#5030: Research project involving this list

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Angel Adams <angyllmarie@yahoo.com>    

*******Please read and save this message, as it concerns research I am
doing which involves the Corbett list and it is important that subscribers
understand what I will be doing******



September 4, 2000



Dear Corbetters,



My name is Angel Adams.  I have been a list member for a couple of years
now, one of many silent members who keep up with news and debate on the
list.  I am a graduate student in sociology at the University of
Wisconsin-Madison and am currently doing my dissertation field work.



In my project, I am looking at how members of the Haitian diaspora create
and participate in organizations and forums which allow them to develop
transnational public spaces for discussion and, in some cases, coordinated
action.  I would like to include the Corbett list in my research as it is
one very important forum for discussion where participants come from a
number of countries and regions.



My **three principle research interests** concerning the Corbett list are:



1) Making contact with willing Corbett list subscribers--both those who
are active in discussion and those who are silent--in order to understand
what significance the Corbett list has for them and how it has shaped
their connection to and on-going interest in Haiti,



2) Since I have followed discussions and debates for some time, I would
like to contact some of the more active members to discuss in more detail
the significance the Corbett list has for them in maintaining a connection
to Haiti and to Haiti-related issues.



3) I would like to understand to what extent people meeting on the Corbett
list have formed face-to-face relationships.  I am very interested to know
how on-line participation spills over into and shapes face-to-face
relationships.



******Confidentiality and Permission of Participants*******



The user-names and/or real names of all who agree to participate in this
research will be kept strictly confidential, and will be changed in any
written work prepared for presentation or publication.



No discussions or exchanges, or parts of discussions or exchanges
occurring on the list will be reproduced without the permission of the
authors.  For this reason, I may contact some members directly to explain
in more detail what I am doing, why their contribution is of interest, and
to obtain their permission for me to include all or part of their
contribution in the research I am doing.



*****Contact with Potential Research Participants******



There are two ways to participate in the work I will be doing:



1) Respond to calls I make to the general list for participants who are
able to respond to a certain question or area of interest that I am
looking for,



2) Respond to a message sent to individual list members whom I am
contacting to ask for permission to use part of their contribution in this
work.



I very much appreciate the opportunity to be in contact with Corbett list
members to complete this work.  Research involving the Corbett list is one
part of my dissertation. I am also working with groups which are mainly
face-to-face where members travel regularly between the U.S. and Haiti.
While relatively few members of the Haitian community are on-line, the
internet is still an important site for sustaining transnantional ties and
discussion, and will provide an important point of comparison and contrast
with the face-to-face aspect of this project.



Many thanks in advance.  I look forward to speaking and/or corresponding
with many of you.  Please feel free to contact me at:
angyllmarie@yahoo.com



Sincerely,



Angel M. Adams,Doctoral Student, Dept. of Sociology, University of
Wisconsin-Madison