Helen Mason, project manager for Southampton Studio School, said one of its "key qualities" would be small class sizes.

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Mr. Hazlett is a professor of law and economics at George Mason University, where he directs the Information Economy Project.

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But Andrew Mason, from Church Fenton Parish Council, said he thought the project would "blight the village".

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Jon Entine is director of the Genetic Literacy Project and senior research fellow at STATS and the Center for Health and Risk Communications at George Mason University.

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In an effort to monetize the concept, Mason dropped-out of graduate school and started working on Groupon as a side project before dedicating his full time to the site in the fall of 2008.

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