MSU Interview Dear MisfitToys My name is Jonathan Obar user Jaobar I m a professor in the College of Communication Arts and Sciences at Michigan State University and a Teaching Fellow with the Wikimedia Foundation s Education Program This semester I ve been running a little experiment at MSU a class where we teach students about becoming Wikipedia administrators Not a lot is known about your community and our students who are fascinated by wiki culture by the way want to learn how you do what you do and why you do it A while back I proposed this idea the class to the communityHERE where it was met mainly with positive feedback Anyhow I d like my students to speak with a few administrators to get a sense of admin experiences training motivations likes dislikes etc We were wondering if you d be interested in speaking with one of our students So a few things about the interviews Interviews will last between 15 and 30 minutes Interviews can be conducted over skype preferred IRC or email You choose the form of communication based upon your comfort level time etc All interviews will be completely anonymous meaning that you real name and or pseudonym will never be identified in any of our materials unless you give the interviewer permission to do so All interviews will be completely voluntary You are under no obligation to say yes to an interview and can say no and stop or leave the interview at any time The entire interview process is being overseen by MSU s institutional review board ethics review This means that all questions have been approved by the university and all students have been trained how to conduct interviews ethically and properly Bottom line is that we really need your help and would really appreciate the opportunity to speak with you If interested please send me an email at obar msu edu to maintain anonymity and I will add your name to my offline contact list If you feel comfortable doing so you can post your name instead If you have questions or concerns at any time feel free to email me at obar msu edu I will be more than happy to speak with you Thanks in advance for your help We have a lot to learn from you Sincerely Jonathan Obar