This comment raises I think an interesting issue, to what extent ought we to be familiar with computer science as Internet researchers? In other words, should we know the basics of programming, of UNIX, of html, etc.? My own knowledge is pretty patchy - I did two semesters of algorithms (in Pascal as I recall) about 15 years ago in college; I can hand- code a website with basic HTML and CSS but no scripting; I used to be able to write AppleScripts; and I can navigate up and down a unix system (I basically know the 'ls' command and the 'cd' command). I know what a webserver does and can read log files. And owing to my research I now know something about how search engines function :-) That's it, though -- perl and python are strangers to me, I can't gzip or untar things, and as for the grep commands in AtlasTi... well, let's just say I'm probably not using the program to its full extent. Still, I know more than most of the other people I know who are studying new media. But is that right? Should I know more, should they know more? Do you think there is a minimum level of technical competence that you need? Elizabeth
2) I am a social scientist, as I (maybe wrongly) thought were most of the people on this list. I am familiar with UNIX, which already seems to be kind of a rarity among social scientists. Most of us aren't and, I might add, shouldn't.