Looking for Freedom
Survey
Looking for Freedom: An Exploration of the Iranian Blogosphere
The purpose of this survey is to support an investigation into the influence of Iranian blogging and patterns of blog discourse. The project is in part an analysis of the linguistic strategies used in weblogs and the increased importance of blogs as a medium for free expression and in part a survey of the opinions and viewpoints of Iranian bloggers.
Your participation in this survey is entirely voluntary and all twenty-six questions are optional. Any information you give whether personal or not will remain anonymous.
For further information please visit http://www.lexrigby.com or email lex.rigby@gmail.com.
This research project is a partial requirement of a Masters degree in Librarianship at the University of Sheffield
About You
1. How old are you?
-15
16-25
26-35
36-45
+46
2. What is your gender?
Male
Female
Prefer not to answer
3. Where do you live?
Iran
USA
Canada
United Kingdom
Other (please specify)
4. What is your nationality? (Select multiple answers for dual nationalities)
Iranian
American
Canadian
British
Other (please specify)
About You (cont…)
1. What is your employment status?
Self-employed
Employee/worker
Freelancer
Unemployed
Student
Other (please specify)
2. What is your highest educational qualification?
Elementary/junior/high school
Six form/college
University Bachelor degree
University Masters degree
PhD/Doctorate
3. How long have you been using the Internet?
Less than a year
1-3 years
4-5 years
5 years or more
4. How often do you access the Internet?
More than once a day
Once a day
Once every few days
Once a week
Once every couple of weeks
Once a month
Other (please specify)
5. From where do you access the Internet? (Select more than one answer if applicable)
Home
Work
School/college/university
Internet cafes
At a friend’s house
Other (please specify)
About Blogging
1. How long have you had a weblog?
0-6 months
7-12 months
1-2 years
3-4 years
4 years or more
2. How many weblogs do you have?
1
2
3
4
5 or more
3. Why did you start blogging?
4. Why do you continue to blog?
About Blogging (cont…)
1. Who is your target audience?
2. What is your blog about?
3. What other blogs do you read? Why?
About Blogging (cont…)
1. Do you blog in English/Persian or both? If both, are there any differences between what you blog about in each language?
2. What subjects, if any, do you avoid blogging about? Why?
3. Have you ever been asked to remove all or some of the contents of your weblog? By whom and what did you do?
4. Have you ever experienced difficulties in accessing other weblogs? Why?
About Blogging (cont…)
1. Do you publish any personal information online such as your name or contact details?
2. Have you ever experienced threatening or abusive behaviour due to the contents of your blog? Can you give examples?
3. Have you ever experienced threatening or abusive behaviour due to the contents of your blog? Can you give examples?
About Blogging (cont…)
1. What kind of impact do you think that blogging has had on the distribution of news or political discourse in Iran?
2. How influential do you think blogging is amongst young people in Iran? Why?
3. Do you have any further comments to make about blogging or the Iranian blogosphere?
