My name is Sherida Ryan and I am a Ph.D. student in Adult Education
and Community Development at the University of Toronto. I am sending
this email to invite you to participate in a survey that explores
trust and participation in Usenet groups. This survey is part of my
doctoral research, supervised by Professor Jack Quarter.

Trust helps us to function in a complex world where we are often
dependent on other people for information and support. However, online
interaction can make the development of trust difficult. How do you
decide to trust someone you have never met, whose identity you can't
verify, in an environment that has few standards to guide behaviour?

By understanding how people come to trust each other online and by
exploring whether this affects their level of participation, I hope to
develop guidelines that will improve interaction and increase the
benefits that people get from being members of online groups.

The survey that I am inviting you to participate in should not take
more than 15 minutes to complete. I am looking for people who post as
well as people who only read messages. Your participation is voluntary
and can be terminated at any time. Your responses will remain
anonymous and all survey results will be grouped together for any
future publication or presentation. Each participant who completes the
survey may choose to enter a draw to win one of two $50.00 (CAD) gift
certificates from Amazon.ca

If you are interested in participating, please click on the URL below
to find out more about the survey. In order to access the survey, you
will be asked for your email address. Your email address remains
confidential, even from me, and is strictly for administrative
purposes. Providing this information will allow you, should you decide
to participate, to return to the survey and complete it at your
leisure.

http://www.oise.utoronto.ca/surveys/surveyviewer2/index.php?surveyID=...

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me:
sr...@oise.utoronto.ca

Thank you very much for your time and your help

Sherida Ryan
Ph.D. Candidate
OISE/UT, Adult Education and Community Development