I have a student who is trying to do some background research into "the development of Internet Studies as a discipline." I first of all told her that Internet Studies probably doesn't warrant the term "discipline" yet, but that's the sort of answer that doesn't help much. So, does anyone know of any resources/readings that detail how Internet Studies as a field (if it is such a thing yet) developed, and how Internet Studies programs came into being? Thanks, Norm Clark Appalachian State University (where we do have an Internet Studies major, but it's housed in Interdisciplinary Studies, so it doesn't really "count" in some folks eyes as a "real" major)
Dear all I guess the question of whether some area of study is or is not a discipline speaks to the structure and nature of 'disciplines' as a particular modern form of knowledge much beloved by the academy as a way of controlling how and what we know - hence Norman's comment about whether something is a 'real' major or not. For what it's worth... at Curtin University of Technology, Internet Studies commenced in 1999 in its first incarnation as a graduate coursework program but with much greater clarity in 2001 when our BA (INternet Studies) commenced. The underpinning idea was, however, not quite the same as a traditional liberal arts major like History, Sociology etc (on which Internet Studies draws, obviously), but - to suit the nature of Curtin University - as a 'professional' degree that blended some of the formal, structured curriculum of something like Librarianship or Social Work (which are undergrad degrees in Australia), with some of the choice and openness of a liberal arts degree. The idea was to try and underpin the degree with research / intellectual inquiry in a way that might make it actually 'work' as a 'qualification' for some kind of employment, but without the formal and restrictive nature of most 'professional' degrees. This situation is probably uncommon in many other places. Denise Rall - I am sure you will be able to fill us in more, since that's your area of expertise? Matt Dr Matthew Allen Associate Professor Internet Studies Curtin University of Technology, CRICOS 00301J Australia m.allen@curtin.edu.au http://smi.curtin.edu.au/netstudies/allen.htm +61 8 92663511 (v) +61 8 9266 3166 (f) President, Association of Internet Researchers http://www.aoir.org
And, it might be worth looking at the special issue Nancy Baym edited for The Information Society sometime in the Fall. It might help with the "discipline or not, that is the question" question. Ulla --- Ulla Bunz Assistant Professor Department of Communication 356 Diffenbaugh Building Florida State University Tallahassee, FL 32306 Email: ubunz@fsu.edu Phone: 850-644-1809 -----------------------------------------------
And, it might be worth looking at the special issue Nancy Baym edited for The Information Society sometime in the Fall. It might help with the "discipline or not, that is the question" question. Ulla
Here is the URL for the abstracts from that special issue. There is not anything in there that addresses 'history' per se. But the consensus from the pieces as a whole is that it is not a discipline, and that 'internet studies' may not be the right name for whatever it is, so it certainly problematizes the question being asked by Norm's student. http://www.indiana.edu/~tisj/21/index.html#4 I will say that when I first went on the job market with an internet studies dissertation in 1994, very few people doing the hiring (in Communication) had any clue what I was doing or how it could possibly fit into their departments even if when thought it was very interesting. By 1996-1997 or so, job ads were starting to appear in Communication specifically looking for someone who did "computer-mediated communication" or communication and new technology. Over the next few years, the CMC term pretty much disappeared and new technologies, new media, information technology and other such monikers became very common. This is just one field, of course, and is quite different from the question of the creation of new majors, centers, etc, but is probably indicative that the emergence of something like a 'field' rather than isolated positions here and there was a late 90s phenomenon, although work was certainly being done prior to then. Nancy
