[Air-l] Re: first post (An Internet Without Space)

[Denise Carter]

 > 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 at 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
>