I received this on the LinuxChix announcements list--some of the ladies here might be interested in this, in particular, though she is calling for some men, as well:
*snip!* Hello LinuxChix!
My name is Sarah Riggs and I am a Master's Degree seeking candidate at the School of Information and Library Science at UNC Chapel Hill. I am conducting research which addresses the large gender gap in the open source community. In 2006, a team of researchers sought to capture an image of women contributors to open source software, as it was clear that women made up a very small minority of participants (Nafus, Leach, & Kriegar, 2006). Several proactive members of your community then implemented programs aimed at increasing the number of women in open source; however, little research has been done since this study. By conducting qualitative interviews, my intention is to collect narratives about the experiences of open source participants. I will ask questions about your experiences joining and participating in the open source community. Your answers will be used to to identify ways in which more women can feel comfortable joining the community and contributing to open source software development. I would like to hear thoughts from women as well as men who are open source contributors. Please consider participating whether you are just starting out, or have been contributing to open source for many years. It is important for this research to obtain a diverse group of respondents with varied backgrounds so this research constructs a representative narrative of experience. I will be conducting interviews through July 20th, 2011, and I will be happy to meet you at a time and date at your convenience. Those volunteers who are selected will be allowed to decide the method of participation, and phone calls, face-to-face interaction, or Internet Relay Chat are valid means of communication. Exhaustive efforts will be made to ensure that any information you give me is confidential, and you are always free to stop the interview at any time. Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any further questions. I can be best reached by e-mail, smriggs at email dot unc dot edu** Thank you for your time, Sarah Riggs Principal Investigator Research Approved by IRB, UNC-Chapel Hill* University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, School of Information and Library Science <http://sils.unc.edu/>* Reference: Nafus, D., Leach, J. & Kriegar, B. (2006). *Gender: Integrated Report of Findings* (Deliverable -- 16).* *Retrieved from Free/Libre/Open Source Software: Policy Support,* http://www.flosspols.org/deliverables/FLOSSPOLS-D16-Gender_Integrated_Report... *
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-- *D Ruth Bavousett* Lead Migration Specialist ByWater Solutions Support and Consulting for Open Source Software VISIT US AT ALA: BOOTH 732 Headquarters: Santa Barbara, CA Office: Washington, DC Phone/Fax (888)900-8944 http://bywatersolutions.com ruth@bywatersolutions.com