Skeebs
Bluelighter
Update March 22, 2022
Thank you to everyone who participated in the interview described below. In order to make it easier for more people to share their perspectives, we have added an option to complete a survey, rather than the interview. The survey will take approximately 10-15 minutes, and there will be an opportunity at the end to optionally provide an email address to be entered into a raffle to win one of two $25 Amazon gift cards.
Unlike the interviews, you will not be asked in the survey to provide your own Bluelight or other usernames. Any results you see depict random, anonymized members. No analysis will be conducted on your data, and we will not ask for usernames, demographics, or any other personal information whatsoever.
If you would like to take part in this survey, please use the following Qualtrics link. All responses are completely anonymous, and email addresses (if you choose to provide one) will not be linked to your survey responses.
https://lehigh.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_8caTvv8sIiqBHOC
The motivation and background below remain relevant to the survey version. You are more than welcome (and encouraged!) to participate in the interview as well if you would like to talk with us in more detail. Please reach out to me by email or PM if you have any questions.
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My name is Patrick Skeba and I’m a PhD student in computer science at Lehigh University (PA, USA) - you might remember me from another study I posted here a couple years ago. Have you ever wondered what sort of information is revealed by your Bluelight posts that a computer could uncover? Over the past year, my team and I have implemented an algorithm that can analyze the writing style of Bluelight posts and create a unique profile for each account. This can allow us to identify authors of anonymous posts, and even link accounts across websites with completely publicly available data.
Although these methods have been around for a number of years, not enough researchers have tried to understand how they might impact internet users' privacy. How do people feel about these systems who might actually be affected by them? Based on my previous interactions, I think Bluelighters are uniquely poised to offer valuable insights into the potential benefits and harms of these kinds of analyses.
In this interview, I'd like to know more about how and why you use Bluelight, in order to understand how these algorithms could affect you and the community. I'll also be sharing the results of several experiments we've run and looking for your feedback as to how we should interpret the findings and what possible applications and consequences you see. You'll also have the opportunity to (optionally) provide your own account names to see how your posts are analyzed.
This study has received approval from Lehigh University's Institutional Review Board (IRB). The interview should take about 30 minutes, and you will never be asked for any personally identifiable information. To allow you to remain anonymous, we will ask that you schedule a time for the interview and you will receive a link to a virtual conference room - no emails required. I plan to use our university's Zoom account for the interview, but if you would prefer a different service (for example, the anonymous site Talky.io) please contact me (pts217 at lehigh dot edu). With your permission, I will record audio of the interview, but video will never be recorded and you are not required to turn your camera on. If you provide your own usernames to Bluelight or Reddit (for the cross-site demonstration), any data we collect or analyses we perform will be used exclusively for your interview and will be destroyed afterwards.
You must be at least 18 years old to participate.
If you're interested, please follow this link to the consent form and pre-interview survey, where you'll also find more information about our lab and the study. Please share your questions in this thread, by private message, or by email. The signup process may be a little strange because of our IRB requirements, so I can make changes or add additional information to this thread if it becomes a problem.
Link to consent form and signup:
https://lehigh.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_0cQzu8xCht7DNuS
Thank you to everyone who participated in the interview described below. In order to make it easier for more people to share their perspectives, we have added an option to complete a survey, rather than the interview. The survey will take approximately 10-15 minutes, and there will be an opportunity at the end to optionally provide an email address to be entered into a raffle to win one of two $25 Amazon gift cards.
Unlike the interviews, you will not be asked in the survey to provide your own Bluelight or other usernames. Any results you see depict random, anonymized members. No analysis will be conducted on your data, and we will not ask for usernames, demographics, or any other personal information whatsoever.
If you would like to take part in this survey, please use the following Qualtrics link. All responses are completely anonymous, and email addresses (if you choose to provide one) will not be linked to your survey responses.
https://lehigh.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_8caTvv8sIiqBHOC
The motivation and background below remain relevant to the survey version. You are more than welcome (and encouraged!) to participate in the interview as well if you would like to talk with us in more detail. Please reach out to me by email or PM if you have any questions.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My name is Patrick Skeba and I’m a PhD student in computer science at Lehigh University (PA, USA) - you might remember me from another study I posted here a couple years ago. Have you ever wondered what sort of information is revealed by your Bluelight posts that a computer could uncover? Over the past year, my team and I have implemented an algorithm that can analyze the writing style of Bluelight posts and create a unique profile for each account. This can allow us to identify authors of anonymous posts, and even link accounts across websites with completely publicly available data.
Although these methods have been around for a number of years, not enough researchers have tried to understand how they might impact internet users' privacy. How do people feel about these systems who might actually be affected by them? Based on my previous interactions, I think Bluelighters are uniquely poised to offer valuable insights into the potential benefits and harms of these kinds of analyses.
In this interview, I'd like to know more about how and why you use Bluelight, in order to understand how these algorithms could affect you and the community. I'll also be sharing the results of several experiments we've run and looking for your feedback as to how we should interpret the findings and what possible applications and consequences you see. You'll also have the opportunity to (optionally) provide your own account names to see how your posts are analyzed.
This study has received approval from Lehigh University's Institutional Review Board (IRB). The interview should take about 30 minutes, and you will never be asked for any personally identifiable information. To allow you to remain anonymous, we will ask that you schedule a time for the interview and you will receive a link to a virtual conference room - no emails required. I plan to use our university's Zoom account for the interview, but if you would prefer a different service (for example, the anonymous site Talky.io) please contact me (pts217 at lehigh dot edu). With your permission, I will record audio of the interview, but video will never be recorded and you are not required to turn your camera on. If you provide your own usernames to Bluelight or Reddit (for the cross-site demonstration), any data we collect or analyses we perform will be used exclusively for your interview and will be destroyed afterwards.
You must be at least 18 years old to participate.
If you're interested, please follow this link to the consent form and pre-interview survey, where you'll also find more information about our lab and the study. Please share your questions in this thread, by private message, or by email. The signup process may be a little strange because of our IRB requirements, so I can make changes or add additional information to this thread if it becomes a problem.
Link to consent form and signup:
https://lehigh.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_0cQzu8xCht7DNuS
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