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Bots as Virtual Confederates: Design and Ethics
Name
1611.00447.pdf
Description
Submitted version
Size
148.17 KB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
b0b1b84dff780130e3de801b3eb2bf8e
Author(s)
Krafft, Peter M.
Macy, Michael
Pentland, Alex "Sandy"
Date Issued
February 2017
Publisher
Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)
Citation
Krafft, Peter M., Macy, Michael and Pentland, Alex "Sandy". 2017. "Bots as Virtual Confederates: Design and Ethics."
Version
Original manuscript
Abstract
The use of bots as virtual confederates in online field experiments holds extreme promise as a new methodological tool in computational social science. However, this potential tool comes with inherent ethical challenges. Informed consent can be difficult to obtain in many cases, and the use of confederates necessarily implies the use of deception. In this work we outline a design space for bots as virtual confederates, and we propose a set of guidelines for meeting the status quo for ethical experimentation. We draw upon examples from prior work in the CSCW community and the broader social science literature for illustration. While a handful of prior researchers have used bots in online experimentation, our work is meant to inspire future work in this area and raise awareness of the associated ethical issues.
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
10.1145/2998181.2998354
