Re: first post (An Internet Without Space)
My apologies for starting this debate and then running away - I 've spent most of the past week in hospital or recovering from the experience :-) (I wont take this opportunity to lavish praise on the freely available Australian health system and how such systems are surely the measure of whether or not a nation is civilised) I'm surprised to see such a lengthy thread develop and have enjoyed catching up this morning with the views expressed over the past few days although its a pity your conference roundtable idea which has evolved from my thread won't be a real contest between the "yes there is a cyberspace" and "no there isnt" sides but rather like an All Stars charity match. However, if I might divert your attention a little - it appears that nobody found it noteworthy that half the members of a class of mature aged Internet Studies students disagreed with the idea that there is a cyberspace. What if we are typical of the modern internet user and typical of present and future students? Your ranks will swell with people who dont believe in cyberspace because we are people who see the internet as a tool and as an natural extension of our daily tasks. Some of my fellow students have already remarked how believing the cyberspace concept seems to be a religious like act of faith. It does make me wonder whether Internet Studies should be in the Arts/Humanities area or whether it should be a Science where numbers, rather than concepts, are investigated and analsyed. Now there is a subject worthy of discussion - Internet Studies, is it Art or a Science ?? see ya Eero Tarik Adelaide
Eero Tarik Adelaide It does make me wonder whether Internet Studies should be in the Arts/Humanities area or whether it should be a Science where numbers, rather than concepts, are investigated and analsyed. Now there is a subject worthy of discussion - Internet Studies, is it Art or a Science ??
hi eero your comments made me think of this call for papers nancy sent to the list at the beginning of january denise carter
For those who missed this CFP or whose memories need jogging. The deadline is February 27. Please share this CFP with others who might be interested. Thanks.
CALL FOR PAPERS
The Information Society (TIS) special issue on
ICT RESEARCH AND DISCIPLINARY BOUNDARIES: IS "INTERNET RESEARCH" A VIRTUAL FIELD, A PROTO-DISCIPLINE, OR SOMETHING ELSE?
Edited by Nancy Baym, University of Kansas
Issues raised by information and communications technologies (ICTs) transcend disciplinary boundaries. Ever since the beginning of ICT research, scholars have sought to carve out spaces within the discipline-bound institutional structures where streams of thoughts of different hues co-mingle more freely. The early efforts in the 1960s and 1970s focused on the creation of interdisciplinary research centers and programs and journals such as Telecommunications Policy and The Information Society. In the 1980s and 1990s, we saw the rise of schools of information, information studies, and informatics on campuses where the conditions were ripe for entrepreneurial activity. The variation in the names and curricula of these schools suggests that we are still trying to get a sense of the new intellectual landscape. Within this unsettled context, the growing number of researchers attracted towards the Association of Internet Researchers [AoIR] conference gives reason for pause. One now often hears people talking about the "field" of "Internet Research" while its practitioners continue to be housed in departments and schools of library science, business, information science, communications, and others. Something clearly seems to be afoot. But what is it? Is Internet Research a virtual field wherein we have resigned to the permanence of disciplinary boundaries and created an overlay or virtual network across them? Or, are we seeing the emergence of a proto-discipline whose growth will knock down disciplinary boundaries and create a new institutional space? Or, is Internet Research a forerunner of some other configuration we barely understand? This special issue seeks to explore and chart out this evolving intellectual landscape.
Contributions in the form of full-length articles (6000 words), forum pieces (3000 words), and short position papers (1000 words) are invited. The special issue intends to present a variety of perspectives and hence is open in terms of topics covered. Among other things, contributors could address questions such as the following:
To what extent is Internet Research an academic "field" or "discipline"?
What does it mean to label this field? Is "Internet Research" the right name? What are the other possibilities and what are their implications?
To the extent that it is a field, what is its emergent structure?
In what ways does the growth of this research area parallel or differ from other disciplines? What lessons for the present and the future might be learned from those histories?
Where do we stand now relative to where Film Studies, Women's Studies, and other new fields were a few years ago?
Manuscripts prepared according to the TIS guidelines (http://www.indiana.edu/~tisj/contributors/authors.html) should be submitted by February 27, 2004. Please send the manuscripts to Nancy Baym (nbaym@ku.edu). Authors are encouraged to discuss their ideas with the guest editor.
