Toward Ethical Digital Practices: Guidelines for Consent, Accountability, and Transparency in Anthropology

Area of Science:

• Biological anthropology
• Digital humanities
• Bioethics

Background:

• Digital tools and imaging are prevalent in biological anthropology research.
• Ethical considerations regarding the management, use, and display of digital human remains are emerging.
• There is a lack of formalized, discipline-wide guidelines for digital ethics in biological anthropology.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the current digital tools and resources utilized by biological anthropologists.
• To evaluate the existing ethical codes of professional organizations concerning digital media.
• To identify the gap between current digital practices and ethical standards in the field.

Main Methods:

• Review of ethical statements from five professional organizations.
• Survey of biological anthropologists regarding their use of and views on digital remains.
• Text analysis of ethics statements and survey responses to identify key themes and terms.

Main Results:

• Only one professional organization explicitly mentions digital ethics in its statements.
• Researchers are actively creating and employing digital tools in their work.
• Key themes identified include the need for consent, clear digital ethical guidelines, data anonymity, security, and cultural sensitivity.

Conclusions:

• A significant discrepancy exists between digital practice and ethical guidelines in biological anthropology.
• Immediate actions are proposed, including forming a working group for digital ethics standards.
• Recommendations include updating donor forms, integrating digital best practices into ethics codes, and developing platform-specific ethics statements.