Again, not completely precise for Norman's initial question but AoIR member Ron Rice has written 'New media/Internet research topics of the Association of Internet Researchers' http://repositories.cdlib.org/postprints/943/ Dr Matthew Allen Associate Professor Internet Studies Curtin University of Technology, CRICOS 00301J Australia m.allen@curtin.edu.au http://smi.curtin.edu.au/netstudies/allen.htm +61 8 92663511 (v) +61 8 9266 3166 (f) President, Association of Internet Researchers http://www.aoir.org
There are some histories, or historical views: Silver, D. (2000). Looking backwards, looking forward: Cyberculture studies 1990-2000. Web.studies: Rewiring media studies for the digital age. D. Gauntlett. Oxford, Oxford University Press: 19-30. Silver, D. (2000). "A Field matures: Cyberstudies at the turn of the millennium [online] Available at: http://www.easst.net/easst004.html 19(4). Strate, L. (1999). "The varieties of cyberspace: Problems in definition and delimitation." Western Journal of Communication 63(3): 382-412. and some helpful papers by Aoir members: Silver, D. (2004). "Internet/cyberculture/digital culture/new media/fill-in-the-blank studies." New Media & Society 6(1): 55-64. Wellman, B. (2004). "Internet studies: fifteen, ten and 0 years ago." New Media & Society 6(1): 123-129. Rall, D. N. (2005). Exploring the range of disciplinary backgrounds of internet scholars participating in AoIR meetings, 2000-2002. Internet Research Annual Volume 3. M. Consalvo and K. O'Riordan. New York, Peter Lang: 107-122. Also a review of internet studies to date was (unfortunately) rejected by the editors of the TIS special issue, but takes a global view of internet studies from 1999-present. Contact me personally if you want a copy of the manuscript. Regarding the internet as a research object, consider the following: Johns, M. D., S.-L. S. Chen, et al., Eds. (2004). Online social research: Methods, issues, & ethics. New York, Peter Lang. Gurak, L. (2001). Cyberliteracy. Cambridge, MA, Yale University Press. Regarding disciplines: Becher, T. and P. R. Trowler (2001). Academic tribes and territories: Intellectual enquiry and the cultures of disciplines. Buckingham, UK, SRHE and Open University Press. Weingart, P. and N. Stehr, Eds. (2000). Practising interdisciplinarity. Toronto, University of Toronto Press. I would generally agree with Nancy that it's not a discipline, however, media and communiction scholars have different ideas about disciplinarity to mine, which derive from the educational literature. However, there's been plenty of recent research to support that it could be an interdiscipline or as she says, a field of study. I would argue that it's stronger than a field of study, rather a hybridized (inter- trans- post- multi- cross-) discipline. William Dutton of the Oxford Internet Institute suggested 'cross-discipline' and the term 'cross disciplinary' research is used in the AoIR statement of purpose. My own definition follows: Rall, D. N. (2003/2004). "A preliminary definition of internet studies and research [online] Available at:." http://scu.edu.au/schools/rsm/staff/pages/drall [1 August 2004]. Cheers, Denise Denise N. Rall, Ph.D. submitted, School of Environ. Science, Southern Cross University, Lismore NSW 2480 AUSTRALIA Tuesdays: Room T2.12, +61 (0)2 6620 3577 or Mobile 0438 233 344 http://www.scu.edu.au/schools/rsm/staff/pages/drall/index.html Virtual member, Cybermetrics Group, University of Wolverhampton, UK http://cybermetrics.wlv.ac.uk/index.html
Dear Norman et al. - Well I just finished and filed a Ph.D. with exactly this research topic. Short of sending your student my final draft (!) I'm not too sure how I could be immediately helpful. I too found the "discipline" issue in the end not very satisfying. Not very many people can agree on what discipline is - I prefer Stephen Turner's self-reproducing cartels but others can't agree on that. For a good reading on the academic disciplines from a ethnographic/ sociological perspective, I would rely on Becher & Trowler (2001) Academic tribes & territories. Open University Press. For my work, see my webpage, google "Denise Rall" Cheers, Denise Denise N. Rall, Ph.D. submitted, School of Environ. Science, Southern Cross University, Lismore NSW 2480 AUSTRALIA Tuesdays: Room T2.12, +61 (0)2 6620 3577 or Mobile 0438 233 344 http://www.scu.edu.au/schools/rsm/staff/pages/drall/index.html Virtual member, Cybermetrics Group, University of Wolverhampton, UK http://cybermetrics.wlv.ac.uk/index.html
participants (5)
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Bunz, Ulla -
Denise N. Rall -
Matthew Allen -
Nancy Baym -
Norman Clark