web science, or AoIR by any other name
Do folks here see "Web Science" becoming a part of AoIR?
We're starting a Web Science initiative in the College of Computing at Georgia Tech. We interpret the term broadly to mean "the interdisciplinary study of the Web." (Not just semantic web stuff.) Compared to the kinds of things the AoIR community usually addresses, I would say we're a bit broader because we include more core computer science. Part of our reason for calling it "web science" instead of "Internet research" is to appeal to the folks coming from the hard side of computer science. One of our goals is to increase communication across disciplines. For example, we had a great conversation at a faculty meeting yesterday about the "interestingness" algorithm on flickr, and how this might reflect a new view of algorithms that draws together our social computing and theoretical computer science faculty in a new way. And if we can draw in our economics, public policy, "new media", etc. folks too... then this starts to look interesting! So basically I see "Internet research" and "web science" becoming synonyms in the long run. YMMV :-) -- Amy Amy Bruckman Associate Professor College of Computing Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta, GA 30332-0760 Tel: 404-894-9222 Fax: 404-894-3146 Email: asb@cc.gatech.edu Web: http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~asb/
Just to add another term: Internet science ("iScience"). Please check out the book "Dimensions of Internet Science" (http://www.psychologie.unizh.ch/sowi/reips/dis/) and the iScience server at http://psych-iscience.unizh.ch/ As it says on the book site: "Internet Science is a new and exciting interdisciplinary field. Its purpose is the conduct of empirical studies which examine the Internet as both an instrument for, and an object of, scientific investigation." The instrument aspect and the empirical focus, in particular, seem to distinguish the definition from those for "Internet research" and "web science". Best wishes --u At 12:46 Uhr -0400 4.5.2007, Amy S. Bruckman wrote:
Do folks here see "Web Science" becoming a part of AoIR?
We're starting a Web Science initiative in the College of Computing at Georgia Tech. We interpret the term broadly to mean "the interdisciplinary study of the Web." (Not just semantic web stuff.) Compared to the kinds of things the AoIR community usually addresses, I would say we're a bit broader because we include more core computer science. Part of our reason for calling it "web science" instead of "Internet research" is to appeal to the folks coming from the hard side of computer science.
One of our goals is to increase communication across disciplines. For example, we had a great conversation at a faculty meeting yesterday about the "interestingness" algorithm on flickr, and how this might reflect a new view of algorithms that draws together our social computing and theoretical computer science faculty in a new way. And if we can draw in our economics, public policy, "new media", etc. folks too... then this starts to look interesting!
So basically I see "Internet research" and "web science" becoming synonyms in the long run.
YMMV :-)
-- Amy
-- PD Dr. Ulf-Dietrich Reips Past President, Society for Computers in Psychology (http://scip.ws) Editor, International Journal of Internet Science (http://www.ijis.net) *new address* Universität Zürich Psychologisches Institut Binzmühlestr. 14/13 8050 Zürich, Switzerland iScience portal (http://psych-iscience.unizh.ch/)
Yet another vocabulary issue! Boundaries abound. By the way, each is an ontological commitment. James Ulf-Dietrich Reips <ureips@genpsy.unizh.ch> wrote: Just to add another term: Internet science ("iScience"). Please check out the book "Dimensions of Internet Science" (http://www.psychologie.unizh.ch/sowi/reips/dis/) and the iScience server at http://psych-iscience.unizh.ch/ As it says on the book site: "Internet Science is a new and exciting interdisciplinary field. Its purpose is the conduct of empirical studies which examine the Internet as both an instrument for, and an object of, scientific investigation." The instrument aspect and the empirical focus, in particular, seem to distinguish the definition from those for "Internet research" and "web science". Best wishes --u At 12:46 Uhr -0400 4.5.2007, Amy S. Bruckman wrote:
Do folks here see "Web Science" becoming a part of AoIR?