-- Nancy Baym http://www.ku.edu/home/nbaym Communication Studies, University of Kansas 102 Bailey Hall, 1440 Jayhawk Blvd., Lawrence, KS 66045, USA Association of Internet Researchers: http://aoir.org
Thank you Denise for reposting my CFP. Some people have asked whether it is full and/or really open to unsolicited manuscripts. It is not full, and yes, unsolicited manuscripts are welcomed! If any of the recent conversation on air-l has gotten you thinking about these issues, please consider writing up your thoughts. Nancy
Eero Tarik Adelaide It does make me wonder whether Internet Studies should be in the Arts/Humanities area or whether it should be a Science where numbers, rather than concepts, are investigated and analsyed. Now there is a subject worthy of discussion - Internet Studies, is it Art or a Science ??
hi eero your comments made me think of this call for papers nancy sent to the list at the beginning of january denise carter
For those who missed this CFP or whose memories need jogging. The deadline is February 27. Please share this CFP with others who might be interested. Thanks.
CALL FOR PAPERS
The Information Society (TIS) special issue on
ICT RESEARCH AND DISCIPLINARY BOUNDARIES: IS "INTERNET RESEARCH" A VIRTUAL FIELD, A PROTO-DISCIPLINE, OR SOMETHING ELSE?
Edited by Nancy Baym, University of Kansas
Issues raised by information and communications technologies (ICTs) transcend disciplinary boundaries. Ever since the beginning of ICT research, scholars have sought to carve out spaces within the discipline-bound institutional structures where streams of thoughts of different hues co-mingle more freely. The early efforts in the 1960s and 1970s focused on the creation of interdisciplinary research centers and programs and journals such as Telecommunications Policy and The Information Society. In the 1980s and 1990s, we saw the rise of schools of information, information studies, and informatics on campuses where the conditions were ripe for entrepreneurial activity. The variation in the names and curricula of these schools suggests that we are still trying to get a sense of the new intellectual landscape. Within this unsettled context, the growing number of researchers attracted towards the Association of Internet Researchers [AoIR] conference gives reason for pause. One now often hears people talking about the "field" of "Internet Research" while its practitioners continue to be housed in departments and schools of library science, business, information science, communications, and others. Something clearly seems to be afoot. But what is it? Is Internet Research a virtual field wherein we have resigned to the permanence of disciplinary boundaries and created an overlay or virtual network across them? Or, are we seeing the emergence of a proto-discipline whose growth will knock down disciplinary boundaries and create a new institutional space? Or, is Internet Research a forerunner of some other configuration we barely understand? This special issue seeks to explore and chart out this evolving intellectual landscape.
Contributions in the form of full-length articles (6000 words), forum pieces (3000 words), and short position papers (1000 words) are invited. The special issue intends to present a variety of perspectives and hence is open in terms of topics covered. Among other things, contributors could address questions such as the following:
To what extent is Internet Research an academic "field" or "discipline"?
What does it mean to label this field? Is "Internet Research" the right name? What are the other possibilities and what are their implications?
To the extent that it is a field, what is its emergent structure?
In what ways does the growth of this research area parallel or differ from other disciplines? What lessons for the present and the future might be learned from those histories?
Where do we stand now relative to where Film Studies, Women's Studies, and other new fields were a few years ago?
Manuscripts prepared according to the TIS guidelines (http://www.indiana.edu/~tisj/contributors/authors.html) should be submitted by February 27, 2004. Please send the manuscripts to Nancy Baym (nbaym@ku.edu). Authors are encouraged to discuss their ideas with the guest editor.
-- Nancy Baym http://www.ku.edu/home/nbaym Communication Studies, University of Kansas 102 Bailey Hall, 1440 Jayhawk Blvd., Lawrence, KS 66045, USA Association of Internet Researchers: http://aoir.org
_______________________________________________ Air-l mailing list Air-l@aoir.org http://www.aoir.org/mailman/listinfo/air-l
-- Nancy Baym http://www.ku.edu/home/nbaym Communication Studies, University of Kansas Bailey Hall, 1440 Jayhawk Blvd., Room 102, Lawrence, KS 66045-7574, USA Association of Internet Researchers: http://aoir.org
participants (3)
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Denise Carter -
Eero Tarik -
Nancy Baym