Independent research on data held by private companies is a key vehicle for gaining insight into how online services are shaping our world. But there are a variety of legal, technical, and privacy hurdles that have stymied access to data for research on social media services, in particular. This session will explore various proposals for enabling broader research access to social media data, as well as approaches from other industries, such as healthcare, smart cities, and schools. What lessons can we learn from other industries to improve the ability of independent researchers to examine social media dynamics?

Keynote will be a Fireside chat with Alexandra Givens and John Sands.