Researching YouTube Shakespeare

Literary Scholars and the Ethical Challenges of Social Media

Authors

Valerie Fazel Arizona State University

Abstract

Cluster: Responsible Networks

YouTube as a site of research raises ethical issues that have yet to be addressed within Shakespeare studies. Complex debates about whether online communications are private or public underline concerns that previous ethical boundaries, guidelines, and applications of literary and performance research and citation methods may not sufficiently protect the researcher, study subject, or both. This essay examines scholars' responsibility in the research process and dissemination of YouTubers' information within published scholarship. Guidelines recommended by the Association of Internet Researchers (AoIR) and the Office of Human Research Protection (OHRP) offer matrices for deciding whether or not researchers' ethical priority is in protecting or publishing YouTubers' and/or their commentators' identities in academic publications. These rubrics are put to the test by two YouTube Shakespeare videos as case studies. New media makes it possible to contact Shakespeare video posters and adaptors, prompting the question of whether or not Shakespeareans should cross into this brave new world of participatory research.

Author Biography

Valerie Fazel, Arizona State University

Valerie Fazel, Ph.D. is an Instructor in Arizona State University's Writing Programs and Honors Faculty at Barrett, the Honors College at ASU. Her research focus is on Shakespeare performance adaptation, digital media appropriation, and Internet research methods. Her recent work on Shakespeare fan fiction (co-authored with Louise Geddes) was published August 2015 in Shakespeare. She has a forthcoming chapter (co-authored with Ayanna Thompson) in the Norton Critical Edition of Much Ado About Nothing. She is currently co-editing (with Louise Geddes) an essay collection for Palgrave titled The Shakespeare User: Adaptation and Appropriation in the 21st Century.