From: Peta Hinton <pehinton@mail.usyd.edu.au>
Subject: RESEARCH: Bodies and the Internet
Date: Sat, 20 Sep 1997 23:15:24 +1000
Organization: University of Sydney


*For all users of Usenet, MUDs, MUSHs, MOOs, Mail groups and Chat: An
invitation to participate in a qualititative study about bodies and
the Internet*

My name is Peta Hinton and I am currently completing my honours degree
in Sociology at the University of Sydney, Australia.  Very generally
my thesis addresses the role bodies, and ideas about bodies, have in
interaction on the Internet.  This involves an exploration of notions
of gender, 'race', sexuality, looks and disability in interaction and
identity formation in virtual communities and online discussion.

I would like you to participate, regardless of the amount of time you
have been using the Internet, by completing a questionnaire which
deals with these issues. The questionnaire will be emailed to you with
two forms, one outlining the research topic and confidentiality
guidelines, the other requesting your consent and to be returned via
email.  As part of a qualitative study, the questionnaire requires
in-depth responses.  Your personal attitudes and experiences of the
Internet provide the focus of the research.  You will need to put
aside a couple of hours to complete the questionnaire.

You are assured that your voluntary contribution to the research will
remain completely confidential.  Anonymity and confidentiality are
adhered to as part of my personal ethics, and are stipulated in the
University of Sydney Ethics Committee Guidelines for Research
Involving Humans, under which this project has been approved.

If you are interested in participating, or have any further questions,
please email me personally at pehinton@mail.usyd.edu.au within the
next couple of days.  In this email please indicate which form of
interaction via the Internet you participate in most, excluding use of
email and the World Wide Web.  If you would like all email contact to
remain confidential, I suggest opening a free web email account with
'hotmail' at http://www.hotmail.com and choose a pseudonym by which to
identify.  You will be referred to by a separate pseudonym in the
thesis.

A copy of this thesis will be available on the World Wide Web in
December.  I will be contacting all participants to let you know of
the Web address.

I am trying to reach a wide group of people who may be willing to
participate in the research.  After reading posts to this group over a
number of months, I felt it was a suitable group to post to.  If you
feel I have overstepped my boundaries, I apologise.


Peta Hinton <pehinton@mail.usyd.edu.au>