Bangtan Scholars Statement Re: Emily and WSJ Article
Hello everyone,
It’s Admin C.
I am here standing and apologizing to all ARMYs, researchers, scholars, academics, and BTS for letting you all down in regards to our tweets about Emily and the WSJ article on behalf of Bangtan Scholars.
It was our error. We are reflecting on the situation and admit we contributed to the hurt, sadness, disappointment, and anger that many fans feel, and for that we apologize.
We want to clarify that three team members presented their individual research at the conference where Emily’s & Fatima’s research findings were presented but we did not see theirs specifically, nor were we contributors to their research in any way.
This conference was held in October of last year and titled, “BTS: A Paradigm Changer in Martech and/or Innovation.” The theme of a special track was co-hosted by Asia Marketing Journal (AMJ) and The Rhizomatic Revolution Review [20130613] (R³), at the 2020 ICAMA-KAS International Conference.
We announced it a while back, which is posted in a tweet and encouraged many of you to participate by attending the actual conference. A call for papers by the hosts can be found here.
As Admin C. (Not as Bangtan Scholars as a group), I saw the “WSJ” article. We didn’t know that the Emily mentioned was from the“BTS: A Paradigm Changer in Martech and/or Innovation” conference that we attended as no details about her were stated in the article. No one knew about her interview until her article came out.
We as Bangtan Scholars were not present during Emily’s and WSJ’s interview at all.
We came to know about it after it had happened. We also don’t know how Emily was approached by WSJ. When ResearchBTS posted her tweet, we spoke with her to approach Emily to encourage her to release her presentation at the very beginning, before we tweeted. As we knew that many of you would be interested in seeing the presentation. But unfortunately, Emily didn’t at the beginning. Our infographic about ethnographic research tweets were focused on media portrayal and defining research terms because Bangtan Scholars didn’t have access to the research or consent to post as we are not the authors of this research.
Our account often posts informational tweets about research endeavors, so we saw a chance to offer some clarification about media misrepresentation and some differences in research terms (such as interviews vs. surveys and ethnographic research), as well as some media tips. We had no desire or intent to defend the specific work itself or comment on the work, but it came off that way to many in the community. We apologize for not being clear about this and causing that hurt, upset, disappointment, or anger.
We also want to clarify that we are not a research review board or a peer review board — that lies outside the scope of our account, which focuses on sharing information and resources and connecting researchers.
We also have never hosted or organized a conference, including the upcoming BTS Conference at CSUN. We did not participate in organizing this; we shared information about the conference and registration to help get the word out.
We decided to post our ethnographic tweets as we know many are not familiar with the research terminology used and the difference between interviews and surveys. So we thought it’d be useful to post some resources. And also, we encouraged those who have done ethnographic research to give some insights to help provide greater context.
While we support research that explores various aspects of BTS and ARMY, we agree that it is just as important to be critical of them and address the flaws and limitations that exist in research publications, the researcher’s choice in accepting the interview, and any statements of apology by the researcher after an interview is published via any media outlet.
In regards to the response Emily gave saying we gave her “guidance and support throughout the process…” this has been worded wrongly by her and misinterpreted.
We did not provide guidance on their research. We approached her through ResearchBTS after their interview was done to encourage Emily to release the findings, state an apology, and own up to her mistake.
In regards to the researchers who study currently or have in the past about BTS, ARMY, or anything related: there are many, and they are scattered around the world both via Twitter and other social media platforms/forums. We cannot speak to their individual research projects, values, positions, or ethics. Research, ideas, and comments made by individual researchers do not reflect the position of Bangtan Scholars.
- Since this account was created we have noticed a spike in researchers who are not ARMYs. We cannot control who follows us as we are a public account. We can’t control who does research or who publishes, because we are not a review board or an academic publication. We can’t control who chooses to collaborate with whom. We are not a legal representative for researchers, nor a registered organization such as a non-profit, LLC, etc. of any kind.
Many of the resources we share are associated with specific journals, all which have submission guidelines and reviewing and editing committees with academics each organization hired or recruited. We cannot fully know, or have any influence over, their processes, peer reviewers, editors, and who is allowed to publish.
We don’t encourage anyone to speak to the media unless they are prepared or trained to do so. Here is a resource we’ve recently shared/created on April 23, 2021 in regards if you are ever approached by the media.
We never want to hide from you. Our voices, pictures, and biographies are known to the public via our website and the Twitter Space event we’ve held recently where we introduced ourselves. We decided to do so from the start for the sake of transparency, because we’re all ARMY too.
When this account started, we knew that we would encounter praise and criticism. It’s not easy for us at times to continue with this account. But our hearts often are pulled back to wanting to serve you the best way we can with what we know about research.
We would also like to reiterate that we are:
- not a review board for research surrounding BTS and ARMY topics
- not a singular authority for vetting research
- not an academic publisher
Everyone fails at some point. Bangtan Scholars failed here. We’re a team of humans, so we are not perfect. We don’t know everything, and we never will as humans or researchers.
For some time now, our internal team has discussed what we should do moving forward.
Here is what we will be working on next:
•Continue to build on our ARMY Media Tips already published on our Medium page
•Create a specific ARMY Researcher Media Tips (for those currently researching or who will begin researching) on our Medium page in the future
•Create a resources section about articles/studies surrounding research methodologies & ethics on our website
We would also like to express that our team has thought about creating a mentorship program for inexperienced ARMY researchers but we are not capable at this time for the following reasons:
- Multiple federal/governmental agencies have put together registries that list evidence-based programs as a way to disseminate information about programs and their level of effectiveness, in order to submit a program to these agencies we would need to follow their guidelines. They may require us to become a registered non-profit, LLC, etc., which we currently are not.
- We are not a legal organization or representative, such as a non-profit, LLC, etc. for any ARMY researchers or those who study BTS-related research
- We have no legal representative(s) to act on behalf of Bangtan Scholars, if issues or errors arise with future publications that undergo mentorship if it were to be created
You can read more information about how a mentorship is created at some of these recommended links:
If you have any resources to share that we should consider when creating, we encourage you to tag us.
Admin C. & the Bangtan Scholars Team
This statement was released on April 25th, 2021 on Bangtan Scholars Official Medium page.**
Bangtan Scholars is a place for current and aspiring scholars of BTS to connect, inspire, and grow together. It’s our hope to create a collaborative, inclusive network that empowers those engaging or interested in BTS scholarship to promote each other’s work, exchange ideas, and expand knowledge across different disciplines and around the world.
Twitter: @BangtanScholars.
Website: bangtanscholars.com
