Update on MA thesis on HP fan fiction (original) (raw)

Hi!

With this message, I would like to thank all of you who answered my questionnaire at http://fanfiction.frontexperts.com (see the original message below) and have given me helpful feedback. Many of you who sent me emails with comments let me know that my questionnaire did not fully embrace your experience with fan fiction. Because a survey is a highly standardized research instrument, there was no way of avoiding this problem but I decided to broaden my research design according to the concerns conveyed to me. Thus, I would like to conduct a group discussion with fan fiction authors where they will have the opportunity to freely talk about their experience without being bound by narrow questions like in the survey.

Therefore, I am looking for Harry Potter fan fiction authors who will attend the LeakyCon 2009 from May 21st-24th in Boston and who would be willing to get together for an hour or two as a group to discuss their experience with me and the other fan fiction authors. As far as I can tell from the LeakyCon schedule, Saturday morning would probably work best to meet for the discussion. Also, it would give us a chance to get to know each other on Thursday or Friday. I will provide a space at the hotel where we will be undisturbed and make sure we have drinks and snacks. A group of 8-12 people would work best but if there are too few people for a group discussion, I would be happy to meet with any of you informally at LeakyCon to talk about your experience as a fan fiction author.

By participating in a group discussion, you would make an immense contribution to the quality and accuracy of my research. I am looking forward to meeting you in person and hearing about your life in Harry Potter fan fiction. If you want to participate please let me know until May 19th by replying to this message or at fanfictions@ gmx.net or petra.baumann@edu.uni-graz.at.

Thank you so much for your repeated help!
Best,
Petra