Dear Fellow Internet-Researchers, in our research project we are building a multi-level data base that allows us to track German entrepreneurial groups over twenty years. For this data-base we use a number of different publicly available sources such as registries, news and magazine articles, who is who lists etc. In addition, we are considering to use "Linked-In" data about the entrepreneur's education and work experience. Yet, we are still debating the "validity" of the data and the pragmatics of getting access. We would welcome any leads in terms of: - Other studies that have used linkedin for research purposes - The procedure of getting permission to use linkedin data for research - Information on confidentiality issues in this regard: user consent, etc. Thank you lots for your support. Isabell __________________________ Dr. Isabell Stamm Technical University Berlin Department for Sociology Head of Research Group "Entrepreneurial Group Dynamics" Fraunhofer Str. 33-36 10587 Berlin Tel. +49 30 314 75679 http://www.entrepreneurialgroups.org http://www.isabellstamm.de <http://www.isabellstamm.de/>