Dear All, Last year I graduated from Master's program in economics with minor in e-business. I wrote my thesis on "virtual communities as a new channel of Internet marketing communications". I wanted to pursue (I still do) a career in research so it was clear to me, I should apply to PhD program in economics, especially that I was offered a faculty position at my home economics/e-business department. My research interests are: virtual communities, WEB 2.0, Internet marketing. My Ph D's preliminary working title is "Social networking websites (Web 2.0) as a new way of organizing and evaluating information on the web. What is a lesson to learnt for on line marketeers?". I would like to describe what Web 2.0 is, how it is affecting the way we look for information, evaluate it and how it's affecting our buying behaviors. I spent last few months on digging through research papers related to this topic. I was also trying to find a thesis supervisor. These two things led me to a belief that perhaps my interests are more of information studies, rather than business ones. I have a really hard time finding anyone at my university with expertise in virtual communities, etc. 1) If you were in my shoes, would you choose: a) Information studies program or b) Marketing program? 2) Which program is easier to get it: a) Information studies program or b) Marketing program? 3) Do you know of anybody, whose expertise would benefit my research? I am considering going to a different university for some time as a visiting scholar (Europe/USA). 4) Which places (universities/programs) would you recommend as best ones to do an interdisciplinary research into the Internet? 5) Do Information and Business PhDs' salaries differ significantly: a) inside academia b) outside of academia There is nobody at my university to mentor me or to supervise my dissertation, so I feel a little lost. Your help would be very much appreciated. Best Regards, M.K.