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<p><tt>Dear friends,<br>
</tt><br>
<tt>I have been reading your postings to this mailing list and some of other<br>
</tt><tt>documents at the web site of the Wine Community. I have really enjoyed<br>
</tt><tt>reading about your collaborative creative activities and your perspectives<br>
</tt><tt>on the free/open source software.<br>
</tt><br>
<tt>My name is Tiebing Shi and I am a Ph.D. student at Queen's University in<br>
</tt><tt>Canada. I am very interested in learning more about the Free/Open Source<br>
</tt><tt>Software Community. The study that I am doing for my Ph.D. thesis is called<br>
</tt><tt>"User Creativity: An Investigation of the Free/Open Source Software<br>
</tt><tt>Community." The purpose of my thesis is to study how developers who are<br>
</tt><tt>often users of their creative products collectively create free/open source<br>
</tt><tt>software. The finding of this study will help other user communities or<br>
</tt><tt>organizations that hope to facilitate collective creative activities among<br>
</tt><tt>their own members.<br>
</tt><br>
<tt>I sincerely invite you to participate in my study. I would like to interview<br>
</tt><tt>you in your role as a developer and user in the Wine Community. Your<br>
</tt><tt>experiences of developing and using Wine programs and your perspectives on<br>
</tt><tt>the free/open source software will greatly help me to understand the creative<br>
</tt><tt>activities of the Wine Community. If your time permits, I would like to<br>
</tt><tt>interview you via phone. The phone interview will last about 1 hour. If you<br>
</tt><tt>like, we can conduct our interview via email.<br>
</tt><br>
<tt>Please be kindly informed that there is no obligation to participate in this<br>
</tt><tt>study. But your participation will be highly appreciated. Your confidentiality<br>
</tt><tt>will be protected. For example, your real name will NOT be used in my thesis<br>
</tt><tt>and future publications. Further information about this study and our interview<br>
</tt><tt>will be provided to you upon request.<br>
</tt><br>
<tt>Please respond to this email to let me know your interest in participating in a<br>
</tt><tt>phone or an email interview with me. If you select the phone interview format,<br>
</tt><tt>please select a time for an interview that is most convenient for you. Please<br>
</tt><tt>also let me know your phone number and time zone (my time zone is UTC-4hours)<br>
</tt><tt>so that I can call you at your local time you select.<br>
</tt><br>
<tt>Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. I will<br>
</tt><tt>respond to you as soon as possible.<br>
</tt><br>
<tt>Thank you for your support and I look forward to talking with you.<br>
</tt><br>
<tt>Sincerely,<br>
</tt><br>
<tt>Tiebing Shi<br>
</tt><tt>Queen's School of Business, Queen’s University<br>
</tt><tt>Kingston, ON, Canada K7L 3N6<br>
</tt><tt>Tel: 613-533-2377 (Office)<br>
</tt><tt>Email: tshi@business.queensu.ca</tt><br>
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