections to their project participants as journalists can for their "informants”. I am becoming seriously concerned that we are, for instance, promising project participants anonymity when in reality we have no legal way to protect their identities if our ‘data' is taken.
I've written a piece for Times Higher Education today that follows some of these threads: http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/features/feature-place-hacker-bradley-garrett-research-at-the-edge-of-the-law/1/2013717.article We also had a great symposium at Oxford two days ago, organised by Sasha Engelmann and Peter Wynn-Kirby, around ‘Trespassing in Fieldwork’ which I think they’ll be posting more about soon.
I would like to very sincerely thank those of you who stood behind me and my research, especially those of you who wrote letters on my behalf. The School of Geography and the Environment at Oxford generously gave me space and support I needed at a crucial time. I was also, amazingly, offered a permanent lecturer position in the midst of it all at the University of Southampton. I’ll be starting in September and have been really overwhelmed with how supportive everyone there has been.
Here’s to keeping the discussion going…
-Brad
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Dr Bradley L Garrett
Researcher | Technological Natures Research Cluster
School of Geography and the Environment | University of Oxford
South Parks Road | Oxford, OX1 3QY | United Kingdom
Phone: +44 (0)7590.549.322
Web I: www.geog.ox.ac.uk/staff/bgarrett.html
Web II: www.bradleygarrett.com | www.placehacking.co.uk
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Explore Everything: Place-Hacking the City
http://www.versobooks.com/books/1473-explore-everything
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