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Dear webmaster or moderator of gentoo.org: |
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|
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I am a faculty member in the Jones school of management at Rice University |
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in Houston, Texas, USA (this may be verified using a Google search with |
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"Paul |
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Dholakia", or "Utpal Dholakia"). We are conducting an academic research |
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project, studying social interactions online more generally, and |
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specifically how communities organized around products or brands are |
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formed, from a sociological perspective. |
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|
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In this regard, we are conducting a survey of people who belong to |
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internet-based LINUX groups such as mailing lists, websites etc. seeking |
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information on different elements of their thoughts, feelings, and |
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motivations of participating in such groups, and the value of the group to |
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them... |
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|
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Our survey is available on the web at the following URL: |
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|
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http://www.surveypro.com/cgi-bin/surveypro/run_survey.cgi?id=2444 |
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|
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Please note that the survey is targeted especially at those individuals |
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who interact with the more-or-less same group of individuals online within |
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the mailing list (as in your case) or on some other online forum (more |
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generally), that is, those who have online friends that they interact with |
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regularly. |
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|
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I was writing to seek your help in publicizing our research, among your |
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community and constituents (participants and contributors to gentoo.org) |
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in an appropriate and minimally intrusive fashion ---perhaps posting a |
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short note at an appropriate location on your website or in your |
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discussion lists/user forums might be very effective... Any help you can |
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provide to publicize our research among your membership and constituents |
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would be very useful indeed! |
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|
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I am very sensitive to issues of netiquette, so please feel free to modify |
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and abbreviate this message to a few lines, if you decide to post it for |
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publicizing. |
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|
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Of course, our research is strictly academic, and has no commercial links |
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or interests whatsoever. We hope to publish this research in a sociology |
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journal. |
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|
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As a small token of our appreciation for participants' time, and in the |
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spirit of the philosophy underlying the open-source movement, we will |
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donate a total of $500 to the five favorite organizations/ groups of our |
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participants' choice (we ask the participant's to nominate their favorite |
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groups in the survey). Of course, the findings of the study will be freely |
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available from my website or via email (upon request) in approximately two |
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months. |
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|
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I hope you are able to help our effort. Please let me know if you have any |
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questions. |
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|
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Thank you for your attention. |
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|
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Sincerely, |
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Best wishes, |
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Paul Dholakia |
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Dr. Paul Dholakia |
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Assistant Professor of Management |
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Rice University |
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314 Herring Hall - MS 531 |
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6100 Main Street |
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Houston TX 77005-1892 |
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Tel: 713-348-5376 |
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Fax: 713-348-5251 |
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http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~dholakia |
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