I would agree with Prof. Wellman on this point. As much as I'd love to see Internet studies become part of the typical catalog at most universities, the reality right now is that it isn't. You're much more likely to be hired as a professor in one of the more established disciplines than in an Internet studies program. Even communication departments don't exist on every campus. Also, if you do a Ph.D. in a more established discipline (e.g., communication) and gear your research toward Internet studies, you'll still need to be able to teach Intro. to Mass Communication, Intro. to Newswriting, etc. The more established departments seem far more likely to hire someone who can teach the introductory courses or the production courses *in addition* to special topics courses on new media. You just don't get hired by these departments very often with a mandate to teach only Internet studies courses. db --- Daren C. Brabham, Ph.D. Assistant Professor School of Journalism & Mass Communication University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Carroll Hall, CB 3365 Chapel Hill, NC 27599 (919) 962-0676 (office) (801) 633-4796 (cell) daren.brabham@unc.edu www.darenbrabham.com ________________________________________ From: air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org [air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org] On Behalf Of Barry Wellman [wellman@chass.utoronto.ca] Sent: Wednesday, September 29, 2010 4:52 PM To: aoir list Subject: [Air-L] Devin, et al 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 _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/