We're starting a Web Science initiative in the College of Computing at Georgia Tech. We interpret the term broadly to mean "the interdisciplinary study of the Web." (Not just semantic web stuff.) Compared to the kinds of things the AoIR community usually addresses, I would say we're a bit broader because we include more core computer science. Part of our reason for calling it "web science" instead of "Internet research" is to appeal to the folks coming from the hard side of computer science.
One of our goals is to increase communication across disciplines. For example, we had a great conversation at a faculty meeting yesterday about the "interestingness" algorithm on flickr, and how this might reflect a new view of algorithms that draws together our social computing and theoretical computer science faculty in a new way. And if we can draw in our economics, public policy, "new media", etc. folks too... then this starts to look interesting!
So basically I see "Internet research" and "web science" becoming synonyms in the long run.
YMMV :-)
-- Amy
-- PD Dr. Ulf-Dietrich Reips Past President, Society for Computers in Psychology (http://scip.ws) Editor, International Journal of Internet Science (http://www.ijis.net) *new address* Universität Zürich Psychologisches Institut Binzmühlestr. 14/13 8050 Zürich, Switzerland iScience portal (http://psych-iscience.unizh.ch/) _______________________________________________ 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/ --------------------------------- Ahhh...imagining that irresistible "new car" smell? Check outnew cars at Yahoo! Autos.
Since variations in terms are being suggested, I would like to suggest another for the list: e-science. Definitions and illustrations of this approach can be culled from articles in a JCMC theme issue on e-science, published earlier this year, some of which are related to "web science", "iScience", and internet research. Ralph Schroeder and I have organized a panel on the relation between internet research and e-science for the AoIR conference in Vancouver; details on the panel will appear in the conference program. Best, Nick Jankowski At 19:09 4-5-2007, you wrote:
Just to add another term: Internet science ("iScience"). Please check out the book "Dimensions of Internet Science" (http://www.psychologie.unizh.ch/sowi/reips/dis/) and the iScience server at http://psych-iscience.unizh.ch/
As it says on the book site: "Internet Science is a new and exciting interdisciplinary field. Its purpose is the conduct of empirical studies which examine the Internet as both an instrument for, and an object of, scientific investigation." The instrument aspect and the empirical focus, in particular, seem to distinguish the definition from those for "Internet research" and "web science".
Best wishes --u
At 12:46 Uhr -0400 4.5.2007, Amy S. Bruckman wrote:
Do folks here see "Web Science" becoming a part of AoIR?
We're starting a Web Science initiative in the College of Computing at Georgia Tech. We interpret the term broadly to mean "the interdisciplinary study of the Web." (Not just semantic web stuff.) Compared to the kinds of things the AoIR community usually addresses, I would say we're a bit broader because we include more core computer science. Part of our reason for calling it "web science" instead of "Internet research" is to appeal to the folks coming from the hard side of computer science.
One of our goals is to increase communication across disciplines. For example, we had a great conversation at a faculty meeting yesterday about the "interestingness" algorithm on flickr, and how this might reflect a new view of algorithms that draws together our social computing and theoretical computer science faculty in a new way. And if we can draw in our economics, public policy, "new media", etc. folks too... then this starts to look interesting!
So basically I see "Internet research" and "web science" becoming synonyms in the long run.
YMMV :-)
-- Amy
-- PD Dr. Ulf-Dietrich Reips
Past President, Society for Computers in Psychology (http://scip.ws) Editor, International Journal of Internet Science (http://www.ijis.net) *new address* Universität Zürich Psychologisches Institut Binzmühlestr. 14/13 8050 Zürich, Switzerland
iScience portal (http://psych-iscience.unizh.ch/) _______________________________________________ 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/
********************************************************************** Nicholas W. Jankowski Visiting Fellow Virtual Knowledge Studio for the Humanities and Social Sciences Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences Cruquiusweg 31 1019 AT Amsterdam, NL T: +3120 8500470 F: +3120 8500271 E: nickjan@xs4all.nl www.virtualknowledgestudio.nl ***********************************************************************
Ulf-Dietrich Reips schrieb:
Just to add another term: Internet science ("iScience"). Please check out the book "Dimensions of Internet Science" (http://www.psychologie.unizh.ch/sowi/reips/dis/) and the iScience server at http://psych-iscience.unizh.ch/
As it says on the book site: "Internet Science is a new and exciting interdisciplinary field. Its purpose is the conduct of empirical studies which examine the Internet as both an instrument for, and an object of, scientific investigation." The instrument aspect and the empirical focus, in particular, seem to distinguish the definition from those for "Internet research" and "web science".
