[ATTW-L] Invitation to participate in a research study about dangerous instructions

[Hilary Sarat-St Peter]

Friends and colleagues,

You are invited to participate in an exploratory research study (IRB
#2019-00256) to investigate how people read, collect, produce and use
dangerous instructions. I (Hilary Sarat-St. Peter
<https://colum.academia.edu/HilarySaratStPeter>) am the principal
investigator and an associate professor of professional and technical
writing in the English and Creative Writing department at Columbia College
Chicago.

The study defines dangerous instructions as technical instructions,
presented in any mode or medium, that teach or document processes that have
the potential to harm people or damage property. For example, *The
Anarchist Cookbook* (Powell, 1971) is a compilation of dangerous
instructions about explosives, weapons, drugs and sabotage operations.
Although many people collect, read and use dangerous instructions for
various reasons, relatively little scholarship examines how people interact
with dangerous instructions in everyday life.

You are being asked to participate in this study because you have interest
and expertise in technical communication. Anyone over age 21 who reads,
creates or uses dangerous instructions is eligible to participate. For
example, some technical communication scholars study dangerous instructions
for research purposes (see Colton, Holmes and Walwema, 2017; Sarat-St.
Peter, 2017; Lerner, 2018). Others might use dangerous instructions as
teaching cases or simply look at them out of curiosity about the range of
instructions that are available in the digital age.

If you agree to be in my study, your participation will help me understand
the many different ways that people interact with dangerous instructions,
and learn more about the ways in which users define and navigate boundaries
that differentiate one type of use from another.

Participation in the study is voluntary and confidential. Participants will
be asked to participate in one 30-minute interview via phone, Skype or an
encrypted messaging application (Signal).

If you are interested in participating, please email me at
hsstpeter at gmail.com so I can provide more information about the study and
potentially set up an interview. People who reply to this email will be
screened for eligibility and receive a consent form. We will also discuss
mutually agreeable interview dates and times.

If you know someone who might be interested, please feel free to pass along
this email and my contact information. If you have questions about the
study, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Sincerely,

Hilary A. Sarat-St. Peter, PhD
Associate Professor of Professional/Technical Writing
Graduate Student Instructor (GSI) Coordinator
English and Creative Writing Department
Columbia College Chicago
Contact me at: hsstpeter at gmail.com or hsarat-stpeter at colum.edu
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