[Air-l] social networking websites research/grad student questions

[Caroline Haythornthwaite]

A decision between a Business and an Information Science degree comes down 
to who you want to teach when done, and which disciplinary practices and 
knowledge you want to be embedded in.

If you want to teach future business people, then it's best to go for a business 
degree. If you want to teach future librarians and/or information scientists, its 
an LIS or Information Studies degree.  There are also communications schools to 
consider; many now have people working on virtual community -- mixed with 
an organizational communication focus you might bridge the business and 
information worlds. 

Another angle to consider is if you intend to build the virtual community 
software (a computing orientation), help people use them (information studies), 
market them (business), or study them as social phenomenon (information 
studies, communications, sociology).

I think the best thing is to see whose research you like best -- i.e., that is 
closest to what you want to do -- and then see where they work. Consider the 
papers you are reading and see where these people work. That will give you an 
idea of where the work you want to do is best accepted.

/Caroline

---- Original message ----
>Date: Sun, 19 Feb 2006 16:47:54 +0100
>From: Maciej Kos <kos at gnu.univ.gda.pl>  
>Subject: [Air-l] social networking websites research/grad student questions  
>To: air-l at listserv.aoir.org
>
>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.
>
>
>
>
>
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----------------------------------------
Caroline Haythornthwaite
Associate Professor
Graduate School of Library and Information Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
501 East Daniel St., Champaign IL 61820