Studying how individuals cope with online abuse may serve to open the dialogue within the walls of white ivory towers but, as the author of his own research stated, it is the hope that academic research has purpose for the communities from which it is pulled. It is the unspoken desire of most academicians that their work is not simply self-serving, rather it extends understanding into the broader community where it can take on a life of its own and affect some positive change.

This was perhaps the most striking message from our session with Dr. George Veletsianos even though it was not explicitly stated. His careful use of words was evident and it was encouraging to hear his optimism that online education has greater potential to have positive effects in the community at large.

Specific to his study on women scholars’ experience with online harassment and abuse, I found that identifying content that triggers harassment might place an uncomfortable onus on the scholar to consider what content to publish and compromise the scholar’s authenticity.  EULAs (End User License Agreements) should provide a means by which harassment can be mitigated and dealt with. However, there are not enough moderators to take effective action against perpetrators and many online platforms leave the policing of abusers to the users and content creators themselves. One of the coping strategies that was not explored in the study was the access to and use of support groups on or offline.

One sad conclusion about harassment and abuse, at least in British Columbia, is that even if the abuse falls into the legal requirements to meet libel law (defamation), an individual can only pursue such litigation in BC Supreme court which is prohibitively expensive.

So, research for research sake in the area of abuse and harassment might border on the unethical, unless a call to action lies at its conclusions.