I see a lot of parallels between political science and the development of the internet research field. Though my perspective is slanted since my roots are in poli sci. Political Science, organized formally within APSA, has been around since the days of Woodrow Wilson (specifically 1903). Yet while I was in grad school, it struck me how much the field still struggles with self-identity. Students and even some professors would periodically raise questions asking what makes Political Science different from Sociology? In terms of theory, some would say the former is a natural extension of the latter... generating middle-range theories and defined largely by the wealth and types of observable data and subject matter. Ellis mentioned this kind of disciplinary definition/parameter in her previous message (below). For those who like historical contexts, you might be interested in this presidential keynote speech given in 1904, at the first APSA conference: http://www.apsanet.org/imgtest/190405AddrGOODNOW.pdf APSA aside, I'm pretty sure the "political science" field (at least in the U.S.) has been around for almost 150 years.. and there are still some discipline identity issues. On a separate tangent, it will be interesting to see the progression of the Berners-Lee/ Web Science Research Initiative (http://www.webscience.org/), and how it grows with respect to the already established internet research field. Do folks here see "Web Science" becoming a part of AoIR? do you see WSRI as bringing added value to a larger field of internet research? or do you see this movement as reinventing the wheel? - Paul
-------- Original Message -------- Subject: Re: [Air-l] on journals ...
Ellis Godard wrote: I'm curious how many others think/believe/expect this. Disciplines can be defined by their subject matter, methods, or perspectives (typically some combination), but AOIR is diverse in all three of these regards - and intentionally (perhaps even increasingly) so. Even if those fascinated with "inter-/trans-"/boundary-crossing focus their career attention within AOIR, and those of us with disciplinary inclinations depart, to what extent can unbounded diversity provide a foundation for a home anything, much less a home discipline?