Research Ethics in the Age of Digital Platforms
Molina, José Luis (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament d'Antropologia Social i Cultural)
Tubaro, Paola (Université Paris-Saclay)
Casilli, Antonio (Institut Polytechnique de Paris)
Santos-Ortega, Antonio (Universitat de València. Departament d'Antropologia Social i Sociologia)

Date:	2023
Description:	18 pàg.
Abstract:	Scientific research is growingly increasingly reliant on "microwork" or "crowdsourcing" provided by digital platforms to collect new data. Digital platforms connect clients and workers, charging a fee for an algorithmically managed workflow based on Terms of Service agreements. Although these platforms offer a way to make a living or complement other sources of income, microworkers lack fundamental labor rights and basic safe working conditions, especially in the Global South. We ask how researchers and research institutions address the ethical issues involved in considering microworkers as "human participants. " We argue that current scientific research fails to treat microworkers in the same way as in-person human participants, producing de facto a double morality: one applied to people with rights acknowledged by states and international bodies (e. g. , the Helsinki Declaration), the other to guest workers of digital autocracies who have almost no rights at all. We illustrate our argument by drawing on 57 interviews conducted with microworkers in Spanish-speaking countries.
Grants:	Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades PID2019-111251RB-I00
Note:	Altres ajuts: acords transformatius de la UAB
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, fins i tot amb finalitats comercials, sempre i quan es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Subject:	Amazon mechanical Turk ; Crowdsourcing ; Digital platforms ; Microwork ; Research ethics ; Humans ; Helsinki Declaration ; Ethics, Research
Published in:	Science and Engineering Ethics, Vol. 29 Núm. 3 (2023) , p. 17-18, ISSN 1471-5546

DOI: 10.1007/s11948-023-00437-1
PMID: 37185917

18 p, 681.5 KB

The record appears in these collections:
Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Social and Legal Sciences > Research Group on Fundamental and Oriented Anthropology (GRAFO)
Articles > Research articles
Articles > Published articles