Author: Rachel Gordon
Publisher: MIT News
Publication Year: 2022
Summary: The following article features the author interviewing Jonathan Zong, a computer scientist Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), also the creator of the app Bartleby. Bartleby is a system for debriefing research participants after being involved in social media research. Using Bartleby, researchers can automatically direct each of their study participants to a website where they can learn about their involvement in research, view what data researchers collected about them, and give feedback. Most importantly, participants can use the website to opt out and request to delete their data. In this interview, Jonathan makes a point about tech elites such as leadership at Meta or Google making it seem impossible to gain data collection consent when it comes to usage of their platforms. The opposite is true and proven by Jonathan who made Bartleby as easy to use as possible. The takeaway from this interview is that software can make a meaningful difference in respecting people’s autonomy. Ethics regulations almost never require a debriefing process for online studies but that is by design rather than actual limitations. The use of Bartleby proved this by giving people a chance to make informed decisions.