Project Title: Supporting and Transforming Leadership in Online Creative Collaboration Investigators: Dr.

Amy Bruckman, Joe Gonzales _____________________________________________________________ Adult Consent Form

You are being asked to be a volunteer in a research study.

Purpose
The purpose of this study is to better understand the role of leaders in online creative collaboration. We also hope to test and evaluate our software, Pipeline, which is designed to help people collaborate online more successfully. We expect to enroll 200 people in this study.

Procedures
If you decide to be in this study, your part will involve: You consent to an interview, conducted via telephone, in person, or through e-mail, that should take approximately one hour. o The interview will focus on your usage of Pipeline and your past experiences with online collaborative projects, if any. o For face-to-face and phone interviews, the session will be audio-recorded. For electronic interviews, a transcript of the session will be saved for future reference.

Risks/Discomforts
The following risks/discomforts may occur as a result of your participation in this study: There are no foreseeable risks or discomforts in this study. The risks involved are no greater than those involved in daily activities such as speaking on the telephone or using e-mail.

Benefits to you
The following benefits to you are possible as a result of being in this study: You are not likely to benefit in any way from joining this study. We hope that what we learn will help us improve Pipeline, suggest design guidelines for building systems like Pipeline, and refine theories of leadership and how people collaborate online.

Compensation to you
There is no compensation for participation.

Confidentiality
The following procedures will be followed to keep your personal information confidential in this study: In our publications, we may wish to refer to your interview data or quotes from things you have written online. To protect your confidentiality, we normally substitute a fake pseudonym for your real name. However, to assert your rights as a content creator, you may request that we use your real name instead, by initialing the appropriate section at the end of this form. We will use your real name where possible; however, we reserve the right to use a fake pseudonym when referring to data that are potentially embarrassing or harmful to you. If you choose to remain anonymous, your name will not appear in any publications; a fake pseudonym will be used instead. However, in the case of quotes from things you have done online (such as blog entries, forum posts, etc), this disguise could be vulnerable a determined and skillful person could potentially break it. Since many online sites are open to the world, search engines (i.e. Google) index them. As such, a person could take a quote and use a search engine to find the actual page, thereby breaking the pseudonym disguise. We do not anticipate that this research will uncover sensitive information, but in case it does, we will omit direct quotes that could be found in a search engine. In addition, we may wish to refer to a creative project in which you participated. This has important implications for your confidentiality. If your name is associated with this project on the web or elsewhere, it may be possible for a person to connect your name with your interview statements about this project. The data that is collected about you will be kept private to the extent allowed by law. To make sure that this research is being carried out in the proper way, the Georgia Institute of Technology IRB will review study records. The Office of Human Research Protections may also look at study records. In the case of electronic communications and web-based consent, you should be aware, however, that the experiment is not being run from a "secure" https server of the kind typically used to handle credit card transactions, so there is a small possibility that responses could be viewed by unauthorized third parties (e.g., computer hackers).

Costs to you
There are no costs to you, except for your time.

In case of injury/harm
If you are injured as a result of being in this study, please contact Dr. Amy Bruckman at telephone (404) 894-9222. Neither the Principal Investigator nor Georgia Institute of Technology have made provision for payment of costs associated with any injury resulting from participation in this study.

Subject rights
Your participation in this study is voluntary. You do not have to be in this study if you don't want to be. You have the right to change your mind and leave the study at any time without giving any reason, and without penalty. Any new information that may make you change your mind about being in this study will be given to you. You will be given a copy of this consent form to keep. You do not waive any of your legal rights by signing this consent form.

Questions about the study or your rights as a research subject

If you have any questions about the study, you may contact Dr. Amy Bruckman, at telephone (404) 894-9222. If you have any questions about your rights as a research subject, you may contact Ms. Melanie Clark, Georgia Institute of Technology at (404) 894-6942.

Have you read the information on this page and do you agree to participate? (select one)

I have read and understand this information and agree to participate. I do not want to participate.
Type your initials here to request that we use your real name if we refer to you in our publications. We will use your real name where possible; however, we reserve the right to use a fake pseudonym when referring to data that are potentially embarrassing or harmful to you.

text entry box

E-mail address:

text entry box (required to confirm identity) Sign Up!