<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:
"Times New Roman","serif"">Hello!<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:
"Times New Roman","serif"">We are asking you for some help from the Open Source
communities.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:
"Times New Roman","serif"">As researchers at the University of Tennessee we are
interested in discovering more about learning and interactions of members of
the open source forums.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>This research
is conducted through the University of Tennessee and is in no way associated
with any forum organization.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>To further
our research we would like input from forum members.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>The responses are very important to us so we
can better understand what tools help forum members learn and have a productive
experience in participation.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:
"Times New Roman","serif"">There are two ways you can help: </span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="mso-list:Ignore">1.<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span></span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Take a survey about the tools you use in the
forum. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;
line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">We are requesting
approximately 15 minutes of your time to participate in our survey.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></span></p>
<h6 style="margin-left:.5in"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Survey link:<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></span><a href="http://survey.utk.edu/mrIWeb/mrIWeb.dll?I.Project=FORUMLEARN" target="_blank">http://survey.utk.edu/mrIWeb/mrIWeb.dll?I.Project=FORUMLEARN</a></h6>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top:0in;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:0in;
margin-left:.5in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";
color:black;mso-bidi-font-style:italic">As a thank you, upon exiting the survey
you will be given an opportunity to submit information to be entered in a drawing
for a tablet computer ($500.00 Gift Card).<span style="mso-spacerun:yes">
</span></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> </p>
<p class="MsoListParagraph" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;
mso-add-space:auto;text-indent:-.25in;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";color:black;mso-bidi-font-style:italic"><span style="mso-list:Ignore">2.<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman"">
</span></span></span><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:black;mso-bidi-font-style:italic">Have
a one on one interview talking about the forums, how you learn, and tools
used.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:
normal">As a thank you for your interview you will be sent a $25.00 gift card. </b><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Email </span><a href="mailto:lholt@utk.edu"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";
mso-bidi-font-style:italic">lholt@utk.edu</span></a><span style="font-size:
12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";color:black;
mso-bidi-font-style:italic"> for more information.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";
color:black;mso-bidi-font-style:italic"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";
color:black;mso-bidi-font-style:italic"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";
color:black;mso-bidi-font-style:italic">You may do either or both of the
above.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Please be assured that your
answers will be confidential.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>No individual’s
answers will ever be identified in any report. Should you have any questions
about the project or our interest in using the results, we encourage you to
contact Lila Holt, at <a href="mailto:lholt@utk.edu">lholt@utk.edu</a>) or Vandana Singh at </span><a href="mailto:vandana@utk.edu"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;
font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";mso-bidi-font-style:italic">vandana@utk.edu</span></a><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";
color:black;mso-bidi-font-style:italic">.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";
color:black;mso-bidi-font-style:italic"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif";
color:black;mso-bidi-font-style:italic"><br>
Contact information you provide for the drawing is completely separate from
your survey answers and there will be no way to identify participants in the
actual survey responses. Nor will contact information be used for any other
purpose. The odds of being selected will depend on the number of respondents to
this survey.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></span></p>