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1. Human Infection Challenge Studies: a Test for the Social Value Criterion of Research Ethics

   https://doi.org/10.1128/mSphere.00669-20  

   Evans, Nicholas G. (August 2020, mSphere)

   Imperiale, Michael J. (Ed.)

   ABSTRACT Human infection challenge studies involving the intentional infection of research participants with a disease-causing agent have recently been suggested as a means to speed up the search for a vaccine for the ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak. Calls for challenge studies, however, rely on the expected social value of these studies. This value represents more than the simple possibility that a successful study will lead to the rapid development and dissemination of vaccines but also some expectation that this will actually occur. I show how this expectation may not be realistic in the current political moment and offer potential ways to make sure that any challenge trials that arise actually achieve their goals. 

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2. URBAN RESIDENT PERCEPTIONS AND PREFERENCES OF LOCAL LARGE-SCALE SOLAR SITED ON BROWNFIELDS AND DISTURBED LANDS

   White, Jacob; Bessette, Douglas (June 2024, MSU Libraries)

   US federal and state agencies have advocated for the development of derelict, polluted, often post-industrial and urban sites, i.e. “brownfields,” with large-scale solar (LSS). So too have local officials, developers, industry experts, and rural community residents arguing LSS development of brownfields represents a ‘win-win-win’. They argue these developments face less opposition from local communities than rural development, are a pathway to remedy prior injustices, and can reutilize industrial sites rather than develop valuable farmland or natural habitats. Yet little research exists examining residents’ perceptions of LSS development of urban brownfields and the perceived local community impacts that accompany such development. This is a key gap and raises the question of whether these developments indeed promote justice and whether and how opposition may arise from local communities. Using the theories of place attachment, procedural justice, along with resident perception of benefits, this study examines urban resident perceptions and preferences of urban LSS developments. The study utilized a mail survey disseminated via the Every Door Direct Mail service provided by the United States Postal Office to gather data from urban residents in three Michigan communities living within one mile of an urban LSS development. The response rate to the survey across all three communities was 10.2%, with 158 complete surveys returned. Respondent support rates were found to be similar to previous studies that looked at large-scale grid-feeding solar developments, with the two significant predictors of support being positive perceptions of local benefits and procedural justice. 

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3. Do coronavirus vaccine challenge trials have a distinctive generalisability problem?

   https://doi.org/10.1136/medethics-2020-107109  

   Eyal, Nir; Gerhard, Tobias (June 2021, Journal of Medical Ethics)

   Notwithstanding the success of conventional field trials for vaccines against COVID-19, human challenge trials (HCTs) that could obtain more information about these and about other vaccines and further strategies against it are about to start in the UK. One critique of COVID-19 HCTs is their distinct paucity of information on crucial population groups. For safety reasons, these HCTs will exclude candidate participants of advanced age or with comorbidities that worsen COVID-19, yet a vaccine should (perhaps especially) protect such populations. We turn this cliché on its head. The truth is that either an HCT or a field trial has intrinsic generalisability limitations, that an HCT can expedite protection of high-risk participants even without challenging them with the virus, and that an important route to obtaining results generalisable to high-risk groups under either strategy is facilitated by HCTs. 

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4. Local platformized utopias? corporate discourse, community groups, and volunteer moderation on Facebook, Reddit, and NextDoor

   https://doi.org/10.1177/29768624251356761  

   Proferes, Nicholas; Cotter, Kelley; Thorson, Kjerstin; De, Ankolika; Chang, Chia-Fang; Battocchio, Ava_Francesca (July 2025, Platforms & Society)

   Residents of communities increasingly rely on geographically focused groups on online social media platforms to access local information. These local groups have the potential to enhance the quality of life in communities by helping residents learn about their communities, connect with neighbors and local organizations, and identify important local issues. Moderators of online community groups—typically untrained volunteers—are key actors in these spaces. However, they are also put in a tenuous position, having to manage the groups while simultaneously navigating desires of platforms, rapidly evolving user practices, and the increasing politicization of local issues. In this paper, we explicate the visions of local community groups put forward by Facebook, Reddit, and NextDoor in their corporate discourse and ask: How do these platforms describe local community groups, particularly in reference to ideal communication and community engagement that occurs within them, and how do they position volunteer moderators to help realize these ideals? Through a qualitative thematic analysis of 849 company documents published between 2012 and 2023, we trace how each company rhetorically positions these spaces as what we refer to as a “local platformized utopias.” We examine how this discourse positions local volunteer moderators, the volunteer labor-force of civic actors that constructs, governs, and grows community groups. We discuss how these three social media companies motivate moderators to do this free, value-building labor through the promise of civic virtue; simultaneously obscuring unequal burdens of moderation labor and failing to address the inequalities of access to voice and power in online life. 

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5. Leading with Local Knowledge: Climate Adaptation, Local Knowledge, and Participation in Austin, Texas’ Network of Plans and the Co-Designed Climate Navigators’ Tool and Process

   https://doi.org/10.1177/0739456X221144610  

   Lieberknecht, Katherine (January 2023, Journal of Planning Education and Research)

   Planning theory scholars and practitioners have identified the need to include residents most affected by climate change in the development of climate adaptation planning, for reasons of justice and effectiveness. This article investigates whether Austin, Texas’ network of plans includes participation by residents and incorporation of local knowledge into climate adaptation. This research finds that these plans contain limited material about participation, engagement, equity, and local knowledge. In response to this gap, the article presents a case study of the Dove Springs Climate Navigators, a residents-nongovernmental organization-municipal-university collaboration working to co-create an online portal, training system, and process to incorporate local knowledge into adaptation planning. 

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