Best wishes --u
i think that the introduction of terms such as web science or internet science doesn't do much good for defining what research "internet researchers" are actually doing. web science seems to be more technologically-oriented, internet science is purely empirically and excludes theory, whereas internet research also seems to include social theory besides empirical research. social informatics argues that it is empirically oriented, but might need some theory. then there are other terms such as information society studies/research, new media research, internet and society, informatics and society, etc. this is getting weird - so many names, no clear definitions, everybody seems to use these terms as s/he likes. maybe there should be one overall name for the whole research field, and the names that are used should clearly describe what exactly this research means (e.g. it is strange to speak of "internet science" as purely empirical research because this in not obvious in the first place). i would argue in favour of a very broad definition and one overall term - which one would be suitable? i dislike terms like internet research, new media research, internet studies etc because they have a technical bias and can be interpreted in a techno-deterministic way. i hence more prefer terms like "information society research" or "icts & society". once one overall terms is found, subterms for specific forms of research could be defined and specific categories found that describe what is being done. also trying to exclude social theory (like the notion of "inernet science" as introduced in the book of reips/bosnjak) by strictly focusing on empirical research doesn't do much good and looks to me like a renewal of the old positivism dispute of sociology (adorno/horkheimer/habermas vs popper/könig etc). for me "internet research" to a certain degree lacks the dimension of social theory and critical social theory, so to simply exclude theory doesn't do much good and rather seems to want to turn "information society research" into a positivistic science. christian -- _____________________________ Univ.Ass. Dr. Christian Fuchs Assistant Professor for Internet and Society ICT&S Center - Advanced Studies and Research in Information and Communication Technologies & Society http://www.icts.uni-salzburg.at University of Salzburg Sigmund Haffner Gasse 18 5020 Salzburg Austria christian.fuchs@sbg.ac.at Phone +43 662 8044 4823 Fax +43 662 6389 4800 Information-Society-Technology: http://fuchs.icts.sbg.ac.at http://www.icts.uni-salzburg.at/fuchs/ Managing Editor of tripleC - peer reviewed open access online journal for the foundations of information science: http://triplec.uti.at Forthcoming BOOK: Fuchs, Christian (2008) Internet and Society: Social Theory in the Information Age. New York: Routledge.
IMHO, I don't think that it will because, Berniers-Lee made a statement in choosing the name to disallow the presumed linkage between Internet (cap I) and Netspace/Social Space/Cyberspace. His writing suggests that he sees the social dimensions of the Internet as technology agnostic. IHMO James "Amy S. Bruckman" <asb@cc.gatech.edu> wrote:
Do folks here see "Web Science" becoming a part of AoIR?
We're starting a Web Science initiative in the College of Computing at Georgia Tech. We interpret the term broadly to mean "the interdisciplinary study of the Web." (Not just semantic web stuff.) Compared to the kinds of things the AoIR community usually addresses, I would say we're a bit broader because we include more core computer science. Part of our reason for calling it "web science" instead of "Internet research" is to appeal to the folks coming from the hard side of computer science. One of our goals is to increase communication across disciplines. For example, we had a great conversation at a faculty meeting yesterday about the "interestingness" algorithm on flickr, and how this might reflect a new view of algorithms that draws together our social computing and theoretical computer science faculty in a new way. And if we can draw in our economics, public policy, "new media", etc. folks too... then this starts to look interesting! So basically I see "Internet research" and "web science" becoming synonyms in the long run. YMMV :-) -- Amy Amy Bruckman Associate Professor College of Computing Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta, GA 30332-0760 Tel: 404-894-9222 Fax: 404-894-3146 Email: asb@cc.gatech.edu Web: http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~asb/ _______________________________________________ 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/ --------------------------------- Ahhh...imagining that irresistible "new car" smell? Check outnew cars at Yahoo! Autos.
