There are a number of good (such as OII) and not so good specialists in Internet studies, but to be a contrarian -- and friends please forgive me -- I would suggest that you get your PhD in a longer-established discipline, such as Communications, Information, Sociology, Comp Sci, etc. -- with a concentation on the Internet as well as at least one other field within that discipline. That would improve your ability to get anchored in a discipline, received more methodological and theoretical training, and get hired afterwards and get grants to do the kind of research you'd like to. Of course, there are good people and courses wtihin internet studies, but I am thinking in probability terms. Barry Wellman _______________________________________________________________________ S.D. Clark Professor of Sociology, FRSC NetLab Director Department of Sociology 725 Spadina Avenue, Room 388 University of Toronto Toronto Canada M5S 2J4 twitter:barrywellman http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman fax:+1-416-978-3963 Updating history: http://chass.utoronto.ca/oldnew/cybertimes.php _______________________________________________________________________