This was sent to me as the list administrator to forward to the list. I'm not sure what it is all about, and I don't know this person, but if any of you would like to look at it and take the time to fill out the surveys - here it is - if not - just delete. Jan Cortez List Administrator ----- Original Message ----- From: "Kevin Meethan" <K.Meethan@plymouth.ac.uk> To: <IrelandGenWeb-admin@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, October 15, 2002 5:33 AM Subject: academic research project As well as having an interest in tracing my own family tree (from Ireland as it happens), I am also a sociologist working at the University of Plymouth in England, and I also have more academic research interests in tourism, globalisation and cultural change. It is often claimed that both access to global information and increasing travel will inevitably lead to an homogenised and 'placeless' world, yet evidence tends to suggest that rather, the internet and travel can be used to discover and reinforce a sense of identity rooted in ancestry, history and place. One of the things that immediately struck me was how people, who have probably never met face to face and may even live on different continents, were happy to exchange information and advice with each other. Of course, it was not long before the academic side of me began to ask questions such as: where are these people, what do we have in common, is it the internet that is creating this world-wide interest in genealogy, or would so many people be researching their family history without the internet? I know I would not have! It was while I was thinking over these questions, I also noticed that in the email lists I subscribed to, there were occasional communications that that mentioned travelling back to their ancestral home in order to carry out research, perhaps even to contact and meet living relatives face to face, for all the global connectivity that the internet offers, perhaps there is no substitute for the authenticity of lived experience. Or is it simply enough to know, that in this rapidly changing and globalised world, one's roots can be traced and recorded? Once more, the academic in me took hold, especially when I found out that this particular aspect of travel and tourism has never been researched. With these points in mind I am inviting people to participate in an on-line survey which aims to answer some of these questions. In particular, the aim is to establish the general features of online family history researchers, such as the kinds of research being undertaken, the length of time spent on research, and of course the actual location of researchers. Another aim is to establish the extent of travel that people undertake, if at all, when carrying out their research. Completing the survey should take no longer than 6-8 minutes, and can be accessed by clicking on this link: <http://tecex2.hs.plymouth.ac.uk/roots>If you want to check me out first, you can access my home page which also links in to the survey: <http://www.sociology.plymouth.ac.uk/~kmeethan> Finally, I would like to assure everyone that this research is academic in nature, and as such is not for profit; that all responses will be treated as confidential; that all information will be held on a secure server; and that no personal details will be passed on to any third parties. This research project also conforms to the Ethical Code of the British Sociological Association and the University of Plymouth. If you have any questions regarding the survey, or even know of any information that may be of some use, then please fell free to email me at: kmeethan@plymouth.ac.uk Dr. Kevin Meethan Senior Lecturer Department of Sociology University of Plymouth Drake Circus Plymouth PL4 8AA UK