This discussion echoes the theme of a special issue of The Information Society I edited in which researchers from several disciplines contemplated the disciplinary status of 'internet research.' The (a?) short story was that the authors independently argued that it was in our best interest to avoid becoming an institutionalized discipline. Here is the table of contents: Vol. 21, No. 4 Special Issue: ICT Research and Disciplinary Boundaries: Is "Internet Research" a Virtual Field, a Proto-Discipline, or Something Else? INTRODUCTION Internet Research as is Isn't, Is, Could Be, and Should Be Nancy K. Baym ARTICLES Fizz in the Field: Toward a Basis for an Emergent Internet Studies Steve Jones Internet Research and the Sociology of Cyber-Social-Scientific Knowledge Christine Hine Digital Media and Disciplinarity Jonathan Sterne Disciplining the Future: A Critical Organizational Analysis of Internet Studies Annette N. Markham Who Wants to be a Discipline? Naomi S. Baron Internet Indiscipline: Two Approaches to Making a Field Wesley Shrum Towards a Transdisciplinary Internet Research Jeremy Hunsinger Science and Technology Studies Approaches to Internet Research John Monberg New Media/Internet Research Topics of the Association of Internet Researchers Ronald E. Rice The Internet in China: A Meta-review of Research Randolph Kluver and Chen Yang Making Space for Religion in Internet Studies [Abstract] Heidi Campbell ICT Research, the New Economy, and the Evolving Discipline of Economics: Back to the Future? Hans-Jürgen Engelbrecht You can read abstracts here: http://www.indiana.edu/~tisj/21/index.html#4
I read this and there is a compelling argument. I am arguing for transdisplinary methods, perspectives and vocabulary, with the commitments that will involve. I was unmoved by that writing as it pertains to this agenda. I'm squarely opposed to "institutionizing" into a discipline. Let's hear it for the commons! Nancy Baym <nbaym@ku.edu> wrote: This discussion echoes the theme of a special issue of The Information Society I edited in which researchers from several disciplines contemplated the disciplinary status of 'internet research.' The (a?) short story was that the authors independently argued that it was in our best interest to avoid becoming an institutionalized discipline. Here is the table of contents: Vol. 21, No. 4 Special Issue: ICT Research and Disciplinary Boundaries: Is "Internet Research" a Virtual Field, a Proto-Discipline, or Something Else? INTRODUCTION Internet Research as is Isn't, Is, Could Be, and Should Be Nancy K. Baym ARTICLES Fizz in the Field: Toward a Basis for an Emergent Internet Studies Steve Jones Internet Research and the Sociology of Cyber-Social-Scientific Knowledge Christine Hine Digital Media and Disciplinarity Jonathan Sterne Disciplining the Future: A Critical Organizational Analysis of Internet Studies Annette N. Markham Who Wants to be a Discipline? Naomi S. Baron Internet Indiscipline: Two Approaches to Making a Field Wesley Shrum Towards a Transdisciplinary Internet Research Jeremy Hunsinger Science and Technology Studies Approaches to Internet Research John Monberg New Media/Internet Research Topics of the Association of Internet Researchers Ronald E. Rice The Internet in China: A Meta-review of Research Randolph Kluver and Chen Yang Making Space for Religion in Internet Studies [Abstract] Heidi Campbell ICT Research, the New Economy, and the Evolving Discipline of Economics: Back to the Future? Hans-Jürgen Engelbrecht You can read abstracts here: http://www.indiana.edu/~tisj/21/index.html#4 _______________________________________________ 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/ --------------------------------- Expecting? Get great news right away with email Auto-Check. Try the Yahoo! Mail Beta.
participants (6)
-
Amy S. Bruckman -
Christian Fuchs -
James Whyte -
Jankowski -
Nancy Baym -
Ulf-Dietrich Reips