On making ethical choices in ethnographic research into (young) people’s mediated intimacy : a research note

People's intimate life-worlds are increasingly taking place in networked media spaces such as social media, smartphone applications and virtual reality environments. For (digital) ethnographers, it becomes crucial to understand people's intense intimate attachments to mediated spaces. Many researchers are already exploring networked media spaces' affects; what opportunities they offer for people's intimacies as well as the, albeit hidden, damage they may bring. However, there are many challenges for qualitative researchers to operate ethically when inquiring into people's intimate life-worlds in networked media spaces. A framework of contextual integrity needs to consider what it means to live a personal life in deeply mediatised contexts. For an ethnographic researcher, being present in the intimate networked media spaces of research subjects, means tapping into affective networks. Responsible researchers should therefore understand the contextual affective dynamics and affordances of these networked media spaces; this implies understanding what it means to be present as a researcher and what the implications are of this presence