The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 20.0558  Monday, 9 November 2009

From:       Sujata Iyengar <
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 >
Date:       Thursday, 5 Nov 2009 10:58:12 -0500
Subject:    Online Ophelias

Dear SHAKSPERians:

I am co-authoring an essay (with Christy Desmet) about online 
appropriations of Shakespeare's Ophelia. My portion of the essay 
investigates Shakespearean Ophelias on social networking sites such as 
Facebook or Twitter. Please do forward my contact information (and my 
query letter, pasted below) to anyone you happen know with a 
Hamlet-themed username on a social networking site. If you yourself have 
used social networking sites to teach Shakespeare at any level, I would 
be interested in hearing from you, too. And if you yourself have a 
Shakespearean Facebook "avatar," please consider participating in my study.

I do have "Human Subjects" clearance from the Institutional Review Board 
at my home institution (the University of Georgia) and have the 
appropriate measures in place to protect minors and other vulnerable 
subjects.

Many thanks,
Sujata Iyengar, University of Georgia, 
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(query letter follows)


Dear Facebook User:

My name is Sujata Iyengar and I teach Shakespeare in the Department of 
English at the University of Georgia. I am currently writing an essay 
about how social networks such as Facebook or Twitter use Shakespeare's 
character Ophelia for fun, for learning, or for community. I would 
greatly appreciate your help in answering a few questions about your 
choice of a Hamlet-themed username.

If you feel able to help, and you are over eighteen (18) years of age, 
please contact me via email, 
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  or 

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 ; or via telephone (706) 542 2171/2258; you 
can also leave a message for me at (706) 542 2161. I will then send you 
a consent form and the interview questions.

If you are under eighteen (18) years old, please ask your parents or 
guardian to call me or to give me a telephone number where I can speak 
to them and verify that you have their permission to participate. It is 
very important that I obtain your parents' consent if you are under 
eighteen years old.

Thank you for your time.

Yours truly,
Sujata Iyengar

Dr. Sujata Iyengar
Associate Professor and Undergraduate Coordinator
Department of English
Park Hall 135
Athens, GA 30602-6205
706 542 2258

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