Om oss

INFORMATIONAL LETTER

This is an informational letter about the research project “Caring Monsters” in which you are asked to participate. Take the time to carefully read the information below.

Background and purpose

This project explores the caring activities of monsters in popular culture. We want to catalog monsters’ caring activities around the globe and analyze why, when and under what circumstances monster characters actually do care. Understanding caring and the ethics of caring is of utmost importance for post-human venues, such as artificial intelligence and other creations based on human thoughts and behaviors.

The aim of this research project is to document and discuss caring monsters as they appear in popular culture, with the overall aim of contributing in the following ways:

To explore caring activities that are made visible outside of traditional contexts.

To provide understandings about empathic intelligences in virtual creations, i.e. robots, machines and cyborgs (reflecting on the need for empathic protocols).

To comment on humans’ historical and current gender-based track record of uncaring.

You are being contacted about this project because you participate in a forum that explores questions regarding popular culture where monsters sometimes occur in discussions and themes. Your insights into the research questions are valuable, and we would appreciate if you would share them.

How is the study conducted?

Data about caring monsters will be reported anonymously through the website caringmonsters.com (http://www.caringmonsters.com/) by pasting 1. A report of a monster, 2. Interactions in the discussion forum and/or 3. Comments on the research project.

Handling the data

Every report or comment will be stored digitally, verbatim. The document will only be available to researchers in the project. The research data will not be disclosed or sold to third parties. To prevent the possibility that your report can be linked directly to you, we will rewrite specific characteristics when necessary.

How do I get information about the study's results?

The project’s results will be presented as articles in scientific, peer-reviewed journals. The articles will be available on the Internet and in libraries when they have been published.

Voluntary

Participation is completely voluntary, and you should not feel any pressure to participate with your information about caring monsters. If you need more information, don't hesitate to contact the researchers responsible for the project.

Financing of the project

The project hasn't received any funding. The project solely rests on the responsible researchers’ own time, efforts and investments.

Responsible for the project

Henrik Eriksson, Professor of Nursing,

Department of Nursing and Care

The Swedish Red Cross University College, Stockholm

+46 (0)8 587 516 70

henrik.eriksson@rkh.se

Martin Salzmann-Erikson, Doctor in Nursing Science, Post-Doctoral Researcher,

Faculty of Health and Occupational Studies

Department of Health and Caring Sciences

University of Gävle, Sweden