[Air-L] New media program/journal rankings

[Daren Carroll Brabham]

It occurred to me the other day that I know of no published rankings of new media programs around the world, nor of any ranking for journals which feature new media research.  If rankings already exist, forgive this message...and please let me know where those rankings are...
 
By rankings, I suppose I'm referring to reputational studies (e.g., "Which journals/post-graduate programs are the most highly regarded?").  I know of the National Communication Association's reputational studies of communication Ph.D. programs, which include a lengthy methodology and rationale with the results (http://www.natcom.org/nca/Template2.asp?bid=415 <https://www.umail.utah.edu/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=https://www.umail.utah.edu/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=https://www.umail.utah.edu/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.natcom.org/nca/Template2.asp?bid=415> ), and I know there are various indices for journal rankings out there...but none are specific to new media (that I can find).  I think rankings like these can have some benefit for disciplines.  Establishing reputational rankings can help prospective graduate students find their place in a good program, can help faculty make tenure cases for their publishing record in new media journals, and so on.  At the same time, reputational rankings can work to create infighting in a discipline (or, specifically, a professional association like AoIR), and, frankly, reputational rankings fail to really address the concept of "fit"--the fit between prospective grad student and graduate program, or the fit between manuscript and journal. 
 
So, realizing, of course, that any attempt to poll people or somehow measure "highly-regarded-ness" is extremely difficult and may even polarize people across agenda lines, I throw these questions out to the list as gently as I can:
 
1.  If there are no existing rankings, is anyone out there interested in teaming up to take on this task?
 
2.  What would a reputational study of programs and/or journals look like?  What "stuff" about this discipline do people want to know...other than program and journal rankings?
 
3.  What are the pros and cons of doing such a study?  Do rankings work to stimulate programs/journals to become "better," or do rankings work to make invisible the many programs/journals that may not "make the cut" in the first broad sweep?  And do rankings work to pin-down a discipline and solidify disciplinary boundaries, which may work against the project of interdisciplinarity?  Would a ranking have any value?
 
...If anyone has thoughts on the issue, or is interested in exploring it with me (or without me), or knows of something like this that's already been done, shoot me an email:  daren.brabham at utah.edu
 
Thanks!
 
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Daren C. Brabham
Graduate Teaching Fellow
Department of Communication
University of Utah
255 S. Central Campus Dr., Rm. 2400
Salt Lake City, UT  84112
phone:  (801) 633-4796
web:  www.darenbrabham.com <http://www.darenbrabham.com/>