Unsolicited narratives from the Internet: A rich source of qualitative data

Recently, the Internet has become a forum for informal communication. Many- whose voices may have been unheard-can now express themselves through this medium. Rich narratives are available to the qualitative researcher from bu lletin boards, guest books, Web pages, and listservs on the Internet. In th is article, these data sources are defined and described. Strategies for us ing these data are discussed. One concern with using unsolicited data from the Internet is the protection of human subjects and the requirement for co nsent. A proposed model describing the process for deciding when such data are publicly available, as defined by the Office for the Protection of Righ ts of Research Subjects, and when the use of the data requires consent is p resented.